I recently had the opportunity to attend the grand opening of the new Watches of Switzerland boutique in the Wynn Las Vegas. And one of the biggest pleasures (and honors) of the occasion was to get hands-on with the Bovet 1822 Récital 22 Grand Récital, one of the most insanely complicated watches on the planet and a true masterpiece of modern watchmaking. The latter point is underscored by the fact that the Bovet Récital 22 Grand Récital took home the Aiguille d'Or, or top prize, at the 2018 Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève, watchmaking's most prestigious awards.
This watch is built around a tellurium. A tellurium is an astronomical model that shows the relative positions and relationships between the sun, moon, and earth. In this case--no pun intended--the sun is represented by a beautiful one-minute flying tourbillon, the earth seen from a point above the North Pole is hand painted, and the moon rotates around the earth once every synodic month, or every 29.53 days. The fact that these types of astronomical movements can be mechanically engineered to run so perfectly is absolutely mind-blowing to me. *And* the watch, including the full perpetual calendar displayed on the back, is accurate to one day's error in 122 years. Yeah, that's pretty incredible. This watch is limited to 60 pieces.
What's up guys, I'm Brian Sacawa, you're watching He Spoke Style, and today we are at the Watches
of Switzerland boutique in the Wynn Las Vegas to get hands-on with one of the most insanely
complicated watches in the entire world, and the top prize winner at the 2018 Grand Prix
d'Elogerie de Genève. Of course, I'm talking about the Bovet Récital 22 Grand Récital.
Okay, here it is in the metal. Now, I said this watch was insanely complicated, which is
absolutely true, but it is also just straight up insane. Now, before we get into all the features
of the watch, let's just start off with a few of the specs. 46.3 millimeter case diameter,
19.6 millimeter thickness, comes in either 18 karat red gold or platinum as we have here,
full grain alligator strap, and actually water resistant up to 30 meters. Now, this is definitely
a big watch, and if you're thinking, man that's just too big, I would say that size here is
completely immaterial as it is truly the beauty, ingenuity, craftsmanship, and passion that is
expressed inside the case, which is what we should really be paying attention to here.
This watch is built around a tellurium. A tellurium is a type of astronomical model
that shows the relationship between and the relative positions of the sun,
the moon, and the earth. The sun here is represented by a beautiful one minute flying
tourbillon. The earth is seen from a point above the north pole and is hand painted in amazing
detail, even has wisps of cloud here and there. The earth completes a full rotation every 24 hours,
signifying its daily trip around the sun. Hours are expressed around the earth, and a fixed pointer
at six o'clock shows the wearer's relative location and the hour of the day. The earth
also has luminous material applied, which is absolutely striking when charged and seen with
no light. Around the earth we have the moon, which completes its journey around the earth in one
synodic month or 29.53 days. The phases of the moon are listed in the ring encircling the earth.
To the left of the earth is a retrograde minutes display. To the right we have a retrograde power
reserve indicator, nine days of power fully wound. The date can be seen through an aperture underneath
the minutes display. The entire display here is accurate to one day's error in 122 years.
Now that's the front. Let's take a look at the case back, which is equally impressive.
Here we are looking at a full perpetual calendar. There are displays for the day of the week,
the month, and the date, which is shown on a moving retrograde disc, which is one of five
total patents that Bovet holds for this watch. We've also got windows for a leap year indication,
as well as the hour of the day. Now one thing that I really love about this movement and case back
are the three inscriptions that we have here, and I'll spare you from my terrible French and
just translate. Up at the top it reads, to serve a punctual gentleman. To the left,
made by masterful hands, and to the right, and thus we attest long-lasting value.
It should be pretty obvious that the Recital 22 Grand Recital is not just a watch. It is an
absolutely stunning achievement in watchmaking for Bovet and a true piece of art. At a price
point of $469,800 in 18 karat red gold and $502,200 in platinum, I think it's fair to say
that this is not a piece that, let's just say, most people will have the purchasing power to
acquire. But as a lover of fine watchmaking, it's nice to know that something like this exists,
and not only that, but that the passion, innovation, and vision to imagine something
like the Bovet Recital 22 Grand Recital also exists in this world today. Want to give a big
thank you to Bovet and also to Watches of Switzerland for the opportunity to bring this
watch to you today. Definitely not something you get to see every day. So let me know what you guys
thought of this watch down below in the comments. Thumbs up if you like this video. Don't forget to
subscribe to the channel. And until next time, thanks for watching and stay tailored.
