First revealed at the SIHH 2019, the Récital 26 Brainstorm® Chapter One features a Sapphire “writing slope” shaped case and has now been introduced by the Maison with its hemispherical dial in transparent green quartz. Limited to 60 movements only, the Récital 26 Brainstorm® Chapter One combines a host of innovations, and showcases the unprecedented possibilities for interpreting time offered by the unique “writing slope” case.

Chosen for its crystalline transparency, sapphire is also the second hardest material known after diamond. The lightness of sapphire is also unsurpassed, and in fact weighs less than titanium.
Although the complications fully justify the use of sapphire for this case, the latter must be pivoted to observe the movement from the side. Its atypical construction reveals a stepped architecture whose succession of inclined planes carries all the movement’s mobiles and components. The middle and glass ultimately form a single element.

The movement chosen to occupy this three-dimensional panoramic showcase is regulated by the patented double face flying tourbillon. The movement has evolved since it was first introduced and today features a variable inertia balance for even greater chronometry through the use of a traditional hairspring. Mastery of hairspring production sets BOVET apart, a rarified science mastered by very few watchmakers. This new caliber draws its energy from a single barrel that guarantees 10 days’ power reserve despite numerous animated complications. The doubly patented spherical differential winding system halves the number of turns of the crown required to wind the timepiece completely.

Brainstorm® displays the hours and minutes offset at 12 o’clock. As it is the highest section under the case’s pronounced dome, the watchmakers have manufactured a special high hand-fitting.  An index screwed onto the carriage wheel along with two of the carriage bridge’s arms follow one another 120° apart, crossing the graduated seconds sector in a main dial milling. The gilded titanium carriage bridge alone requires two days’ work by a single artisan solely for its decoration.

To accentuate the transparency of the case, the power reserve is displayed via a printed cam that shows the energy available through a “crescent-shaped” indicator placed at 4 o’clock.

Positioned symmetrically at 8 o’clock, a big date almost mysteriously appears in a circular aperture. The entire mechanism is revealed to the collector’s eye, who will be able to appreciate its finest details through the use of the sapphire units disk that provides the necessary transparency.

At 12 o’clock, nestled in the volume of the hours and minutes dial, arises a three-dimensional moon phase, whose dome’s camber masterfully counters the curves of the dial. For heightened realism, the lunar dome’s surface is engraved, and the lower sections filled with Superluminova®. The sky is represented here in its finest expression. BOVET 1822’s dial-makers have achieved an impressive feat by setting two circular aventurine glass plates in the pronounced curve of the hemispherical moon phase indicator. The moon phases are thus read with a striking realism through the two circular apertures that overlook the dome.

The movement, entirely developed and manufactured in BOVET 1822’s offices and workshops, reveals a stepped architecture whose succession of inclined planes carries all the movement’s components. This exclusive choice offers a host of advantages from many angles. First of all, it makes it possible to optimally fill the volume of the middle’s V-shaped profile for enhanced ergonomics and an aesthetic worthy of the most demanding criteria in fine watchmaking craftsmanship. Each indication hinges on an axis perpendicular to the bezel’s inclined plane, offering the best legibility from the most natural angle and positioning on the wrist.

This specific construction in sapphire created a set of unprecedented difficulties for all the artisans. Micro-engineers, decorators, dial-makers, and watchmakers together succeeded in meeting the many challenges presented by this new case material in the Récital 26. Mr. Raffy paid them homage by christening this new watchmaking feat Brainstorm®, which evokes both the solutions found collectively and the stroke of genius required to resolve the many unique situations in a project that has become a reality.

Collectors may choose between different colors of dials, the previously introduced blue, and now green. As is now customary at BOVET, the Récital 26 Brainstorm Chapter One is presented as a limited edition, restricted to the number of movements produced. Only sixty movements will leave the manufacture’s workshops, ensuring a level of exclusivity that reflects the excellence of this timepiece.