The history of Bovet

In 1818, the 21-year-old Edouard Bovet from Fleurier in Neuchâtel arrived in Canton — the only Chinese port then open to foreigners — as a salesman for an English watch exporter. He soon discovered the Chinese fascination for European watchmaking, and by 1822 had set up the BOVET company to import fine watches from his homeland.

BOVET Fleurier, with offices in London and a manufacturing centre in Fleurier managed by his brothers, soon became the preferred source of Swiss watches for wealthy Chinese.

BOVET established a style of watch called the “Chinese-market watch”, which combined the most advanced watchmaking technology of the time with the most luxurious decorations in enamels and split pearls. BOVET watches introduced crystal display backs to reveal the finely decorated duplex movements, designed for reliability and low maintenance. Many of the BOVET watches also had a central jumping-seconds hand — extremely rare in watches of the time.

From 1824 BOVET started making enamelled watches in identical pairs, each a mirror image of the other, because the Chinese liked to give twin gifts. Apart from the commercial advantage of selling two watches at the same time, it also provided a spare watch in case one needed repair.

In 1855, BOVET was awarded a gold medal at the world exhibition in Paris for a pair of identical watches ordered by the Chinese emperor.