BOVET 1822

Bovet Fleurier SA was chartered on 1 May 1822 in London by Édouard Bovet for manufacturing watches for the Chinese market. Édouard had been sent to Canton, China in 1818, where he sold four watches for the equivalent of approximately $1 million in modern currency. His brothers managed operations from London while manufacturing was based in Fleurier, Switzerland. The Chinese name 'Bo Wei' became a common noun for watches in China. The Chinese market collapsed around 1855 due to competition and counterfeiting. The brand changed hands many times: the Bovet family sold in 1864, followed by Landry Frères in 1888, Leuba in 1901, Ullmann in 1918, Albert and Jean Bovet in 1932, Favre-Leuba in 1948, and a watchmakers' cooperative in 1966. Production resumed after Roger Guye and Thierry Oulevay acquired the company in 1994. Pascal Raffy, a former pharmaceutical executive and watch collector, acquired Bovet on 6 February 2001 and in 2006 purchased the STT movement manufacture (renamed Dimier 1738), dial-making facilities, and the Château de Môtiers, establishing full vertical integration.