Bovet 1822 Ilgiz F. and Bovet 1822 collaborate on timepieces exhibited at the Kremlin Museum

— A springtime stroll in Moscow along the flower-lined pathways of Alexandrovsky Garden leads to the Kremlin Museums where the exhibition titled “Jewels Inspired by Nature” seems particularly à propos.  

The show, which runs through July 31st, is dedicated to the multitalented contemporary Russian jeweler, Ilgiz Fazulzyanov, known as Ilgiz F.  It is the first time the Kremlin Museum has devoted a show to a single master craftsman in precisely 99 years, 1917 being the year when the same venue hosted its last solo exhibition dedicated to the famed Peter-Carl Fabergé.
At 48, Ilgiz, who originally trained as an artist, has come a long way to become one of the most original and talented jewelry designers to emerge from post-Soviet Russia.  While the show focuses primarily on Ilgiz’s jewelry, showcasing his know-how in crafting faceted pearls and “grand feu” enamels, the masterpieces on display also include a small but splendid collection of métier d’art fake watches that result from his collaboration with the Swiss watch manufacture, Bovet 1822.
“Our tradition of miniature enameling goes back to the early 19th century, when Edouard Bovet employed the best watchmakers in the Val-de-Travers and entrusted the case decorations to Geneva enamellers,” explained the Maison Bovet. “Today, Pascal Raffy, the owner of Bovet 1822, perpetuates that decorative tradition.  The appreciation he shares with Ilgiz for uniqueness, and their mutual passion for fine art, brought the two together.”
The project called for transposing miniature but elaborately detailed paintings onto an enameled watch dial. Entitled "Dials Inspired by Nature," the pieces resulting from that collaboration and shown in Moscow include a ladies’ pendant watch and a ladies’ wristwatch, along with a men’s wristwatch.
The ladies’ Amadeo Fleurier 39 “White Poppies” features a décor of softly intertwined leafy poppies in a 39 mm case, on a 18k gold base plate with a bow and lug set with 165 diamonds. A similar dial of white poppies is featured on the pendant watch.

 

Amadeo Fleurier 39 "White Poppies". © Bovet

The men’s wristwatch draws its inspiration from the “Horsemen of the Apocalypse,” a story derived from the Book of Revelations, the last book of the New Testament. The Amadeo Fleurier 43 features one of the four biblical Riders known as “War” in a miniature enameled rendition on a 43 mm case in red gold, leaving out the three remaining Riders - Famine, Pestilence, and Death – no doubt given their less engaging connotations.
Each timepiece, with its handcrafted enameled dial, is one-of-a-kind. “The feat of realizing these dials is all the more impressive given that today’s timepiece diameters are smaller than those of 19th century,” noted the Maison Bovet.

 

Amadeo Fleurier 43 "Rider of the Apocalypse, War". © Bovet

The show was organized at the behest of Dr. Elena Gagarina, director of the Kremlin Museum, who visited the atelier of Ilgiz two years ago, acquired several pieces for the museum, and spearheaded the effort to put on the exhibition.
“The show includes about 160 pieces, forty percent of which were created especially for the exhibition. For the rest, collectors from all over the world have loaned their pieces,” said Dina Nasyrova, Ilgiz’s spouse and communications director.

 

Pascal Raffy, Elena Gagarina et Ilgiz F. © Cheap Swiss Fake Watches

Ilgiz was born in 1968 into a working-class family in Kazan, capital of the Republic of Tatarstan, located about 800 kms east of Moscow. “Ilgiz’s father was a factory worker, he repaired machinery.  His mother took care of the family. His were very simple beginnings,” said Nasyrova.
He attended art school in his native town, and earned a degree in decorative design.  After school, he began working with stained glass windows and made prints on silk.  He later transitioned to jewelry, mostly as a self-taught craftsman. In 1999, he moved to Moscow and continued to renew traditional techniques in both enameling and cutting pearls.
“Ilgiz’s specialty is faceted pearls. The craft can be compared to cutting diamonds, but it takes more skill because pearls are breakable,” Nasyrova said.  “He also practices grand feu or hot enameling techniques, much the same way as René Lalique or Alphonse Fouquet.  All the work is done in our atelier in Moscow.”
In 2011, Ilgiz became the first Russian jeweler to win the top prize at the International Jewelry Design Excellence Award held at the Hong Kong International Jewelry Fair.  He was twice awarded the title of  "Champion of Champions" in that competition, first in 2011 for his "Bullfinches" pendant, and again in 2013 for his “Butterflies” series in faceted black pearls.
“We are a small confidential label known mainly to select collectors and jewelry specialists,” said Nasyrova. “What we do is unique. It appeals to those who understand the value of great craftsmanship beyond its commercial aspects.”

Bovet Récital 18, The Shooting Star®

— This innovative timepiece offers an hemispheric representation of the universal worldwide time and moon phases.

The Recital 18 The Shooting Star® features a 5-day tourbillon, an hemispheric universal worldwide time with selectable time zone and ultra-compact 24 cities indicator, an hemispheric precision moon phase, jumping hours and retrograde minutes.

Based on the principle that observing the stars has served as a basis for defining time since the dawn of humanity, Pascal Raffy and his watchmakers deliberately looked through the wrong side of their loupes. They were able to gain enough distance to observe the rhythm of the Earth’s revolutions on its axis—and of its elliptical journey around its star, or indeed the ceaseless circles drawn by its natural satellite, the moon. The simple change in perspective brought about by taking this step back helped the observers to gain an overview of the dance of the planets and to grasp its complexity with disconcerting clarity.
As well as understanding the various astral phenomena related to the measurement of time, this newfound perspective also enables us to tell the time in all regions of the globe simultaneously. And it was precisely this broader universal vision that governed the development of this timepiece. Seen from space, the spherical shape of the Earth enables us to observe only half of the surface at a time. Thus was born the idea of representing the entire globe in a single hemisphere. A cartographer was specially commissioned to design this atypical and hitherto unknown 3D map of the world.

 

Récital 18 The Shooting Star. © Bovet

A first hemisphere was thus chosen to represent the Earth and enable the reading of universal time, which is displayed in three dimensions at 3 o’clock. A hand affixed to the North Pole—that is the axis of our hemisphere—follows its curve. It can be assigned to any one of the 24 time zones selected by the user. At its tip, a concentric ring displays the time in the chosen time zone, while the name of the city corresponding to that time zone appears on one of the two concentric rollers indexed to the hemisphere. The time zone hand is another first. Never before had the manufacturer produced a hemispheric hand, with all the difficulties inherent in the high quality required.
The 24-hour ring that surrounds the globe also enables instant reading of the time anywhere in the world. To link the hand of the second time zone to a specific city, simply press the center of the crown. With each successive press, the needle jumps by an angular value of 15°, representing the exact value of the time zone. This action also activates the rollers and the names of the cities corresponding to the time zones indicated by the hand are displayed in sequence.
The choice of two concentric rollers to indicate the cities offers the two-fold advantage of taking up little space whilst providing exemplary readability. The outer roller displays 11 cities simultaneously, then makes way for a window, which opens an aperture to the second roller—arranged concentrically inside the first roller—and displaying the 12th city. This inner roller then turns in order to display the 13 subsequent cities in the aperture. The whole system is controlled by a column wheel.

The hemisphere representing the Earth enables a 3D reading of universal time. © Bovet

The moon phase indicator is also in the form of a hemisphere. Two circular apertures follow the curve of this lunar globe and indicate the age of the moon as seen from the northern and southern hemispheres respectively.
The moon and the starry sky succeed each other in both windows and, although unusual, this representation of the time is both realistic and intuitive. Its highly precise mechanism only requires correction by one day every 122 years.
Each hemisphere is machined in a single piece and their surfaces engraved with the correct relief. The oceans are then filled with luminescent blue material. The craters on the moon are all in white luminous material while the sky and space glow a deep blue in the darkness.

 

Two circular apertures follow the curve of the lunar globe to indicates its age. © Bovet

As near to the mainplate as possible, a flat sapphire disc displays the hours, which are revealed when positioned on a lacquered plate. This digital display makes for easy and immediate reading of the time. In the center of the display, a curved dial displays the exceptional five-day power reserve. A third stratum dominates this ensemble. This section indicates the minutes by means of a retrograde hand. The combination of jumping hours and retrograde minutes raises the technical problem of the synchronization of instantaneous jumps—a complication perfectly mastered inhouse and which has already met with resounding success in other timepieces in the collection. As usual, the dials were manufactured in-house. The juxtaposed surfaces of the curved dials result in a perfect surface, whether in white or in aventurine!
The Shooting Star® Tourbillon is perfectly designed for travel because the corrector enables the hour disk to be adjusted without affecting the minutes, seconds, universal time or indexed time zone. The pushpiece is simply pressed and the watch is easily readjusted to the latest time zone being visited.
To drive all of the complications, the two barrels generate five days of power reserve, all controlled by a tourbillon balance oscillating at 21,600 vph. Three blued masses are positioned on the golden serge, inspired by the shape of the arches that adorned the balances of BOVET pocket replica watches UK in the 19th century. The DIMIER escapement and its specific centering guarantee exemplary performance. Like all components used in the manufacture of BOVET movements, the Shooting Star® is regulated by a hair spring manufactured in the in-house workshops. Performing each of its revolutions in one minute, the tourbillon features a triple seconds-hand, unusually placed under the tourbillon and following a subtly tampoprinted graduation inside the crystal, for a clear and original display.
The decoration of the movement of this Shooting Star® Tourbillon perfectly matches its originality, technical complexity and innovations: the stars, hemispheres and the carriage and tourbillon bridges are hand-engraved.

The incline that describes the movement between the top of the minutes dial and the tourbillon, and the use of the hemispheres, naturally necessitated a new direction for the design of the case which is completely consistent with the vision of this timepiece. A domed sapphire crystal with a very pronounced curve therefore crowns the case of this Shooting Star® Tourbillon. To open the world of this timepiece to the infinite, the watch middle follows a pronounced oblique incline along the 12 o’clock to 6 o’clock axis. The hours disk corrector is positioned at 12 o’clock, for a supremely ergonomic display and positioning that confirm the symmetry of the watch.
The presence of a total of seven domes, including the four hemispheres of the movement, the dials, the tourbillon carriage and the upper crystal lend the ultimate finishing touch to this timepiece. The 2016 edition is limited to 50 pieces.