The Bovet monumental clock installed in the Asterium Tower, one of Seoul’s most prestigious private residences, has been honoured with the A’ Design Award, which recognises exceptional achievements in architectural design worldwide. This new distinction perfectly embodies the personal view of Pascal Raffy, the owner of Bovet, “to never dissociate traditional fine watchmaking from art, design and architecture, so as to offer collectors and aficionados of fine timepieces the noblest expression of time.“
The sponsors of the Asterium Tower had stipulated specific challenges to the architectural firm handling the project with regards to the main lobby of their building. They had asked that a monumental clock should be the centrepiece, that the manufacture of the clocks must be entrusted to the Maison Bovet, and that the clocks should be enlarged reproductions of existing timepieces in the Swiss Manufacture’s collections.
The Bovet craftsmen took up the challenge and displayed their resourcefulness in reproducing the two faces of the Monsieur Bovet and Amadéo Amadéo tourbillon timepieces on a scale 15 times larger than their illustrious originals.
They also managed to enlarge the tourbillon carriage and the patented double coaxial seconds with realistic movement that combines coherence with the excellence that has characterised the Maison for nearly two centuries. The clocks’ case middles are engraved with the Fleurisanne motif that has decorated the cases and movements of Bovet timepieces since the 19th century. A miniature painting of a splendid dragon was reproduced on one of the four dials. The same miniaturist painter produced both the original, with a diameter of just 35 mm, and the enlarged reproduction at 60 cm in diameter. On the enlarged reproduction, he went as far as to gild the dragon’s body with gold leaf. The result is faithful to its prestigious original while its definition is a demonstration of the artist’s dexterity.
The two double-faced clocks were then installed on a bracelet presented in the form of a Möbius band, evoking infinity and the figure 8, which, according to Far-Eastern tradition, bring happiness and prosperity. Standing 5 m high and 2.50 m wide, this veritable monument enables the time to be read from any position in the lobby or the mezzanine that overlooks it.
