The latest timepiece from the collaboration between Swiss watch manufacturer Bovet and the design house Pininfarina has been unveiled: the Bovet x Pininfarina Aperto 1.
With the name taken from the Italian for ‘open’, the Bovet x Pininfarina Aperto 1 combines the traditional art of skeletonizing with innovative materials to produce a thoroughly futuristic design. Powered by a hand-wound, open-worked manufacture movement, it is a showcase of impeccable watch design and precision engineering – where the in-house movement architecture is proudly on full display, thanks to the dual sides of the sapphire crystals.
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While most high-end watches opt for extravagance and flamboyance, the Aperto 1 is an exercise in streamlined mechanical elegance. Said to be made at the request of Bovet owner Pascal Raffy, who asked Pininfarina’s designers for a more versatile and modern interpretation of the age-old art of skeletonization, perfectly adapted to the modern-day environment.
The result? The Aperto 1’s open-worked movement has had everything extraneous removed, with its bridges and plates all merging in the center of the movement. It is also extremely light thanks to its Grade 5 titanium case and is well-sized at 42mm. The new interchangeable strap system, which comes complete with two rubber straps, is inspired by the Amadeo system and developed in-house by Bovet, making the Aperto 1 supremely comfortable on the wrist.
Equally impressive technically as it is visually, it has seven days of power reserve, where the power reserve indicator is visible at nine o’clock, running seconds at six o’clock and an in-house balance wheel and regulating organ at eight o’clock. Each movement has undergone at least 10 hours of hand-finishing just for the plates and bridges alone.
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It is the perfect culmination of the long-standing collaboration between the legacy Swiss watchmaker and Pininfarina’s vast design repertoire, which includes work on sports cars, yachts, aircraft, architecture and furniture.
As Pininfarina’s chairman Paolo Pininfarina describes the partnership, which first began in 2010: “The relationship with Bovet is more than a collaboration as it is based on a common passion for beauty, craftsmanship and innovation, [resulting] in a collection of unique timepieces over the last 13 years.
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“Today, we are proud to be next to Bovet presenting Aperto 1, the forerunner of a new chapter of the association of our values, able to express a new design language and a brand new experience for those who love timepieces as we do.”
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