“Watchmaking for me has been a passion since I was 13. My grandfather taught me to understand that producing a timepiece has many components, you need the patience to bevel, chamfer, sink, snail. You also need to be educated, talented and innovative. Also, when the timepiece is finished, it must be elegantly dressed; the mechanical skills involved have to be accurate, real, substantial. When these two elements meet, like two hands applauding, it becomes a timepiece and not a watch anymore.” says Pascal Raffy who is one of the most important names of horology world today. We are very proud to share the story of Pascal Raffy and Bovet in this article.
Born in 1963 in Beirut, Pascal Raffy and his family were exiled from their country and they moved to Switzerland. Raffy’s family originally comes from French origin called “Raffins” in 17th century. After staying for while in Sion, Switzerland, Raffy went to Paris and studied political science at Sorbonne University. Those were hard times for Raffy. During his university years, he worked at restaurants at night waiting for tables. However, his hardworking character always kept his motivation high.
It was during that time that he met his wife. His wife’s family was into pharmaceutical business and that is how Raffy started working in this sector.
When he was 25, Raffy invested in a French Pharmaceutical company that later became partner with Synthélabo. Not only producing drugs but also contributing to the facilities for those in need of medical treatment in North Africa, the company turned into one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in France.
In an interview, he said: “When I started it was May 7, 1992. At that time, I had two people with me, my driver and one chemist. In September 2001 when I stopped we were billing US$700 million with 325 people and producing tablets, liquids, but not injectables.”
Planning to spend more time with the family and upon the complaints of her daughter for his overworking, Raffy sold his shares of company. This was a very hard decision for him because, what he did in pharmaceutical company was more than business as he says: “Whenever you start something in an area of health and caring for human beings—where there is also a moral dimension in addition to the business side—it is very difficult to stop work.”
A very close friend of his wanted Raffy to touch some watches while his eyes are closed. Trying one watch after another, Raffy felt something special when he touched Bovet’s Fleurier collection. Years later, he tells about this memory of his: “One by one, I felt those watches, and when my hand fell on one of them, I knew it was truly different. I felt the crown at the top of the strap and realized this was a watch with its own identity. Then I looked at it, and in a nanosecond it talked to me. I took my loupe and saw that it was a beautiful piece of horology. It had substance. I was interested.”
A small parenthesis to Bovet’s history may be useful here. Bovet was found in 1822 by Eduard Bovet for the purposes of watch trade with China. Since the business rapidly expanded, the center of manufacture was moved to Fleurier. At that time, Bovet made significant contributions to watchmaking. For instance, Edouard BOVET is accepted as the founder of the transparent case-back. After the death of Edouard Bovet, the brand was kept alive by the family for long years.
After the special moment of touching Bovet timepiece blindfolded, Raffy fell in love the beauty of it. Later on, Raffy learnt that Bovet needs an investor. He paid around $5 million and bought majority share of the brand. His very first motivation was as he remarked “I am not jumping into a watchmaking house to build a huge brand. I am doing it for my own selfish pleasure, for beautiful watchmaking. My ideas were totally unaligned with the era we were living in then, but I knew I wanted to build Bovet into a true watchmaking house with a soul.”
For two years after he bought the shares, he was into a thorough planning about Bovet. In 2003, he bought the other shares from his partners and began the actual work. He bought the dial supplier for Bovet and some shares of the brand supplying cases for Bovet. Raffy made the most interesting and distinguishing investment by buying a small castle, Château de Môtiers, which once belonged to the Bovet family. Built in 14th century and acquired by Dubois-Bovet in 1835, Château de Môtiers turned into the center of manufacture for Bovet to stick to the tradition of the name. Taking all the investments together, Raffy nearly spent $35 million.
The most iconic features of the brand is “bow” on the crown at 12 o’clock position and Amadeo case patented by Bovet. This case structure allows the very same watch to be used as wrist watch, table clock, and a pocket watch.
Although Bovet is claimed to have around 20% profit annualy which nearly makes $20 million for each year, Raffy still accepts Bovet as not just a business venture but in his very own words “Bovet is a jewel, and it will remain a jewel”.
Today, more than 100 employees work for Bovet and keeping the initial promise, the brand produces almost 2000 watches a year. The brand produces its own hairsprings, dials, and cases. Obsessed with details and accepting this by saying “How can you expect to assemble a beautiful movement, if you aren’t obsessed by details”, Pascal Raffy is a meticulous watch lover and pays utmost attention to every timepiece manufactured by Bovet. The main collections by Bovet are World premiere, 19thirty, Fleurier, Fleurier Complications, Fleurier Grandes Complications, Bovet by Pininfarina, Sportster, Dimier, Special ladies Timepieces.
Pascal Raffy’s one of the main philosophies in life in his own words is as follows: “The most important thing to transmit to children is the patrimony of education, to know that in life, what’s important is not to shine but to last. Wisdom is crucial; extremes will lead you nowhere. To build something, you must be organised, disciplined, clear-minded. I run my watchmaking house the same way I educate my children with these values.”
Pascal Raffy is 58 now and he has three children. He is very happy to continue a watch tradition in Bovet. Although Raffy did not initiate the brand, he is the one who has made the brand known all over the world.
