SPORTSTER Automatic Chronograph

BOVET's original SPORTSTER bull-head chronographs get enamel dials

Last year they had dials with Chinese characters. This year it's a 1940s look for BOVET's new edition of its SPORTSTER bull-head chronographs. Furthermore, they are the only chronographs made with dials in fired enamels.

Chronographs might be commonplace, but BOVET's automatic, chronometer-rated SPORTSTER is unlike any other made today. The buttons, on either side of the bow at 12 o'clock, are easier to manipulate than the side buttons of the conventional chronograph. The minutes and hours counters are in their logical positions, left and right, with the running seconds (if present) where they ought to be at 6 o'clock.

BOVET has made eight different enamel dials for the 2004 SPORTSTER, based on the dial of a 1940s BOVET chronograph. Half are in black enamels, half in white, with Breguet or Art Deco numerals, plain or luminous. Two of the dials are without running seconds.

The large date in a split window lines up at noon with the crown and the bow, adding to the SPORTSTER's pleasing symmetry. The bow at 12 o'clock and the serpentine chronograph seconds-hand are there for historical reasons. They recall BOVET's celebrated pocket-watches of the 19th century, and, with enamel dials, are part of the company's stylistic heritage.

The 28-jewel Cal. 13BA01 movement is based on an automatic chronograph calibre with a balance-frequency of 28,000 v/h and a 42-hour power-reserve. Each movement has been rated as a chronometer by COSC — Switzerland's official chronometer certification bureau.

The movement is finished in rhodium Côtes de Genève with the screws in fire-blued steel (another BOVET particularity) and the rotor in blued 22K gold. It can be seen through the sapphire-crystal, screw-in case back. The case is water-resistant to 100 metres.