BOVET-FLEURIER Complications -Perpetual Calendar Retrograde with moon phase

A magnificent demonstration of how to display a full calendar and moon phases in letters, numbers and images. Retrograde indications — where a hand flies back to the beginning of a scale after reaching a prescribed end — are popular because they
challenge our view of time as a constant rotation of passing minutes, hours, days and months. It’s simple enough, mechanically, to advance the dates-hand every 24 hours against a spring, which is released by the perpetual-calendar mechanism at the end of the month (28, 29, 30 or 31 days) so that it flicks back to the beginning. The problem that underlies all such retrograde mechanisms is that the hand flies back (through an arc of 225° in this watch) with such force that it bounces up again on the scale and catches on the second or date. BOVET gets around the bounce-back problem by slowing the return of the dates-hand with a train of wheels. This solution, devised at a Swiss watchmaking school early last century, was found to be the most reliable, but it increases the number of parts for the perpetual-calendar mechanism alone to 230.

Image:Perpetual Calendar Retrograde with moon phase

TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION

Case : 42mm case in 18K rose gold
Sapphire cabochon-set crown and strap-bolts
Non-reflecting sapphire glass on front and back case
Height: 15.83 mm
Dial: Black guilloché with an onyx sky
Serpentine hands with red tips
Movement: Self-winding calibre 13BA04
Winding rotor in 22K gold, openworked in fleurisanne style
Screws angled and blued by fire
Balance frequency: 28’800 V/h
Power reserve: 48 hours
Functions: Day, date indicated by the retrograde hand, month,
leap-year indications and moon phase
Water-resistance: 30 meters (100 feet, 3 ATM)
Bracelet: Alligator hand stitched
Folding buckle in 18K gold
Available in 18K white gold