Bovet 19 Thirty Hours hand setting
Swiss watch brand Bovet is renowned for its artistic and mechanically sophisticated high-end timepieces. On the company?s 200th anniversary, owner and managing director Pascal Raffy speaks to Ella Johnson about his plans and dreams
Pascal Raffy is not, at first glance, a likely candidate to own a high luxury Swiss watch brand. Having left his native Lebanon aged 13, he embarked on a successful career in pharmaceuticals, and promptly retired, aged 38. Yet, in 2001, he went on to acquire one of the oldest watch companies in the world.
Swiss watchmaker Édouard Bovet established his eponymous house 200 years ago this year. It soon gained a reputation for the artistry of its engraving and miniature paintings; Bovet also invented the glass case back so beloved of collectors today. After Raffy bought Bovet, he turned it into a genuine manufacture for the first time: now, even the spirals and regulating organs in each watch are made in-house. Raffy also bought a 14th century castle near Lake Neuchâtel in western Switzerland that was once home to the original Bovet family and restored it, turning it into the brand?s factory and headquarters.
Pascal Raffy, owner and CEO of BOVET 1822
LUX: You were originally from Lebanon, but were uprooted during the conflict there. What do you remember of that time"

Pascal Raffy: Whatever is related to human suffering cannot be forgotten. When the civil war arose, all parts of the country suffered a lot. It...