Bovet hit the nail on the head when it described the Recital 22 Grand Recital as “an astronomical theatre”. Last week, this remarkable interpretation of the perpetual calendar walked away with the Aiguille d’Or” Grand Prix, GPHG’s top prize.
It’s not hard to see why it was adjudged the best of the best. With a case size of 46.3mm, the various calendar indicators are displayed in a novel way with the dial layout inspired by the Tellurium-Orrery. The sun is represented by the tourbillon at ‘6’ and the moon can be seen at the edge of the hour sub-dial. The latter makes one full circle around the dial in accordance to the synodic period of exactly 29.53 days.
Its most striking feature, however, is the hemispherical earth, which can actually be customised to your choice of location. The details, right down to the clouds that appear to float above the oceans and land, are engraved and hand-painted, and incorporated with luminescent substances so that the earth radiates in same manner as it was seen from outer space.
On either side of the hour counter are the retrograde power reserve and minute. A date aperture can be seen at ‘7’ but the rest of the calendar indicators – the day, month and leap year - are on the caseback. There is another date indicator, a glass disc that rotates around the vast bridge.
The beauty of the design is complemented with ease of use. While the indicators can be adjusted individually, a pusher between the upper lugs can be used to simultaneously correct all the functions. If the watch has stopped for 5 days, you only need to press the pusher 5 times to get all the functions to display the correct information again.
