There are certain watches that hold my interest over time. Often times, these are more rare models that you don’t see too often. Yet, I wonder what they would be like having a place in my life. One such model is the Bovet Sportster Saguaro. The “cactus” version of the Bovet Sportster is larger and has some different design elements than its smaller brother. Being a Bovet these watches are pretty much typified by their “ribbon” style crown guard along with the crown and pushers being placed at the top of the case. You are supposed to believe the watches are more closely related to pocket watches this way, however, the can-style cases remind me more of canteens and I wanna take a big sip of watch parts.
There is also the Sportster Saguaro Meteorite version of the watch that has a really nice Gibeon meteorite dial. I first wrote about the Bovet Sportster Saguaro Meteorite watches here. Bovet claims the space stones that make up the dial are something like 4 billion years old – that is pretty cool. These are my favorite Sportster watches because I really like how the meteorite gives a sort of organic feel to the otherwise composed case and design. You can get various meteorite stone stains such as silver, black, and gold. All the Sportster Saguaro watches are 46mm wide in really chunky looking cases. Like I said, these cases feel like hefty canisters, holding precious innards. The cases are thick and highly polished with a wide bezel. Though the design doesn’t feel massive because of the single lug style, it is a rather clever way of making a larger watch feel not as large.
The ribbon style crown guard is a unique element which sometimes makes me think the Sportster Saguaro looks like one of those military pendants on a strap, on your wrist. Bovet offers no shortage of Sportster Saguaro case and dial styles. Pictured here are just a few of them. The cases are available in steel, 18k rose gold, as well as a few versions where PVD and gold are mixed to create some cool looks. Personally, I am a fan of black mixed with gold so these are some of my favorite models.
While Bovet does make movements, the Sportster models use Dubois Depraz automatic chronographs. I believe these are Valjoux 7750s with a big date module on them. The decoration on the movement is some of the best I’ve seen for a 7750 base, and the custom blued automatic rotor is attractive. As a sports watch, the Sportster Saguaro doesn’t mess around. It is water resistant to 300 meters, has a sapphire crystal, comfy rubber strap, and as stated before, the case has a really thick and durable feel.
One neat feature I really like is how the curved flange ring on the outer dial is polished and done to match the case. This is also where the pulsometer scale is printed. Next to it is a tachymeter scale. Don’t forget that (love it or hate it) you get Bovet’s squiggly chronograph seconds hand. Sometimes, when I look at the dial, I like the hour and minute hands. Other times, I think I would like to see Bovet experiment with new hand designs.
On the wrist the Sportster Saguaro watches are pretty nice looking. The cases are heavy, but I like that sort of thing. These are pretty manly watches from an unlikely place. Bovet really walks two paths with its Asian market friendly fare as well as stuff for the rest of the world. Prices for the Bovet Sportster Saguaro watches range quite a bit. From about $15,000 – $30,000 I believe.
