BUCI Nouvelle: when watchmaking tells the story of simple moments

With Nouvelle, BUCI opens a new chapter in its story by bringing two worlds into dialogue, worlds that share the same taste for precision: literature and watchmaking. Inspired by the literary form of the same name, this new Swiss Made mechanical collection invites us to look differently at the passing of time. Not through the major milestones that punctuate a life, but through those simple and sometimes imperceptible moments that, placed end to end, make up the story of a life.

Founded in France, the independent watchmaking house BUCI had presented its first collection, Garde-temps, in 2022. After two collaborations with seconde/seconde/ and Revolution Watch, it now continues its exploration of a personal and singular watchmaking with Nouvelle, a 36 mm unisex watch assembled in Switzerland and driven by a Sellita SW290 hand-wound mechanical movement.

Nouvelle, another way of looking at time

BUCI’s new collection draws its inspiration directly from literature. The short story, by definition, captures a fragment of existence, a precise moment, a situation that may appear ordinary yet is significant enough to become a story.

It is this idea that BUCI brings to the wrist.

A shared coffee, a few lines written in a notebook, a walk, or a ray of light crossing a room become so many small fragments capable of adding depth to a day. Time then takes on a different dimension. It is no longer measured solely by major events, but also through those seconds to which we decide to pay attention.

The small seconds thus holds a central place in Nouvelle’s identity. It becomes the mechanical representation of these fragments of time, like a punctuation mark that discreetly accompanies the display of the hours and minutes.

“Through Nouvelle, I wanted to invite people to look at time in a new way: the time of simple moments, of the details around us, and of those instants we choose to pay attention to.”

Nousseïma Baraket, founder of BUCI

A watch conceived as a page

This literary inspiration is not limited to the name of the collection. It is expressed right down to the details of the design.

The hands, in particular, reveal a silhouette evoking a quill at each hour, establishing an immediate graphic link with the world of writing. The dial, for its part, takes on the appearance of blotting paper, a delicate reference to the surfaces on which words take shape.

This desire to bring writing and watchmaking into dialogue gives Nouvelle a distinctive identity. The watch does not seek to multiply effects. Instead, it builds its character through a succession of details that take on meaning when observed together.

Even the presentation box takes part in this narrative. Presented in the form of a book, it naturally extends the experience imagined by BUCI and turns the watch’s packaging into a genuine object of correspondence with its world.

The small seconds as a narrative thread

In a traditional mechanical watch, the small seconds is above all a function. On Nouvelle, it becomes an element of language.

Its regular movement is a reminder that time is made up of a succession of fragments. Each second disappears almost immediately, yet still contributes to the building of a day, and then of a larger story.

This approach aligns with BUCI’s philosophy, which prefers to suggest rather than demonstrate. The watch thus becomes an object that accompanies daily life and invites us to observe what usually escapes our attention.

Watchmaking here recovers an almost contemplative dimension. Winding your timepiece by hand, watching the small seconds move, observing the light on the dial: so many gestures that let us slow down and become aware of time rather than simply checking it.

A Swiss Made hand-wound mechanism

Behind this literature-inspired aesthetic, Nouvelle remains above all a genuine mechanical watch.

Its 36 mm case adopts a unisex dimension that favors a discreet presence on the wrist. The watch is assembled in Switzerland and driven by the hand-wound Sellita SW290 caliber, chosen to bring this mechanical vision of time to life.

The choice of manual winding also fits particularly well with the spirit of the collection. Each day, the owner is invited to perform a simple gesture to give the movement energy again. A daily appointment that places the watch in a more personal relationship with the person who wears it.

BUCI, independent and sensitive watchmaking

With Nouvelle, BUCI continues an approach begun with Garde-temps in 2022: to offer a vision of independent watchmaking in which the mechanical object also becomes a means of expression.

The previous collaborations with seconde/seconde/ and Revolution Watch had already allowed the young French house to explore different facets of its identity. Nouvelle now marks a new step by more directly associating watch creation with the literary world.

The result is a watch that does not only seek to tell the time. It offers a way of looking at it.

Because a day is never summed up by its major events alone. It is also made of a set of details, gestures, and sensations that, often without our being aware of it, build our memory.

With Nouvelle, BUCI turns these fragments into watchmaking language. A small seconds to measure the instants, a quill to evoke writing, a dial like a page, and a presentation box like a book: so many elements that make up a watch conceived as a story in motion.

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