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Bulgari Expands Steel & Titanium Octo Finissimo Collection

Among its wide-ranging 2021 debuts, Bulgari adds three new models to its Octo Finissimo collection of record-breaking ultra-thin watches. New to the collection: an Octo Finissimo S in a new monochrome style, an Octo Finissimo S Chronograph GMT, and the Octo Finissimo Chronograph GMT Titanium with a new dial and rubber strap.

Also new for Bulgari in 2021 are additions to its feminine Lvcea, Serpenti and Divas’ Dream collections, plus an impressive and highly complex Octo Roma Carillon Tourbillon. We’ll show you these new models in upcoming posts.

But first, below we introduce the new Bulgari Octo Finissimo watches.

Octo Finissimo S

One of last year’s highlight debuts, the Bulgari Octo Finissimo S, introduced collectors to the brand’s first all-steel entry within the Octo Finissimo’s ultra-thin automatic range.

Until that launch, Bulgari had limited the Octo Finissimo collection of record-setting ultra-thin watches to designs with ceramic, precious metal or titanium cases and bracelets.

The Bulgari Octo Finissimo S is 6.4mm thin.

The premiere Octo Finissimo S with its all-steel case and bracelet, water resistance of 100 meters and case measuring 6.4mm thin, drew positive notices almost immediately, in part due to its entry level (for Octo Finissimo) $12,000 price point and broader appeal.

A year later, Bulgari adds an encore to the steel collection with a new monochrome Octo Finissimo S featuring a 40mm steel satin-polished case and a new silver vertical-brushed monochromatic dial. The watch, now the third in the steel collection (following the blue-dialed debut in mid-2020) retains the collection’s contemporary design, especially with its radially brushed bezel.

Back view of the Bulgari Octo Finissimo S, showing Caliber BVL 138 with micro-rotor.

The new watch is powered by automatic in-house ultra-thin caliber BVL 138 with micro-rotor. Echoing the entire steel collection, the watch is water-resistant to 100 meters, ensured by a polished steel screw-down crown set with ceramic.

Octo Finissimo S Chronograph GMT

With the success of the time-only steel Octo Finissimo S line, Bulgari in 2021 adds a chronograph GMT model in steel. Creating a steel model means Bulgari can offer its record-breaking ultra-thin chronograph in a more conventional steel case (and bracelet), which both reduces the price while also attracting consumers who might prefer steel watches. The chronograph GMT offerings within the Octo Finissimo collection had, until now, been limited to titanium-cased models.

Side view of the new The Bulgari Octo Finissimo S Chronograph GMT.

Called Octo Finissimo S Chronograph GMT, it features the existing Bulgari automatic in-house chronograph and GMT ultra-thin calibre BVL 318 with peripheral rotor.

The BVL 318 caliber., with peripheral rotor, is a mere 3.30mm thick.

Now offered with a satin-polished steel case and new blue dial, the watch also features silver (rather than black) counters, which Bulgari considers a “sport chic look.”

The new Octo Finissimo S Chronograph GMT joins the blue-dialed time-only Octo Finissimo S in Bulgari’s expanding ultra-thin steel collection.

On the dial you’ll find chronograph counters plus a GMT (second time zone) indicator. The watch’s 43mm diameter steel case measures 8.75mm thick, which is nicely integrated into the vertically brushed steel bracelet, accented with polished parts. And like the time-only steel model, the Octo Finissimo S Chronograph features a larger screw-down crown than the former sandblasted models. This ensures water resistance to 100 meters.

Octo Finissimo Chronograph GMT Titanium

As the third new watch in the Octo Finissimo collection this year, this 42mm titanium model essentially echoes the 2019 titanium-cased edition that captured the 2019 GPHG award for best chronograph watch. This year, Bulgari adds a new, sportier black dial and an appropriate sporty rubber strap to what remains the thinnest automatic chronograph watch available.

Caseback view of the Bulgari Octo Finissimo Chronograph GMT Titanium, showing Caliber BVL318.

Specifications: Bulgari Octo Finissimo S

Movement: Mechanical Manufacture with automatic winding via a platinum micro-rotor, hours, minutes and small seconds indications. BVL138 Finissimo caliber (2.23mm thick) adorned with Côtes de Genève stripes, chamfered bridges and circular-grained baseplate, 60-hour power reserve, 21,600 vph.

Case: 40mm extra-thin satin-polished steel case (6.40mm thick) with transparent caseback; polished steel screw-down crown set with ceramic inlay.

Dial: Silvered vertical-brushed, water-resistant to 100 meters.

Bracelet:  Integrated vertical brushed steel with polished parts and folding clasp.

Price: $12,000.

Bulgari Octo Finissimo Chronograph GMT Steel

Movement: Mechanical manufacture chronograph and GMT with automatic winding (peripheral rotor) and small seconds – BVL 318 caliber (3.30mm thick). 55-hour power reserve; local timezone adjusted through the push button at 9 o’clock.

 Case: 43mm extra-thin satin-polished steel (8.75mm thick) with transparent caseback; radial brushed bezel; polished steel screw-down crown set with ceramic inlay.

Dial: Blue sunray with silver GMT, chronograph and seconds counters; water-resistant to 100 meters.

Bracelet: Integrated vertical brushed steel with folding clasp.

Price: $16,500.

Bulgari Octo Finissimo Chronograph GMT Titanium

Movement: Mechanical manufacture chronograph and GMT with automatic winding (peripheral rotor) and small seconds – BVL 318 caliber (3.30mm thick). 55-hour power reserve; local timezone adjusted through the push button at 9 o’clock.

Case: 42 mm extra-thin sandblasted titanium (6.90 mm thick) with transparent case back; sandblasted titanium crown set with ceramic; black opaline dial; water-resistant to 30 meters.

Bracelet:  Black rubber with sandblasted titanium pin buckle.

Price: $17,200.

The Watches January 25, 2021

De Bethune Flips With Two-Sided Titanium Tourbillon

De Bethune last week launched the DB Kind of Two Tourbillon, a two-sided watch with a contemporary tourbillon dial that the wearer can flip to show a classical time-only dial.

Like other two-sided watches, the new De Bethune watch means the wearer can choose to expose one of two different dials on his or her wrist.

The contemporary side of the De Bethune DB Kind of Two Tourbillon.

One side of the 42.8mm titanium watch displays the contemporary design with multi-level elements and delta-shaped bridge for which De Bethune is identified. This dial features the brand’s distinctive central hours and minutes hands and its high-speed tourbillon and a thirty-second indication. Here however, De Bethune altered its deltoid-shaped bridge just a bit to make it perfectly symmetrical, a design meant to create a stark sense of harmony.

Classic side

On the other side of the DB Kind of Two De Bethune offers a more classical three-hand, time-only hand-guilloché dial, complete with Arabic numerals collectors might recognize from the brand’s DB8 and DB10. Note that the seconds indication on this side is centrally based, unlike the tourbillon-based seconds indication at the 6 o’clock position on the other side.

De Bethune notes that two-dial watches and clocks have a long history, starting with multi-face tower clocks and extending to similarly equipped table clocks. More recently, we’re familiar with the famed dual-dial Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso. Serious collectors also wear certain two-faced watches from Bovet, Cartier and others.

To devise the new dual-dial watch, De Bethune had to re-design its famed floating lug case to allow the flip-over case to pivot easily, rotate on its central axis and then to click into place securely. This operation is a simple one because the brand equipped each side of the case with a clever rotating mechanism made up of twenty-eight steel and titanium components.

Equally important is the case’s middle section, which swivels naturally and frames the case and the crown. That crown lands gracefully at either 6 o’clock or 12 o’clock, depending on which side of the DB Kind of Two Tourbillon the wearer chooses to view.

Inside the watch De Bethune’s Caliber DB2579 features patented technical flourishes well known to De Bethune devotees. These include a titanium balance with white gold inserts (optimized for temperature differences and air penetration) and a self-regulating twin barrel. For the tourbillon, De Bethune utilizes the ultra-light, 30-second titanium design it first debuted in 2008.

Price: $250,000.

Specifications: De Bethune DB Kind of Two Tourbillon

Movement: Manual-wind Caliber DB2579 with five-day power reserve, self-regulating twin barrel (De Bethune Innovation, 2004), titanium balance wheel with white gold inserts, optimized for temperature differences and air penetration (De Bethune Patent, 2016), balance-spring with flat terminal curve (De Bethune Patent, 2006), silicon escape wheel, and ultra-light tourbillon in titanium. 36,000 vibrations per hour. Finishing includes polished and chamfered barrel bridge with shot-blasted stages, polished and chamfered titanium minute bridge with microlight decoration and hand-snailed barrels.

Contemporary single-sided display: hand-polished and blued titanium for hours and minutes with polished inserts, ultra-light De Bethune 30’’ tourbillon in titanium. Hour ring and 30” polished titanium dial with shot-blasted stages, blued polished titanium hour-markers, silvered and relief minute dial.

Classic reverse side display: Hand-polished and blued titanium for hours, minutes and seconds. Dial silvered and relief, with convex levels and guilloché central part.

Case: 42.8mm by 9.5mm titanium with crown at noon on the front, at 6 o’clock on the back, and integrated into the case. Polished grade 5 titanium floating lugs (De Bethune Patent, 2006). Case turning mechanism that can be clearly positioned on the front or back.  Water resistance to 30 meters.

Strap: Alligator leather, alligator lining.  Pin buckle in polished grade 5 titanium.

Price: $250,000.

Watch Of The Day January 21, 2021

Citizen’s Titanium 50th Anniversary Satellite Wave Now Available

Citizen’s new Satellite Wave GPS F950 Titanium 50th Anniversary Limited Model, a 550-piece limited edition we first told you about in June, is now available on the Citizen website.

Citizen’s new Satellite Wave GPS F950 Titanium 50th Anniversary Limited Model, now available.

The watch was launched by Citizen to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Citizen X-8 Chronometer, the world’s first titanium watch.

Building on Citizen’s Satellite Wave technology, which assures highly accurate GPS-based timekeeping anywhere on earth, the newest model combines Citizen’s newest version of that GPS satellite technology inside with a decidedly luxurious multi-layered case nicely integrated with an angular-link bracelet.

Citizen outfits the new watch with its own Duratect 2 DLC surface hardening that protects the 47.5mm case. The luxury accent here is an inner bezel that Citizen creates using its rose-gold-like Duratect Sakura Pink titanium, the same eye-catching metal that coats the caseback.

Citizen is now selling its Satellite Wave GPS F950 Titanium 50th Anniversary Limited Model exclusively on its website. Price: $5,000

Watch Of The Day January 20, 2021

Panerai Celebrates Free Diver with Limited Edition Luminor

Panerai underscores its deep connection with divers of all types this week as it introduces the Luminor Marina 44mm − Guillaume Néry Edition (PAM01122).

Inspired by free diver and brand ambassador Guillaume Néry, Panerai has outfitted the new dive watch with a 44mm titanium case produced using Direct Metal Laser Sintering technology, which shapes titanium using a 3D printing process.

The new Panerai Luminor Marina 44mm − Guillaume Néry Edition (PAM01122),

Referencing Néry’s deep-dives, Panerai is also adding sporty touches such as a rubberized coating on the bezel, crown and bridge lever, a convex crystal and a dial with an eye-catching dégradé effect that Panerai says emulates “the shades produced as sunlight filters through the depths of the sea.”

Water resistant to 300 meters, the Luminor Marina 44mm − Guillaume Néry Edition is powered by Panerai’s own Caliber P.9010, a fairly thin automatic movement equipped with two barrels for a three-day power reserve. Panerai built a quick-change feature into this movement that allows the wearer to easily adjust the time and date with in one-hour increments, with the hour hand connected to the date indicator.

In addition, Panerai has equipped the watch with an especially sporty strap made from black recycled PET material with white stitching and a trapezoidal pin buckle.

Panerai is also enhancing the package of the boutique-only watch with its first white rubber strap emblazoned with ‘Officine Panerai.’ In each gift box buyers will find a screwdriver that will assist the owner when removing the buckle to swap straps.

The caseback includes an engraving depicting the silhouette of the freediver and Panerai Ambassador Guillaume Néry.

Panerai will make the new watch available in its own boutiques as a limited edition of seventy, each of which will be covered by a new seventy-year warranty. Price: $18,900.

Specifications: Panerai Luminor Marina 44mm − Guillaume Néry Edition (PAM01122—limited edition of 70 pieces, boutique edition).

Movement: Automatic Caliber P.9010, 6mm thick, 28,800 vph, two barrels, three-day power reserve.

Panerai’s own caliber P.9010, with two barrels and supplying a three-day power reserve.

Case: 44mm by 16.2mm sandblasted DMLS titanium, safety lock crown protection device (protected by trademark) in sandblasted titanium, titanium bezel, crown and bridge lever with rubberized coating, sapphire crystal, twelve-sided screwed caseback, sandblasted titanium with DLC coating, engraved with the “70 Years Warranty” logo, water resistant to 300 meters.

Dial: Black with dégradé effect, sandwich structure with Arabic numerals and indexes  in white SuperLuminova with green luminescence. Seconds at 9 o’clock, date at 3 o’clock.

Strap: Recycled PET, black with white stitching  and trapezoidal pin buckle in titanium with DLC coating. Additional white rubber strap with luminescent  “Officine Panerai” personalization.

Price: $18,900.

Watch Of The Day January 18, 2021

Breguet’s Beating Heart

The watchmaker’s new Queen of Naples Coeur 9825 is a rose gold valentine to love.

Breguet enhances the technicality of its annual ode to Valentine’s Day with a new invention that mimics a beating heart. The luxury watchmaker’s 2021 Reine de Naples watch, released in time for the lover’s holiday on February 14, features a minute hand in the shape of a heart that slowly expands or contracts as it makes its way around the elongated oval dial.

The hand on this Breguet Reine de Naples Cœur (Heart) edition is centered at the 6 o’clock position. Mimicking a beating heart, the hand stretches as it moves across the top half of the dial, and become more rounded as the hand reaches the lower part of the dial.

To propel the unusual minute hand, Breguet devised an oval-shaped cam (shaped to mirror the case) located under the dial. The cam controls two independent arms that together make up the hand. Each rotating arm moves at a different speed, creating the illusion of a beating heart.

The red heart-tipped hour hand points to minutes along the hours indicators, which are set with small hearts every five minutes. The watch dial itself is sapphire and finished with translucent white lacquer. The hour is indicated by a dot of purple lacquer within a window just above the minute hand.

The Breguet Reine de Naples Cœur 9825, showing how the hour hand expands and contracts as it rounds the dial.

Breguet enhances the romance here with a generous use of rose gold for the 36.5mm by 28.45mm oval case and sets diamonds along the bezel and again around the dial just beneath the crystal. The sapphire-crystal caseback allows a view of the new automatic caliber 78A0 that features an in-line escapement with a silicon escape wheel and balance spring. Though we were not provided with pictures of the movement, Breguet has undoubtedly finished the caliber to its usual superlative level.

The brand notes that the Reine de Naples, one of the brand’s most successful collections, is inspired by Breguet model no. 2639 made in 1810 for Caroline Murat, Queen of Naples, who commissioned it.

Breguet will make twenty-eight Reine de Naples Coeur watches and will offer them at its own brand boutiques. Look for each watch to be presented in an envelope clutch bag finished in grained calfskin leather and dyed vermilion red to match the strap. Price: $46,100.

Bulgari Expands Steel & Titanium Octo Finissimo Collection

De Bethune Flips With Two-Sided Titanium Tourbillon

Citizen’s Titanium 50th Anniversary Satellite Wave Now Available

Panerai Celebrates Free Diver with Limited Edition Luminor

Breguet’s Beating Heart

AIKON AUTOMATIC DATE 42MM- Maurice Lacroix

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Highlife Worldtimer Manufacture- Frederique Constant