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Bulgari Teams With Phillips for New Octo Finissimo

As the Bulgari Octo Finissimo celebrates its ten-year anniversary, the originator of the design and the Phillips auction house have teamed to create the Octo Finissimo Special Edition Phillips in Association with Bacs and Russo, a limited edition model that echoes the collection’s monochromatic dial, thin octagonal case and symmetric design elements.

The Bulgari Octo Finissimo Special Edition Phillips in Association with Bacs and Russo.

Since Bulgari designs always reference Roman architecture, the new special edition also retains the Roman sense of geometric symmetry. Thus, around the center of the sand-blasted titanium dial you’ll see a symmetric set of engraved markers with only the 12 and 6 breaking the pattern. The new watch eliminates the seconds subdial found on the historic Octo Finissimo design, a decision that highlights the full round dial within the eight-sided case.

“With this sectored dial design, our intent was to create a symmetry and pay tribute not only to Bulgari’s Italian roots, but also to the great Italian architects and designers of the 20th century,” explains Aurel Bacs, Senior Consultant, Bacs & Russo.

“By eschewing the small seconds counter, a first for this model, we wanted to draw the focus on the engraved dial with its large numerals and the chapter ring whose color sways from black to grey to bronze, depending on the lighting.”

The thin 40mm case and the bracelet are finished to match the dial in sand-blasted titanium.

Bulgari’s BVL 138 movement with a platinum micro-rotor (visible from the caseback) powers the watch, offering an impressive 60-hour power reserve. The watch will be sold as a limited edition of fifty pieces via Phillips Watches.

Price: $16,600.

Specifications: 

Octo Finissimo Special Edition Phillips in Association with Bacs and Russo (Ref. 103709)

Movement: Extra-flat mechanical self-winding with platinum micro-rotor, Caliber BVL 138 (2.23 mm thick); 60-hour power reserve; frequency 21,600 vph (3 Hz). 

Case: 40mm sand-blasted 40mm titanium, transparent case back with special engraving on the sapphire crystal on the reverse side, water-resistant to 30 meters. 

Dial: Laser-engraved sand-blasted titanium.

Bracelet: Sandblasted titanium with integrated folding clasp. 

Price: $16,600. 

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Bulgari Debuts Two Collaborations and New Pink Gold and Black Ceramic Watches

Especially notable among Bulgari’s late 2022 debuts, which premiere this week during Geneva Watch Days, are two special editions created in collaboration with Japanese designers. 

One watch, made with architect Kazuyo Sejima, is a limited edition Octo Finissimo with a mirror-effect dial, while the second is a silver-toned model series made with Japanese artist Sorayama that extends the recently revived Bulgari Aluminum collection.

The Octo Finissimo Sejima Edition stems from a collaboration between Bulgari and the Japanese architect Kazuyo Sejima.

Both these special editions arrive as part of an impressive, wide-ranging set of debuts for the Italo-Swiss watchmaker/jeweler.

The new Bulgari Octo Finissimo Chronograph GMT Automatic, now in a satin-brushed rose gold case and with a subtle brown-lacquered dial.

The full range of Bulgari debuts, which we’ll detail in future posts, includes several premiere pink- or rose-gold-cased models within the Octo Finissimo collection.

The new Bulgari Octo Finissimo Skeleton 8 Days debuts a new hand-wound manufacture movement, caliber BVL 199 SK, with an 8-day power reserve.

These include new gold watches within the Octo Finissimo Skeleton 8 Days, the Octo Finissimo Chronograph GMT Automatic  ($35,800) series and the Octo Finissimo Automatic reference.

The back of the new Bulgari Octo Finissimo Skeleton 8 Days exposes the new caliber BVL 199 SK.

One of those debuts, the Bulgari Octo Finissimo Skeleton 8 Days ($37,300), marks the launch of a sharp-looking new hand-wound manufacture movement, caliber BVL 199 SK, with an 8-day power reserve.

The new Bulgari Serpenti Seduttori Black.

Bulgari also added newly blackened steel or ceramic cases and bracelets to models within its Serpenti Seduttori, Serpenti Spiga and Bvlgari Bvlgari collections.

The new Bvlgari Bvlgari Black, available in 41mm and 33mm case sizes.
The new Bulgari Serpenti Spiga Ceramic boasts a 35mm black ceramic case and a rose gold bezel set with diamonds.

And finally, look for a new white gold Serpenti Seduttori Tourbillon set with black spinel and diamonds ($185,000).

The new white gold Serpenti Seduttori Tourbillon is set with black spinel and diamonds.

Octo Finissimo Sejima Edition

Japanese architect Kazuyo Sejima, who holds the 2010 Pritzker Prize among many other architecture awards, focuses the eye with a mirrored dial under a dot-pattern sapphire crystal on her version of the eight-sided Bulgari Octo Finissimo. The effect is mesmerizing, especially with the entire dial framed in a 36.6mm polished stainless steel case.

According to Bulgari, the idea bring together a “contrast between material and transparency, the visible and the invisible,” which Sejima devised in part to reflect the aesthetic codes apparent in her architectural work.

The architect’’s signature is inscribed on the sapphire crystal caseback, which opens up the  nicely decorated automatic Manufacture movement, BVL Calibre 138 – complete with (surprise!) a platinum micro-rotor. 

Bulgari will make the Octo Finissimo Sejima Edition as a 360-piece limited edition and will delivered it in a special mirrored steel box. Price: $14,100.

Bulgari’s new Aluminum Sorayama Special Edition.

Aluminum Sorayama

The shapes and textures on this Bulgari Aluminum Sorayama Special Edition are meant to recall the aesthetics of automobiles and airplanes of the 1930s and 1940s.

On the dial you’ll find pearlescent swirls, propeller-shaped hour-markers and only one numeral (2), said to be Sorayama’s lucky number. According to the artist, the swirls are inspired by the surface of Spirit of St. Louis, the airplane that Charles Lindbergh flew when he made the first nonstop solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean.

The 40mm limited edition (of 1,000) is Bulgari’s third special edition Aluminum model since 2020, when Bulgari revived the 1998 design with automatic movements and updated technical features. Here, you’ll find a rubber bezel, water resistance to 100 meters and a crown and caseback made of reinforced black titanium.

The watch’s rubber strap also includes the watch’s namesake metal, with aluminum links and pin buckle. Inside Bulgari fits Beating inside the case is a mechanical self-winding movement with a 42-hour power reserve. Price: $3,300.  

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Bulgari Launches Aluminum GMT Tribute to Italian Ship

With its new Aluminum GMT Amerigo Vespucci, Bulgari pays tribute to the Vespucci, a three-mast Italian navy training ship. The new watch, a limited edition of 1,000, is Bulgari’s second recent Aluminum Collection debut, arriving just weeks after the Aluminum Chronograph Ducati Special Edition.

The new Bulgari Aluminum GMT Amerigo Vespucci Special Edition.

As Bulgari’s sportiest design, the Bvlgari Aluminum series has long been one of the Italian-Swiss watchmaker and jeweler’s most successful collections, with its lightweight case and bold Bvlgari Bvlgari-branded black or blue rubber bezel.

Bulgari originally fit its Aluminum series with a mechatronic-quartz movement but updated the collection in 2020 with mechanical calibers. Here, Bulgari fits the new watch with its Caliber BVL 192, a GMT movement powering a dual-time display indicated by a yellow-tipped luminescent arrow hand.

The new watch’s dial displays both the Italian colors and the yellow hue found on the namesake ship. As the GMT hand rotates once in twenty-four hours, it indicates the hour within a chosen second time zone. Bulgari simplifies the timekeeping by marking the two twelve-hour zones in contrasting black and yellow to distinguish between day and night.

The Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian Navy training ship.

This 40mm aluminum watch is water-resistant to 100 meters and features a titanium caseback that is engraved with “Nave Scuola Amerigo Vespucci” and the motto: “Non chi cominicia ma quel che persevere” (Not he who begins, but he who perseveres).

As with all Bulgari aluminum watches, this latest model is fit with an articulated rubber strap. Price: $3,950, limited to 1000 pieces.

Specifications: Bulgari Aluminum GMT Amerigo Vespucci Special Edition

Movement: Automatic BVL Caliber 192 with GMT function (second time-zone indication) and 50-hour power reserve, 28,800 vph (4 Hz) frequency.

Case: 40mm aluminum, black DLC-coated titanium back, black rubber bezel, DLC-coated titanium crown,

Dial: Black bearing inscription, rhodium-plated hour-markers and hours and minutes hands filled with SuperLuminova, yellow rhodium-plated seconds hand, black and yellow 24- hour outer dial with an arrow-shaped GMT hand filled with SuperLuminova, date window at 3 o’clock. Water-resistant to 100 meters.

Strap: Rubber with aluminum links, aluminum pin buckle.

Price: $3,950 (1,000-piece limited edition)

 

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Bulgari Races Alongside Ducati with New Chronograph

With the new Aluminum Chronograph Ducati Special Edition, Bulgari combines its sporty aluminum-cased chronograph design with Ducati’s racing-infused motorbike colors and typography. The watch’s conspicuous use of materials such as titanium (caseback, crown and pushers) and rubber (bezel) also match Ducati’s high-performance image in this colorful iteration of the original Bulgari Aluminum watch first seen in 1998.

Bulgari Aluminum Chronograph Ducati Special Edition.

In its premiere co-design with Ducati, Bulgari’s new 40mm, 1,000-piece limited edition features three dark subdials set within a dial colored with the same deep red hue used throughout historic Bologna-based factories. And more specific to Ducati, the dial’s 10, 11 and 12 o’clock numerals echo the same layout found on the dashboards of famed Italian motorbikes.

As Bulgari’s sportiest design, the Bvlgari Aluminum series has long been one of the Italian-Swiss watchmaker and jeweler’s most successful collections, with its lightweight case and bold Bvlgari Bvlgari-branded black (and sometimes blue) rubber bezel.

Bulgari originally fit its Aluminum series with a mechatronic-quartz movement but updated the collection in 2020. Here, Bulgari fits the latest in the series with its automatic BVL 130 caliber.

Bulgari offers the watch with its own aluminum and rubber presentation box bearing the logos of both the Italian brands. Price: $5,000.

Specifications: Bulgari Aluminum Chronograph Ducati Special Edition

(1,000-piece limited edition)

Movement: Automatic Caliber BVL 130 with chronograph and date, 42-hour power reserve, 28,800 vph (4 Hz) frequency.

Case: 40mm aluminum, titanium caseback with DLC coating and engraved Ducati logo; rubber bezel, crown and pushers in DLC-coated titanium. Water-resistant to 100 meters.

Dial: Red Ducati-color, hour-markers and hours and minutes hands filled with SuperLuminova, three black counters with red hands; date window.

Bracelet: Rubber strap with aluminum links, aluminum pin buckle.

Price: $5,000.

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Bulgari Continues Breaking Records with Octo Finissimo Ultra

Bulgari celebrates the eighth anniversary of its ultra-thin, record-breaking Octo Finissimo collection by introducing another record-breaking watch, the Octo Finissimo Ultra, the world’s thinnest mechanical watch.

The new Bulgari Octo Finissimo Ultra, the world’s thinnest mechanical watch.

Measuring 1.80mm thick and 40mm in diameter, the new watch is Bulgari’s eighth watch breaking a record for its thinness, bypassing Piaget’s Altiplano Ultimate Concept watch from 2018, which measures 2.0mm thick.

Bulgari’s’ impressive run of record-breaking Octo Finissimo watches began in 2014 with the Octo Finissimo Tourbillon Manual, and extended into last year’s Octo Finissimo Perpetual Calendar. (See below for full list of all the Octo Finissimo record-breaking watches).

Bulgari says it had to rethink its approach to achieving such thin cases and movements in order to ensure the new watch’s rigidity and functionality. Step one was to combine the movement with the case, which essentially makes the watch its own movement and places all its components onto one plane.

Thus, Bulgari uses the new watch’s case back as a main plate on which it builds all 170 components of the BVL Calibre 180. Bulgari achieved the required rigidity by making the case middle, case back/main plate, bezel and titanium lugs from a dense, hard and ultra-resistant combination of carbon and tungsten. Bulgari uses the same material to construct the bracelet, which is required to integrate perfectly into the case with the same thinness.

To resolve the thinness problem presented by the traditional winding crown, Bulgari devised two horizontal, knurled knobs for this watch. One knob (at the 8 o’clock position) is for winding and the other for setting (at the 3 o’clock position). Both can be handled when the watch is on the wrist.

Bulgari has filed eight patent applications for this watch. They relate to the watch glass assembly, barrel structure, oscillator module, differential display, modular structure, bracelet, bi-metal case middle-main plate/case back, as well as the Bulgari Singvlarity technology.

Unusually, Bulgari has engraved a QR code on the watch’s large barrel ratchet wheel. The code opens an online space dedicated to the watch that will feature interviews, making-of segments, a virtual 3D tour of the movement, and an exploration of the visible/invisible concept linked to the watch. Each of the ten owners of the Octo Finissimo Ultra will also receive an exclusive NFT artwork guaranteeing the authenticity of the watch and the link to its owner.

Price: 400,000 euros (about $440,000)

 

Eight Years of Bulgari Ultra Thin Records

Bulgari’s Octo Finissimo debuts since 2014 include watches that demonstrate and impressive range of timekeeping, acoustic and astronomical complications, in addition to their ultra-thin profile.

These watches (above) are, from left: Octo Finissimo Tourbillon Manual (2014, BVL Calibre 268, 1.95 mm), Octo Finissimo Minute Repeater (2016, BVL 362, 3.12 mm), Octo Finissimo Automatic (2017, BVL 138, 2. 23 mm), Octo Finissimo Tourbillon Automatic (2018, BVL 288, 3.95 mm), Octo Finissimo Chronograph GMT Automatic (2019, BVL 318, 3.30 mm), Octo Finissimo Tourbillon Chronograph Skeleton Automatic (2020, BVL 388, 3.50 mm), Octo Finissimo Perpetual Calendar (2021, BVL 305, 2.75 mm). This year: Octo Finissimo Ultra (see above).

Source: Bulgari

 

Specifications: Bulgari Octo Finissimo Ultra

Movement: Mechanical ultra-thin Manufacture manual-winding movement – BVL Calibre 180 (1.50 mm thick). Winding and time-setting wheels in stainless steel; seconds display directly on the fourth wheel; ratchet wheel engraved with unique QR code that links to an exclusive NFT artwork. 50-hour power reserve; 28,800 VPH (4 Hz) frequency.

Case and dial: 40mm sandblasted titanium case and tungsten carbide plate with anthracite DLC treatment (1.80 mm thick); hours and minutes counters, black PVD-treated hands; water-resistant to 1 ATM (10 meters).

Bracelet: Ultra-thin titanium bracelet with integrated folding clasp.

Limited edition of 10.

 

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