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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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Bulgari Launches Miniature Movement for Serpenti

Highlighting its LVMH Watch Week, Bulgari unveils BVL100, a new miniature mechanical movement, which Bulgari places inside the head of new snake-shaped Serpenti bracelet watches.

One of four new Bulgari Serpenti Misteriosi High Jewelry models with Bulgari’s new small mechanical movement.

Bulgari dubs the new movement Piccolissimo (Italian for “very small”), and it is indeed one of the smallest mechanical calibers available, measuring a wispy 12.30 mm in diameter and 2.50 mm thick.

“We believe this is the smallest round caliber currently on the market, and it opens up a new world of possibilities for us in this collection and beyond,” notes Antoine Pin, managing director of Bulgari Watches.

The new Bulgari BVL100 movement. Set inside the Serpenti Misteriosi head, the movement can be switched for left or right hand wear.

Bulgari launches the new caliber inside four lacquered and gem-set Serpenti Misteriosi watches.

With this 2022 debut, Bulgari re-establishes a mechanical time display within the Serpenti collection. The watch and jewelry maker debuted Serpenti in the 1950s outfitted with manual-wind calibers but in recent years has equipped the line with quartz movements. With only a few very limited exceptions, the Serpenti lines have been powered by quartz calibers since the late 1980s.

In addition to the new mechanical caliber, the Serpenti Misteriosi offers a wholly new convertible option: Each watch is designed to be worn on either wrist.

Bulgari has cleverly devised an interchangeable movement housing for Serpenti Misteriosi that can be removed from within the snake’s head and turned in the other direction to be visible on the left or right arm.

The Bulgari Serpenti Misteriosi offers a wholly new convertible option. Each watch is designed to be worn on either wrist.
The Bulgari Serpenti Misteriosi offers a wholly new convertible option. Each watch is designed to be worn on either wrist.

The movement

Bulgari explains that it builds the new BVL100 caliber with 102 components that in total weigh a mere 1.3 grams. In order to power the hands, watchmakers fit a 170mm-long mainspring into a barrel that measures 5mm thick and 1.47 mm across. And to ensure the greatest inertia, Bulgari opted for a white gold balance wheel.

The wearer views the time on the new Serpenti models by pressing the snake’s tongue, revealing the diamond-set dial. A bidirectional crown on the caseback controls Winding and time setting.

Since 2014 Bulgari has introduced a series of record-breaking (and award-winning) ultra-thin watches within its Octo Finissimo collection. With its new Piccolissimo caliber, Bulgari now expects to extend its dominance of ultra-thin watchmaking to what have traditionally been ‘ladies’ sized models with small diameters and high gemstone counts.

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MB&F Teams with Bulgari for Gemstone-Set LM FlyingT Allegra

MB&F has joined forces with Bulgari to create the new Legacy Machine FlyingT Allegra, a dramatic colored-gem-set iteration of the LM FlyingT, MB&F’s first venture into feminine-focused design.

You may recall that the LM FlyingT was quite a success upon its launch in 2019. Customers clamored for it, and the industry awarded it the prize for Best Ladies’ Complication at the 2019 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève. The 39.5mm by 20mm watch displays hours and minutes on a 50° vertically tilted dial with two serpentine hands regulated by a dramatically raised flying tourbillon at the center.

Just last year MB&F added a limited edition guilloché-dialed LM FlyingT series cased in red gold and platinum. More recently, the watchmaker launched an eye-catching Lapis Lazuli LM FlyingT model. MB&F noted at the time that it expected to announce at least one new gemstone-set edition annually.

The new MB&F x Bulgari LM FlyingT Allegra, here in a pink gold case.

For the newest edition, the MB&F x Bulgari LM FlyingT Allegra, Bulgari’s well-established gemstone expertise merges with the LM FlyingT’s existing diamond-set dial plate to create a terrific counterbalance the technical center of the dial.

Prominent single stones of tourmaline, tsavorite, diamonds, rubellite, amethyst, tanzanite and topaz flank the watch’s diamond-set flying tourbillon and the balance at the center.

Bulgari opts for a cabochon cut for each stone, a choice that not only makes the stones all the more prominent above the dial, but that also perfectly matches the FlyingT Allegra’s round case.

On the back of the watch MB&F again creates a sun-shaped oscillating weight with gold rays rotating on a ruthenium disc above a platinum counterweight.

The caseback reveals the sun-shaped oscillating weight.

MB&F will offer twenty MB&F x Bulgari LM FlyingT Allegra watches, cased in either pink gold or white gold. Each is set with fully diamond-set dial plates and adorned with Bulgari’s fine gemstones. Price: $185,000.

 

Specifications: MB&F x Bulgari Legacy Machine FlyingT Allegra

Movement: FlyingT featuring three-dimensional vertical architecture, automatic winding, conceived and developed in-house, central flying 60-second tourbillon, balance frequency of 18,000 (2.5 Hz), power reserve of 100 hours, three-dimensional sun winding rotor in 18k 5N+ red gold, titanium and platinum.

Dial: Hours and minutes displayed on a 50° vertically tilted dial with two serpentine hands. White gold version set with diamonds, tsavorite, topaz, amethyst, tanzanite and tourmaline. Pink gold version set with diamonds, tsavorite, tourmaline, tanzanite, amethyst and rubellite.

Case: 39mm x 20mm white gold or pink gold, set with diamonds. High domed sapphire crystal on top with anti-reflective coating on both sides, sapphire crystal on back. Two crowns: winding on left and time-setting on right. Water resistance to 30 meters.

Strap: Alligator leather strap with white or pink gold pin buckle matching the case.

Price: $185,000.

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