Bulgari celebrates its 140th birthday with a love letter to the technical drawings of legendary watch designer, Fabrizio Buonamassa Stigliani
By Sharan Sanil
It’s easy to forget that Bulgari despite having a long, long history with jewelsmithing, happened to launch their first watches nearly a century ago. More bracelet than watch, these bejewelled art-deco pieces — popular in Paris at the time — were the precursors to the Roma brand’s later creations; ones that took Italian panache and married it to Swiss watchmaking sensibilities.
Of the many watches that came from this partnership, the most popular remains 2012’s Octo Finissimo; its famous octagonal silhouette framing everything from unusual case materials like marble, to the multiple record-shattering ultra- thin innards that have made it so famous today. So, it comes as no surprise that the brand’s latest limited editions drew upon the model’s iconic legacy.
Product Creation Executive Director at Bulgari Horlogerie, Fabrizio Buanamma Stigliani, has once again picked up pen and paper for the Maison, two years after his original sketches were used to make the Bulgari Octo Finissimo 2022 10th Anniversary ‘Sketch’. The result is a far-more-detailed rendition of the watch’s rear from the front; giving wearers the breathtaking illusion of wearing one of watchmaking’s greatest blueprints — except instead of paper, they’re set in 18k rose gold and steel.
The 2022 Sketch largely played with texture and finishing — simply choosing to reflect Stigliani’s conceptual work onto a sandblasted titanium dial. This year, his team have leaned much harder into the hand-drawn aesthetic, choosing to incorporate shading, varying line weights to provide the illusion of depth, more labelling, and curiously, an indice-free 46,24,442) while the steel version will retail at $19,479 (Rs 16,13,981).
The Octo Finissimo Chronograph GMT BVL 318 Sketch continues the innovative approach, featuring a 43 mm polished steel case with a slimness of 8.75 mm to elegantly house its GMT chronograph complications. The automatic manufacture movement with a peripheral oscillating weight provides a 55-hour power reserve. This design, pivotal for the watch’s record- breaking thinness in 2019, incorporates a calibre measuring a mere 3.3 mm in height that not only includes a 30-minute chronograph and central second but also displays a second time zone at 3 o’clock.
Limited to just 140 pieces, this edition showcases a sketch featuring key elements of the dial and the back of the movement. Skilfully blending the iconic Tri-Compax chronograph display (GMT at 3 o’clock, 30-minute counter at 6 o’clock, small seconds at 9 o’clock) with a balance represented between 4 and 5 o’clock, the emblematic column wheel at 8 o’clock, and exquisite finishing details on the bridges and gears. The open caseback reveals the original BVL 318 caliber with the special markings ‘EDIZIONE LIMITATA’ and Bulgari’s anniversary, ‘1884 – 2024’. Set in steel, 140 numbered pieces of the GMT will be sold at around $22,763 (Rs 18,86,085).
Reproduced with permission from Mansworldindia.com
