SpotlightGeneva Watch Days 2021: Bulgari Present Sheer Watchmaking And Gem-Setting Excellence
Bulgari live up to their reputation of being fine watchmakers and jewellers extraordinaire at Geneva Watch Days 2021, with novelties that represent the best of both the worlds that are often considered as extensions of each other. Here are highlights of the new Octo Romas, Divas’ Dreams, and a new Gerald Genta watch
May We Recommend
It really seems that at every event that Bulgari participate in through the year, they always have a plethora of novelties to unveil and talk about. The absolute wealth of their repertoire and their vast capabilities in watchmaking and in jewellery probably allow for several more opportunities for new and exciting talking pieces than brands can usually present. Moreover, the watches they showcase aren’t simply new sizes, new colours, or new materials of existing models. There are aspects of their timepieces that lend a newness that goes beyond variation. New models include new movements, new complications, new designs, new jewellery patterns, or an entirely new direction for a collection or series. The novelties they presented at Geneva Watch Days showcase a bit of all these things. While the Divas’ Dream’s new editions present dials made from the increasingly popular stones—lapis lazuli and malachite—the Divina Mosaica radiates with a resplendent gem-set pattern and a fine complication. The Octo Roma comes with two new complication editions, namely a hard-to-construct central tourbillon, and a world timer. And then there’s the quirky new Gerald Genta watch with the world’s favourite cartoon character. Let’s take a closer look at the highlights of these new pieces.
Divas’ Dream: A Dreamy Array Of Hues And Stones
The dreamy collection of jewelled timepieces that are known to offer as much resplendence as Bulgari’s Serpenti collection, if not more, has been a canvas for various different artistic crafts, especially seen in the dials. In this 2021 edition of the Divas’ Dream, the dials are crafted from stones that have been used in watches before, but are seeing something of a surge in popularity these days. Lapis lazuli and malachite, in their distinctive shades of blue and green, respectively, form the centrepieces of these watches, lending each piece a unique look, as the pattern of the stones won’t exactly be the same on any two cuts. The diamond hour markers establish a visual link with the diamond-set links of the bracelet. The bracelet takes forward the fan shape of the lugs that one usually sees in Divas’ Dream watches, and uses the structure for the links themselves. The inspiration also lies in Bulgari’s hometown, Rome—in particular, the pattern seen on the floors of the historical Caracalla thermal baths in the city.
Divina Mosaica: The World’s Thinnest Minute Repeater, With Exquisite Gem-Setting
Precious stones, captivating hues, and the fan shape make their way into the Divina Mosaica edition as well, with a bigger splash of opulence, forming an admirable showcase for the craft of gem-setting. The fan pattern is seen here on the dials, paved completely with precious stones—brilliant-cut diamonds and baguette-cut pink sapphires or green tsavorites—seen across the case and lugs as well. “This collection is all about emotion, and also involves a lot of skill. There’s a lot that goes into the selecting of colours of the stones, the cutting, the gem-setting and so on,” informs Antoine Pin, managing director of Bulgari watches. “They exemplify extraordinary jewellery making. And the construction is really beautiful. These pieces represent Bulgari’s values as jewellers and watchmakers really well,” he adds, referring to the fact that these watches have mechanical movements, as opposed to the quartz movements of the mainline Divas’ Dream timepieces above.
Adding to the watchmaking appeal of this edition is the pièce de résistance among these jewelled novelties—the Divina Mosaica Minute Repeater. The minute repeater is anyway among the more prestigious complications you can come across, and this rendition of the mechanism happens to be the thinnest striking movement that you can find today. Set in a white gold case, paved with brilliant- and baguette-cut diamonds, its most fascinating element is the minute repeater trigger. It’s a sliding trigger on the left-hand side of the case, and affixed to it is an adorable little diamond-set charm, in the fan shape, that you see across the mosaic-style dial and on the lugs of these watches.
Mechanical Watchmaking And Complications In Jewelled Watches
A fascinating little wonder, the 37mm Divina Mosaica Minute Repeater is a testament to Bulgari’s focus on watchmaking mechanics even in these jewellery pieces. In fact, in 2020, they had even come out with the smallest ever tourbillon movement, which powered the Serptenti Seduttori Tourbillon released at the time. “As jewellers and watchmakers, we see no reason to always keep the two separate. So we like to include mechanical movements in even our jewellery watches,” declares Pin. “Moreover, we strive towards making smaller mechanical calibres (they have seven world records in slimness in mechanical watchmaking). And with jewelled watches, smaller calibres are necessary. So that’s an added advantage for us.”
Octo Roma: The Collection Of Complications
The mechanical watchmaking savoir faire of Bulgari is what they highlight particularly with the Octo Roma collection. “The Octo Roma is what really presents watchmaking as precious as jewellery. It’s innovative and with complications that don’t necessarily fit into the thin cases of the Finissimo line,” Pin elucidates. “To explain how the Roma line distinguishes itself from the others… First, there’s the Bulgari Bulgari collection, with the Aluminium edition on the more affordable side of things. The line is a little younger—a lifestyle watch, with a leisurely appeal. Then there’s the Octo Finissimo, which is all about elegant watches that are slim—like the tailoring of Italian suits—while presenting innovation that pushes the boundaries of slim watchmaking. And then there’s the Octo Roma. While we don’t necessarily consider ourselves as makers of very classical watches, we do have a lot of traditional mechanisms and complications, presented as modern interpretations. These new 2021 Octo Roma editions are modern interpretations of the tourbillon and the world timer.”
In fact, the Octo Roma WorldTimer is almost an essential new addition to not just the collection, but also the brand’s entire repertoire, since the world timer function was not an option among their current collections until now. A step ahead of the GMT feature, which Bulgari already excel at, a world timer offers a quick reading of the time in all 24 major time zones, at a glance, which this watch offers. The Octo Roma WorldTimer is replete with a 24-hour scale and a time zone disc with cities representing the 24 zones. The cities align with the correct time on the 24-hour scale if the central time is set to your current zone, whose city is in turn aligned with the 12 o’clock position. The brand have released this in two versions—in steel with a blue dial, and in black DLC-treated, sandblasted steel with a black dial.
Just this week, the Octo Roma WorldTimer has been nominated for the men’s complication prize at the 2021 GPHGs (the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève)—the greatest honour in watchmaking
The angular and chiselled structure of the Octo Roma design can also be seen in the rose gold case of the Octo Roma Central Tourbillon Papillon. “It’s a rare central tourbillon, which requires a lot of reshuffling of the movement components, including the gears, barrel, transmission, etc,” explains Pin. And while a tourbillon with this position is itself an achievement, what makes this watch even more fascinating is the time-telling.
The digital hour display is seen through an aperture at 12 o’clock, while the minutes are depicted via two golden hands on a disc surrounding the tourbillon cage. One of the hands—shaped like double-headed arrows—rotates to close as it reaches the 60-minute mark at the nine o’clock position, while the opposite hand, at the zero-minute mark, opens up. The same thing happens every hour, as each hand takes alternating turns to indicate the minutes.
Bulgari’s ‘Four Grandfathers’
An interesting, little feature, this is what makes this watch really special, and it shows Bulgari’s commitment towards the craft of mechanical watchmaking and innovating with their calibres. “I would not compare Bulgari’s movements with Patek Philippe’s, but we do have an extraordinary portfolio of calibres,” expresses Pin. “And it all comes from our legacy. We look back to our heritage and adapt calibres of the past into modern movements offering innovative complications.” He also reveals that the Tourbillon Papillon’s calibre is in fact the third generation of a movement developed by celebrated watchmaker Daniel Roth, who has helped define Bulgari’s watches. “We have had four ‘grandfathers’, so to speak,” Pin reveals. “There was Sotirio Bulgari, our founder, whose legacy is our expertise in jewellery watches. Gianni Bulgari, on the other hand, played an instrumental role in pushing Bulgari into a modern era of watchmaking, with the Bulgari Bulgari collection. And finally, we have Daniel Roth and Gerald Genta—the innovators and watchmakers extraordinaire, who have helped define the DNA of the mechanical movements and complications that we offer today.”
Gerald Genta And Mickey Mouse
Gerald Genta is in fact one of the most celebrated watchmakers that the world has seen in the last several generations. His designs have defined archetypes of watches that are all too familiar to us today. He designed the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak and the Patek Philippe Nautilus—templates that inform the standard steel sport watches from countless brands today. While Bulgari acquired the Gerald Genta brand in 2000, their recent Gerald Genta editions have celebrated the watchmaker’s retrograde-minutes display, along with digital hours. The new 2021 Gerald Genta showcases this basic display as well, but it is also a nod to Genta’s Disney-themed watches of the 1980s, which featured characters such as Donald Duck, Goofy and Mickey Mouse. As probably the most loved cartoon character of all time, Mickey Mouse was chosen for this 2021 watch as well. With the digital ‘jumping hours’ aperture at about five o’clock, it’s the left hand of Mickey Mouse in the centre that acts as the minutes hand, as he points to the retrograde minutes scale. This automatic watch in steel is limited to 150 pieces.
With ornate dials and exquisite gem-setting, along with a celebration of mechanical movements, achievements and innovation in the field, Bulgari certainly do represent the best of both ends of the spectrum. Given their vast portfolio that only keeps getting more challenging and inspiring, we can’t wait to see what they’ll have up their sleeves for the next watch event they participate in. And knowing how much they have to offer, one can be sure that their next set of releases will be just as fascinating and diverse as this one.
