Two new Octo Finissimos! The saga continues for Bulgari as they expand into new materials for what is quickly becoming a hallmark model for the brand.
Bulgari debuts six new watches at the 2023 edition of Geneva Watch Days. We now have two new Serpenti watches, two new Monete Catene jewelry watches featuring antique coins, and – our focus for today – two new Octo Finissimo watches.
Bulgari Presents Novelties in Geneva
The theme for these new releases is “extraordinary duality,” and there are several pleasant contradictions in the new Octo Finissimos. Lightweight materials balance an expansive wrist presence. A perpetual calendar piece is balanced by a clean and simple time-only dial. And the technical futurism of carbon is balanced by the warm luxury of rose gold accents.
Bulgari has expanded the Octo Finissimo line through a range of complications and has set eight world records along the way. Most of these records are for thinness in movement making, and many still stand today. Now that the brand has created ultrathin complications like chronograph GMTs, perpetual calendars, and (technically non-complication) tourbillons, their expansive mindset is now determined to conquer new materials.
This combination of carbon and gold, which Bulgari are calling CarbonGold, dates back to 1993 in the brand’s archives. The anthracite carbon stretches across the case, dial, and bracelet for a cohesive yet complex visual statement with textures shifting and changing with even the slightest movement of the wrist.
The “Extraordinary Duality”
As intended, there’s ample duality between these materials: lightweight vs. substantial, matte vs. gloss, dark vs. light, futuristic vs. ancient, function vs. form. This tension between the two opposing materials is key to the ethos of these new Octos, but it may not be for everyone.
If the carbon case proves to be a hit, we could see a more tone-on-tone approach with platinum or white gold accents in the future. After all, rose gold has proven to be one of the more divisive metals on the market, and a monochromatic application with a white metal could lure in potential buyers who weren’t convinced by the contrast of CarbonGold.
So far, the Octo Finissimo has taken form in titanium, platinum, tantalum, steel, rose gold, yellow gold, and ceramic. That’s a much wider range than essentially any other watch on the market. The brand also made headlines in June 2023 when it debuted a special green marble Octo Finissimo for the biennial OnlyWatch charity auction. The one-of-one watch uses a vibrant variety of marble called Verde Alpi found in the Aosta Valley between Italy and Switzerland. The piece looks fit for a Medici family piazza and is completed by a tourbillon at six o’clock. The bracelet alone took 190 hours of labor to create, and it quickly became the most talked about piece out of the 62 lots up for bidding.
Bulgari’s buffet of materials is made more impressive given the technical prowess required to sculpt the Octo Finissimo case. 110 facets come together in a ziggurat-like formation with a case thickness of just 6.9 mm for the time-only and just 7.6 mm for the perpetual calendar. Add on the fact that materials like platinum and titanium are notoriously troublesome to machine, and the skill level becomes even clearer. Rolex recently released a new platinum Day-Date. The big improvement? A fluted platinum bezel, which doesn’t seem so impressive by comparison. Some have called the Octo Finissimo case “overengineered,” but after examining these watches up close, that’s a criticism that feels as hollow as it is rare.
It’s Not All About Outer Beauty
Of course, outer beauty is not the only appeal of this watch. Visible through the sapphire case back, we have two of Bulgari’s record-setting calibers on display. The time-only Caliber BVL 138 measures only 2.23 mm in height and has a 60-hour power reserve. The perpetual calendar version is, however, the real engineering feat, with the BVL 305 featuring hours, minutes, a retrograde date, day, month, a retrograde leap year indicator, and a 60-hour power reserve squeezed into just 2.75 mm.
The two new Octos both offer 100 m of water resistance, in case you’re pining for even more Mediterranean excellence.
