Experiencing the Bvlgari universe
Serpenti collection Watches
With an unprecedented five out of six of their newest creations shortlisted for the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie De Genève (GPHG), haute joaillerie and haute horlogerie marque Bvlgari is entitled to its claim that a Watchmaking Rinascimento is underway, and Bvlgari is at its forefront. This was cause for celebration indeed at the maison’s recent event showcasing “Bvlgari’s Universe and the Italian Difference in Watchmaking”, which was held at the Bvlgari Hotel, Shanghai on September 27, 2018.
“Day & Night” was there to get a sneak peek at Bvlgari’s latest creations and to talk to master watchmakers. We bring you highlights of the collection and our conversations…
Jean-Christophe Babin – CEO
Why did you choose to hold this important Bvlgari event at your Shanghai hotel?
The most important factor for us as a Roman brand is that we offer real Roman family hospitality. As a jeweller and watchmaker, having Bvlgari houses in the main cities of the world enables us to offer our partners, clients and friends the complete Bvlgari experience that goes much beyond what other luxury brands have to offer.
One of the reasons our Bvlgari watch events have been so successful – for instance, when we had it in the Bvlgari hotel in Dubai – comes from the fact that it is hosted at a Bvlgari hotel as the hotel itself provides our guests with further clues and deeper experiences into the brand, which a normal boutique cannot match. A boutique has only one main selling area, while the hotel provides a multi-angled brand experience; when the guests are wandering from the restaurant, to the spa, the room and the lobby, they can experience jewellery and watches, which are our pillars. In a hotel, the service dimension is extreme; in a boutique the service has a more limited timeframe. Essentially, our guests would experience living in the world of Bvlgari – the ultimate Bvlgari experience, which would have dimensions of jewellery and watches throughout.
Experiential luxury is also an emerging need in the market and will grow rapidly in the future. Having a presence in the experiential luxury market will provide the brand a strong base to develop competitively in the years to come.
How important is China to Bvlgari, especially as this Bvlgari’s second hotel in the country?
China is the largest country in the world and as such very important to the brand. Between Beijing and Shanghai, you have two different cities, two different histories, and that is why in such a big country, it works out well to have two hotels.
How does it feel to get nominated in five different categories in this GPHG, one year after winning two Grand Prix awards last year?
It is very rewarding, obviously; internally, it feels wonderful to get recognition for all our efforts and creativity. Externally, it gives Bvlgari a legitimacy that five Bvlgaris were chosen out of 72 competing watches; it is a percentage that is much higher than our market share of luxury watches, and it is definitely encouraging. For us, it is all about winning the hearts of our clients, but if in the process we also win a few Grand Prix awards, then it further strengthens the brand. I am hoping that this year will also throw up a few surprises like last year’s Grand Prix.
When Bvlgari came out with the Octo Finissimo Tourbillon Automatic, it was against the current trend, was extremely classy, and very ultra-thin; how and why did you do that?
Bvlgari has this in our DNA; we have been so successful in jewellery because we broke the rules. We dared to combine unusual materials, we dared to use yellow gold in high jewellery to make it more durable and fit for daily wear. In watches, we are not at ease with the trend of big watches because it does not fit with our Italian ideal of a slim fit for dressing elegance for a gentleman. Regardless of the trends, our idea of masculine elegance would be something very thin. We are rather trying to set what we deem is right for Bvlgari in keeping with our heritage and style, to translate that feminine elegance and modernity to masculine standards.
Will Diva’s Dream be an artistic, experimental line for women’s watches?
Diva’s Dream began as a high jewellery watch, leaving Lvcea to be more of a daily-wear watch. This means more of a métier d’art watch, a more complex movement; our Roman Nights is a nice mixture of complexity and aesthetics. The Minute Repeater is like the Octo but for various reasons does not look like a minute repeater; it has a more functional charm. The role of the Diva is to cover the high-end of Bvlgari ladies’ watch, not only from the perspective of aesthetics but also from the technical side. Serpenti is a line in which it is easy to play up the high jewellery aspect but the ethos of the watch itself is a limitation when it comes to technology as it is very small. Conversely, Diva has the capability of combining aesthetics with complexity and this adds an extra dimension. Diva clearly is meant to be high-end watch, with decorative and technical value.
Are you surprised by the success of the Serpenti line – the watches, bags, jewellery, etc. – in the past five or six years?
The serpent has always been a favourite inspiration for the goldsmiths, right from ancient times. It is not surprising to us that the Serpenti could be mainstream jewellery because it has been a universal symbol from times of antiquity.
Guido Terreni – Head of Watches
When did you get the idea of making a super-high complication such as the Octo Grande Sonnerie Perpetual Calendar?
We never stopped working on the Grand Sonnerie; my obsession is to maintain the savoir-faire. In the whole world, there are perhaps 15 or 20 people who can put their hands on a Grand Sonnerie, and there is no school for it either. You can get to put your hands on such a piece only if you are working for a company that is able to sell or produce them. We wanted to involve with the movements we do have as this is comes from the legacy of Gerald Genta and this movement was adapted to the Octo case in order to make it fresher. We started working on the case around two years ago and put it on the Octo Roma, and not the simplified version of the Octo because the more the movement becomes thick, the bulkier the watch gets if you use the original case.
Fabrizio Buonamassa, Bvlgari Horlogerie’s Artistic Director, came up with the idea of the lugs that are external to the case – if you look at the construction of the lugs, they are in the back case and they leave space for the acoustics. This combined with the titanium and the shape of the watch is better for propagating the sound. Of course, it served our aesthetic purposes also, making it lighter. This gives the watch an extremely modern look; what I like about the watch is the readability of the time.
Even if you have a tourbillon, a minute repeater, a petite and grand sonnerie, a perpetual calendar, a moon phase, a power reserve indicator in a watch, what you immediately see on looking at the dial is the hour hand and the minute hand. If you have a complication that can only be easily read by its maker, then for me, it is not useful to the customer. I believe that watches have to stay on the wrist and not in the safe, and it will stay on the wrist only if you enjoy looking at it, are able to tell time easily, and in the second moment can look at the secondary functions of the watch.
Is there going to be a regular edition of the Octo Finissimo with a carbon fibre case bracelet?
No; the carbon was meant for the chiming function and it was a limited edition because the process of making the case or the bracelet cannot be serialised. Every link has to be made one by one so it would be extremely expensive to make an automatic watch, and the quantities would be very difficult to handle; it would not be a good idea to do that. We may do a limited edition but it would not be viable as a normal edition.
How hard is it to manufacture the thinnest tourbillon and the thinnest automatic watch because they are in millimetres?
Actually, millimetres are too big; we are talking about hundreds of millimetres. When you have an automatic movement in 223 mm, the 23 has to be accurate; it cannot be 22 or 25. You get to that level of precision because you have the obligation of reducing to the minimum the tolerance of your manufacturing – how flat the bridge or component is in the making. It took us six years to achieve that kind of precision in making the movement.
Bvlgari’s latest masterpieces
The Bvlgari approach to design has always been visionary, resting on more than a century of expertise and 135 years of High Jewellery artistry but just as passionately devoted to rewriting the rules of haute joaillerie and now haute horlogerie.
Serpenti collection
Serpenti, emblematic of perpetual renewal, is the absolute Bvlgari symbol. For seven decades, the collection has been demonstrating its ability to reinvent itself with great creativity. Serpenti Misteriosi Manchette, a daring and sophisticated creation entirely in tune with the spirit of the Maison and housing a quartz movement, wraps the wrist with a wide 18kt white gold bracelet set with malachite plates and featuring an undulating snake set with diamonds and rubellites.
Other additions to the collection include Serpenti Pallini, an 18kt gold creation topped by several hundred subtly mobile 18kt gold beads; Serpenti Seduttori, a “bracelet” version in 18kt rose gold that elegantly surrounds the wrist in various precious interpretations. The snake’s head opens to reveal the hours and minutes hands sweeping around a black-lacquered, mother-of-pearl or brilliant diamond-set 18kt rose gold dial. The fourth incredibly precious version is entirely made of 18kt white gold full-set with diamonds, while the snake’s eyes are carved from sapphire. Serpenti Incantati and Serpenti Twist/Twist Your Time complete the collection.
DIVAS’ DREAM ROMAN NIGHTS
The Divas’ Dream welcomes two poetic new Roman Nights models. They indicate the hours and minutes on two overlaid Aventurine discs, each set with a diamond pointing to the hours and minutes shown by sapphires serving as hour-markers and minute-track, alternating with brilliant-cut diamonds. These creations belong to the grand tradition of ‘mysterious’ watches. Crafted in 18kt rose or white gold, they offer a poetic and mysterious vision of time appearing against a diamond-studded Aventurine backdrop.
Bvlgari Octo Grande Sonnerie Quantieme Perpetuel
This unique piece Octo Grande Sonnerie Perpetual Calendar combines two grandes complications, the Grande Sonnerie and the Perpetual Calendar. Equipped with four hammers, the movement sounds the hours, quarter-hours and minutes on demand. Bvlgari is currently the brand displaying the fullest mastery of two, three and four-hammer striking mechanisms.
The Perpetual Calendar features the full range of calendar indications – day, date, month and year – along with moonphases. This exceptional model is regulated by a Tourbillon, and is the single most complicated product mastered by Bvlgari. It includes a Tourbillon, Minute Repeater, Petite and Grande Sonnerie, Perpetual Calendar, Moonphases, and the GMT functions, and required one year to be completed. Housing an in-house BVL 5307 calibre, the 44 mm timepiece, which is neither round nor square, is encased in sandblasted 18kt rose gold case with transparent case back, and is water-resistant to 30m.
Bvlgari Octo Monete
The Octo line is versatile, including exceptional and unique models such as the Octo Monete. This spectacular one-of-a-kind creation can be worn as a pocket watch equipped with an elegant 18kt gold chain, or as a wristwatch thanks to clever removable attachments. Its cover, featuring an ancient Roman coin, opens to reveal a skeleton tourbillon movement housed in an 18kt rose gold case set with baguette-cut diamonds.
