The LVMH Watch Week took place digitally January 25-29, in which leading brands of the group showcased their current offerings. “Day & Night” had the pleasure of meeting Antoine Pin – Bulgari Watch Division Director, who spoke at length about Bvlgari’s iconic Serpenti, the Octo Finissimo S, the brand’s fascination with micromechanics, and their wide portfolio of chiming watches…
Have you tested the aluminium in the Bvlgari Aluminium Watch that you launched in 2020 for the yellow tint as it ages?
Yes, and that is why we changed the alloy in the watch. We are probably not using any of the materials we used 20 years ago. We have used a different alloy to avoid corrosion and to increase scratch-resistance, and used titanium for the caseback. Twenty years ago, when we launched the BVB Aluminium, we had to work with a lot of suppliers and vendors, now we are fully integrated, and our watches are much more the result of Swiss watchmaking than at that time.
Why is the Serpenti such an iconic jewellery watch?
It is the design itself; the wrapping element makes it very distinctive. The watch is inspired by arm jewellery worn by the Egyptians and Romans. There are only a few watches in the industry that are jewellery pieces as much as watches. The Happy Diamonds from Chopard is seen as much as jewellery as a watch. We bear the same DNA, and it is no surprise that the both the models come from jewellers. The Serpenti is of unique design and construction, very noticeable, and extremely innovative. Even though the concept of Tubogas is 80 years old, it is still a new approach in the way you wear watches. It is iconic in a number of ways. You are actually making a dancing movement when you wrap it around your wrist. All these signature elements make the watch iconic.
Can you tell us about the new bracelet design for the Serpenti watch?
The earlier structure of the Tubogas is excellent, extraordinary construction that is supple, very comfortable to wear, unique construction. The problem was that the steel is extremely thin, and therefore does not support gem-setting or any kind of decorations. So, we created the Spiga collection which is in ceramic and very modern, but we could not set diamonds in the ceramic either. The Spiga bracelet is made of inserts and we had some inserts of ceramics and some with diamonds, but it was not enough.
We have now used a different technique based on sliding components; we have these microlinks of different dimensions that connect to the previous one. They are not actually fixed to the previous one; there are no screws, no pin; they are just blocked one on to the other, and you finally block the whole construction with the tail-end piece. It is not fixed and so we maintain the flexibility of the bracelet. The beauty of the watch is that you can set it with little diamonds or bigger ones as we have done with 17 carats of diamonds.
Can you tell us how the dials of the Divas’ Dream Peacock watches are made?
The latest collection of Divas’ Dream Peacock is particularly rich both in the metiers d’art and horology. We are offering three models for the ladies, which wonderfully integrate watchmaking and jewellery skills. We have three different calibres with three different categories of decorations – the Divas’ Dream Peacock Tourbillon Lumière, the Divas’ Dream Peacock Dischi and the Divas’ Dream Peacock Diamonds.
The Tourbillon Lumière is a limited edition of 10 pieces – a skeleton tourbillon with additional bridges made to decorate the calibre; bridges of gold with inserts of varnished peacock feathers. The Peacock Dischi is part of the Dischi collection, with a marquetry of feathers, exceptionally complex to create. In addition to the highly skilled work, the time taken to construct this watch is impressive. It is a very precise and delicate work to get these different variations of the marquetery. It takes a lot of time to dry the feathers, varnish them, glue them and place them – it takes 6 weeks of work to create one dial.
Interestingly, every time we create a Dischi collection, we change the discs – for instance when we changed from hard stone to the feathers, the weight of the discs changed. And every time, the weight of the disc changes, we have to adjust the construction of the movement as the force needed to make the disc rotate at a certain speed will change. We are not making a massive change to the construction, but we have to adjust many elements such as a cam or a wheel, to make certain that we maintain the same frequency of rotation.
The Divas’ Dream Peacock Diamonds is another expression of the integration of the jeweller and the watchmaker. All the dials are made in-house by micropainters based in our workshop in the Swiss Jura. It houses the BVL191 calibre, an in-house calibre. The bracelet of this watch is a new element, and is exceptionally supple and very beautiful; it was designed and crafted in our workshop in Italy.
Can you tell us a bit about the new Octo Finissimo S?
We have released the monochromatic Octo Finissimo S. When we came out with the Finissimo collection, horological experts and aficionados were surprised by the contrast between this watch and the big time machines that were developed between 2000 and 2010, such as the Royal Oak, the Big Bang. Then we came in – the outsiders, the Italians among the Swiss – with this watch, a complete opposite, which you don’t feel when you put it on your wrist. It is a piece of architecture but it is super-thin. We did get comments such as ‘It is too light!’ ‘It is fragile’, ‘I am not used to it any more’.
We realised that we should go more mainstream with this amazing concept. We decided to make this watch a daily wear without losing the spirit of the watch – a very elegant watch in thin steel. And that is how we came up with this Octo S; we decided to go with a silver dial; a monochromatic one with a very high level of visibility. We also have the Octo Finissimo S Chronograph GMT with the same technical features and a blue dial. It is slightly thicker but also a bit heavier, which is reassuring to some people. The Octo Finissimo Chronograph GMT Titanium is my favourite. We decided to make the Titanium slightly more sporty, monochromatic, more lifestyle, with rubber. You can see that the first link of the bracelet is part of the case so that it is easy to exchange the rubber strap with titanium easily. We have now reached the stage with the Finissimo that we don’t have to make major changes, only small improvements year after year.
Can we again expect another world record from Bvlgari this year?
Yes, there will be a new world record, but you will have to wait a bit. The concept of world records is becoming an addiction for watchmakers and our engineers; they are pushing their own limits. I do not want to turn it into an addiction; there will be a year when we there will no world record, and that is fine. We should not perceive ourselves only through the Finissimo or world records. It is important that we have different calibres and different products to launch. We have a very clear strategy in terms of research and development; we will continue to concentrate on micromechanisms. Micromechanism is not only intra-slim products but it also helps us develop more calibres for ladies.
Another direction we want to invest in is chiming watches. This leads me to the Octo Roma Carillon Tourbillon. We have one of the most amazing patrimony of chiming watches – by that I mean not only products but also people. We have amazing watchmakers with extraordinary talent, and when you combine them with our manufacture skills, we get this beautiful Carillon Tourbillon in titanium with black DLC treatment.
We worked on a modern expression of chiming watches with a willingness to project the exceptionally complicated technical expertise into the 21st century. We have a new calibre, the BVL428 with three hammers; this is the first time we are working with three hammers. It integrates some of our own techniques from the Grande Sonnerie together with a different construction. This time, the chimes are connected to the case. Beside the design element, we wanted to have the best possible transmission of sound. Connecting the chimes to the case allows for the direct transmission of the sound waves and no isolation from the void inside the case. The case itself is massively empty compared to our previous pieces, so not only is it very light but it minimises the quantity of material that blocks the propagation of sound.
Today, we have a Minute Repeater with two hammers, we have this Minute Repeater with three hammers and we have the Grand Sonnerie with four hammers. We are the only watchmakers on the market who can produce in-house such a portfolio.
Bvlglari has for a few years been introducing new calibres every year; is this financially viable for the brand?
We do have an integrated structure which is very expensive, so we need to make sure that we sell the products we are launching. Our calibres are our assets, so we monetise them. We do not look at R&D as just a one-year investment; it is a multi-year investment. We do spend money but we dedicate it to a few areas of excellence, such as micromechanics, ladies calibres, chiming watches. We plan our calibres for the next five to six years, and in doing so we optimise our processes. There is real optimisation of resources because we have to make sure that when we make a movement, we monetise it.
