Bvlgari presents a chiming Tourbillon
Bvlgari’s new Octo Roma Carillon Tourbillon combines two essentially classic complications, while redefining watchmaking tradition in a resolutely modernist approach
This watch features a highly graphic skeletonised movement with blue bridges. The platinum case is encircled by a blued titanium caseband. It has been designed to amplify the sound rendition and clarity, the primary parameter governing the construction of a striking watch.
The Octo Roma Carillon Tourbillon movement with three hammers, hand-wound calibre BVL428, measures 35 mm in diameter, 8.35 mm thick and comprises a total of 432 components. It is entirely manufactured in-house. The generous proportions of the case are designed to maximise sound propagation, enabling increased torque from the three-tone construction and greater sound power production.
In particular, the caseband is designed to maximise sound and allow it to spread as much as possible. It has cavities inside the design to reduce the amount of metal between the inside and outside, and three openings on the caseband that correspond to the three gongs, thus allowing the sound to exit the chamber. The gongs are attached directly to the body of the case for the most efficient sound transmission and the middle-case is made of titanium to ensure the clearest possible sound diffusion.
The back is also hollowed out and redesigned with a titanium grid that protects this resonant area and enables outward transmission of the sound. The gongs on the watch are hand-crafted in several stages. They are bent and formed by hand before being annealed, or hardened, at a temperature of 900 degrees Celsius, then cleaned before being reheated in a 500-degree kiln, a process that endows the metal with its crystal-clear resonance. Like some components of the striking mechanism, they are drawn out with a file, in order to refine the chords of the chime.
The melodic sequence of this chime with three hammers striking three tones plays the note C for the hours, the notes E D C for the quarters and the note E for the minutes. The mechanism is activated by a pusher on the left side of the caseband. The movement is equipped with one classical barrel ensuring the power reserve of at least 75 hours for the movement at full charge, meanwhile the functioning of the sound mechanism is ensured by a spring that is contained in a barrel-shaped container drilled directly in the bridge.
Available in a 30-piece limited edition the watch has a transparent sapphire crystal caseback, is water-resistant to three atmospheres, and comes with a blue alligator leather strap secured by a platinum triple-blade folding clasp.
