High watchmaking and jewellery marque Bvlgari played on dualities in its recent collection unveiled at Geneva Watch Days 2023. While the Octo Finissimo is now dressed in carbon and gold, the Serpenti Misteriosi is available in two avatars, and the Monete Catene shows dualtime. Bvlgari CEO, Jean-Christophe Babin speaks to us about the inspirations and challenges of the new collection
The Octo Finissimo, in all its iteration in the past few years, has broken 8 world records in a very short time span; how do you feel about that?
I am very happy about that as we have reached our goal – through these string of records – to be recognised eventually, not only as a jeweller but also as an expert watchmaker, which is essential for the future of not only our men’s watches but our ladies’ watches too. Often, the ladies’ watches are influenced by the watchmaking know-how that is showcased – generally speaking, more systematically – in the men’s complications. That said, we do sell many ladies’ tourbillons. Ten years ago, we were crafting watches, but we were not considered as a worthy alternative for the best Swiss brands. But now, though it is still not accomplished and we are not fully there, yet clearly, we are on the shopping list of people looking for a great masterpiece. This is a major difference, and I am happy because Bvlgari has always been a watch and jewellery brand.
We started creating jewellery 140 years ago and watches 105 years ago and the two are complementary. Hotels, perfumes, and other luxury products are different, but watches and jewellery are in many ways very similar. For ladies, it is one more way of wearing jewellery while for the men, it is THE single masculine accessory; if, in the future, men diversify, it will be into our jewellery. As a company, our core expertise is watches and jewellery, we have and, in the future also, will have a better balance between them. I cannot pretend it will be equal because jewellery will always be more. We are a very strong jeweller, and we need to be strong watchmakers also. With the Octo saga and with the Piccolissimo micro mechanical movement for the ladies, we are now gaining a reputation that enables us to be considered as great watchmakers.
In the Octo Finissimo Carbongold, you have used an interesting combination of carbon fibre with gold indexes – why?
Even though the back of the movement is pure gold, we have nevertheless managed to make it 10 grams lighter, like titanium; this is mind-blowing because gold is heavier. The combination came out of two reasons: historically, we had great success with our Bvlgari Bvlgari Carbongold; but it was not true carbon and was just plated gold. This was in the ’90s and the watch was prized because it was very different and the aesthetics of plated gold on matt carbon made it very striking. When thinking about a perpetual calendar – the one that won the GPHG in titanium – it is great but, for me, it was missing a little on the reliability and on the feeling of luxury because titanium though extremely contemporary lacks a touch of luxury. Despite this, we did not want to kill it because it is selling well, and it is part of the record-breaking concept that is built on titanium watches. We thought of reviving Carbongold with true carbon and true gold; we would provide the perpetual calendar with a much stronger value as a rich timepiece without compromising on the classic elegant look that prevailed. We would also bring to the perpetual calendar an extreme lightness so that you barely feel it on the wrist, with very good legibility; this is difficult as a perpetual calendar has so many functions that it is very difficult to read them easily. The contrast of polished gold of the indices on the matt dial is so marked that it is easy to read.
What difficulties did you have in creating such a thin watch in carbon?
Carbon is on the one hand ultra-light and on the other ultra-strong; one of the advantages of carbon is that it combines ultimate lightness with very strong resistance. The Octo Finissimo Ultra remains an extraordinary watch that is worn occasionally; we wanted this watch to be a daily watch and, for this, we used the strong properties of carbon to create a strong crown and make this watch waterproof to 100 m, which, for a perpetual calendar, is probably a world-first especially in that thickness. We are always working on the concept of making the Octo Finissimo not a niche watch, but one for daily wear. Providing readability, 60 hours of power reserve, and water-proof to 100m enables the Octo Finissimo – be it a time-only watch or a perpetual calendar – to be worn without any concern of humidity or shock resistance.
The Octo Finissimo has been a playground for introducing new materials; will that idea continue in the future?
We have explored a lot; some have been very successful, while others have been successful in terms of appeal, but not for other factors. For instance, shock resistance in ceramics is a problem. We do not want to offer breakable watches in Bvlgari so we decided to stop ceramic development and express black or rather carbon, because carbon is lighter and much more resistant than ceramic and has a unique texture meaning each watch is different and unique and cannot be replicated. Carbon is considered as very high-tech currently whereas ceramic is more passé now. Ceramic was considered state-of-the-art a few years ago, but not now. Our main problem was that ceramic is more fragile. We do not want an Octo Finissimo to be fragile. It is very thin, and people believe that because it is thin and light, it is fragile and so if it is really fragile, it would be very problematic.
Bvlgari has introduced a number of secret watches this year; why does Bvlgari place such emphasis on secret watches?
Secret watches are a signature of the brand, and this has been established by our Serpenti collection 75 years ago. Serpenti watch was born as a secret watch and, in 1948, Bvlgari truly revolutionised the Serpenti by not only using a snake as the body of a watch but to insert a movement in the mouth of the snake. Then with the introduction of Seduttori, it became really high-end, and in parallel, with the success of the Monete jewellery, we decided to add coins to our high end watches. This meant that it could just be a piece of high jewellery or if you opened the coin, you could see the watch. The coin here is a perfect way to hide the dial of a secret watch and this is something that only Bvlgari is capable of doing. The coins we use are of Roman, Greek, and Byzantine origin, with some Chinese coins also available, but the Chinese ones are of more recent dates, such as the 18th and the 19th century.
