On Bvlgari’s Octo saga

Rose gold references dominated Bvlgari’s offerings at the recent Geneva Watch Days 2022. This year also happens to be the tenth anniversary of the Octo collection, and the maison marked the occasion with multiple offerings in the Octo Finissimo line as well as new additions to the Serpenti and Bvlgari collections. Jean-Christophe Babin, Group CEO – Bulgari, elaborates on the Octo saga and explains the marque’s fascination with rose gold this year

The Bvlgari Octo Finissimo has managed to break 8 records in 8 years, the last one being Octo Finissimo Ultra – the thinnest watch at 1.8 mm. What were the challenges that Bvlgari had to overcome in making that?

To understand this, you have to understand that the main breakthrough was actually made 10 years ago when we first started to think about designing ultra-thin watches for the sake of masculine elegance. Contemporary elegance was about slim fit for dressing, and we wanted a watch matching that style. Style matching is essential in luxury. Most clients will decide on a watch, not only for the brand reputation, reliability, accuracy, but also for style-matching, and we see it even more in jewellery.

To achieve this, we realised that we could not just make each component smaller than the existing ones, because it would lead nowhere in terms of watch accuracy and chronometry. We had to reverse the watchmaking chain, first simplifying it without compromising on accuracy obviously. That was how the first Finissimo was born in 2014. Ultra was a major breakthrough, but to get there we had to totally rethink mechanical watchmaking in 2012.

The Ultra was the pinnacle of our accumulated learning and know-how that we had built over time, record after record. I will not say it has been easy, but the mindset of it being totally different from traditional watchmaking has made it less difficult.

Our main breakthrough in mechanical watchmaking is similar to what was a breakthrough by Swatch in plastic watches decades ago – when they used the case as the base of the movement; it is a movement-less watch, and Ultra is exactly the same. It is a movement-less watch as the movement or components are just fixed to the case, and not to a plate. This obviously allows us to go thinner.

Another breakthrough is making the watch user-friendly; this means that without any kind of tooling, the time can be reset very easily. It is a watch meant to be worn regularly, daily, and easily. We have taken advantage of Ultra to connect the ultra-thin mechanical world with the digital NFT world, adding emotion to admiration. Because when you see Ultra, there is admiration and respect, but there may not be emotion.

The fact that we have combined contemporary digital art expressed through NFTs adds an emotional dimension. You can enjoy your Ultra not only on your wrist but also on a beautiful high-resolution screen in your living room, with the freedom to pause on the nicest image on the NFT. The NFT is ninety seconds long, with as many sequences in it; in one NFT, you have 90 pieces of art. It is up to you to decide if you want to pause or go on a loop; you could pause for one minute or one year. Thus, you have art coming together with a watch, expressing the soul of the watch.

In Bvlgari’s Geneva Watch Days 2022 offerings, there is a lot of interplay on contrast, colours, and materials; why is that?

Yes, there is a lot of black and gold whether it is Seduttori for the ladies or the Octo Finissimo; there is also rose gold. Rose gold is used most by Bvlgari in our watches and jewellery, but we started to shift towards using more of yellow gold in jewellery a few years ago with a lot of success. We are continuing this with watches because yellow gold is in strong demand, and we have to offer lovers of yellow gold watches that fit their style. That is why we are presenting two Octo Finissimo Automatic – one in yellow gold and one in rose – offering our clients the choice to pick up the gold they prefer.

For the Octo Finissimo Skeleton 8 Days, we decided to go pink as we did for the chronograph. But in the Octo Finissimo Automatic – which seems poised to becoming a big success – we are also offering a yellow gold version, as it is now popular. Yellow gold is a logical coronation of eight years of records because we started and created these eight watches with the same look in titanium. Titanium remains a very niche and polarising material, and they are similar to super cars. Three years ago, we created watches that are like the luxury cars – with our Octo Finissimo S for the hour-minute watch, and two years ago for the chronograph – and this opened the Octo line to many more clients. To complete this, and because luxury icons need precious materials, we decided it was time to introduce gold to the Octo Finissimo.

We chose to go with a dark dial because black has been the colour for the Octo line – even before we started the Finissimo collection – since its inception and is as much a part of the Octo DNA as its iconic ‘12’ and ‘6’ hour markers.

Coincidentally, we somehow went in the same direction for the ladies’ watches too. The Serpenti Seduttori was born three years ago, at the time of COVID and has achieved great success in the market. We believe that it could be even more of a success if we make it younger and trendier. While the existing executions were extraordinary, they were perhaps not resonating with some consumer targets, who were looking for something edgier, more contrasting, and bit stronger in character. Hence, the decision to go black with a contrast of rose gold, with either DLC treatment or ceramic.

Why has Bvlgari decided on black DLC treatment on steel for Seduttori, while the Spiga has ceramic?

It is a matter of usage; we know, by experience, that the Spiga like the Tubogas is used only occasionally because our clients feel it is more of a jewel that tells time, whereas Seduttori is really a daily watch. When something is used occasionally, we can take the risk of using a material that is hard but a bit fragile and that is why we chose ceramic for Spiga. But we cannot do that for a daily-use watch, and we therefore decided to go with the DLC treatment on steel for the Seduttori.

Can you tell us how Bvlgari was able to fit the movement of the Octo Finissimo Skeleton 8 Days in terms of design within the Octo case?

It is a new movement because to get 8 days, we needed a much bigger barrel. The barrel is nearly the diameter of the regulator. The barrel is so big that it even intrudes into the case; we designed a movement sacrificing some components, simplifying it so that we had room for the barrel as well as room for the regulator. Eventually, it was a skeleton, but with a totally different movement with more power reserve.