The Octo Obsession, Why time is now on Bulgari’s side

The Italian word finissimo, when translated to English, means superfine, however, the term superfine has two slightly different meanings. One definition is “something of especially high quality,” and the other means “a fiber or instrument which is very thin.” Bulgari managed to create record-breaking timepieces that are stunning examples of the combined definitions, and watch enthusiasts around the world are continuously throwing their hands up in praise.

The original Bulgari Octo has been an official part of the brand’s watch collection since 2012; roughly thirteen years after Bulgari acquired the Gérald Genta label (and about one year after LVMH acquired a major stake in Bulgari). Gérald Genta, for those unaware, was one of the world’s foremost designers of luxury watches. In his day, Genta was – artistically speaking – largely responsible for the designs of some of the watch world’s most iconic watches such as Omega’s Constellation, Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak, IWC’s Ingenieur, and Patek Philippe’s Nautilus. And while Genta passed away in 2011 at the age of 80 – a year before the Octo was released to the public – it’s clear his design legacy is carried on through the artisans and craftspeople currently working inside Bulgari’s walls.

But how in a watch collector’s eyes did the Bulgari Octo go from being a beautifully designed homage to Gérald Genta’s work to a record-breaking piece of “Haute Horlogerie”? In a nutshell, it did so by taking something of especially high quality and making it very thin; you know, making it superfine. In other words, it did so by creating the Finissimo.

The first record-breaking Octo – the Octo Finissimo Tourbillon – was launched by Bulgari at the 2014 edition of the Baselworld Watch and Jewelry Fair in Basel, Switzerland, and almost immediately it seemed as if a new era of the “ultra-thin” watch was born. Containing at the time the thinnest tourbillon movement ever made, the caliber of the Octo Finissimo Tourbillon measured a mere 1.95mm in thickness, which, when put into perspective, is smaller than the head of a pin. However, the watch, like Rome, was certainly not built in a day and required some creativity from its designers as well as its watchmakers in order to make it work.

At Baselworld 2016, Bulgari followed up with another Octo Finissimo – this time in the form of a minute repeater – and broke another record in the process by using a caliber measuring a mere 3.12mm; a feat which is extraordinarily unheard of for that type of complication. In 2017, just one year later, the brand followed suit with the introduction of the Octo Finissimo Automatic, which used an in-house movement measuring a slim 2.23mm and coming in at a total of 5.15mm for the entire case thickness. Like the Finissimo versions prior, the outer appearance of that year’s record-setting timepiece was also monochromatic, which was part of the appeal to those who might not normally have been drawn to a timepiece created by what many would consider being more of a high jewelry brand. And while Bulgari, for just a minute, looked like they were content with the three highly regarded versions of the Octo Finissimo they had created up to that point, their design team, headed up by Fabrizio Buonamassa Stigliani, had other plans. At both the 2018 and 2019 editions of the Baselworld fair, records were shattered yet again. The limited-edition Octo Finissimo Tourbillon Automatic was released in 2018 and the Octo Finissimo Chronograph GMT Automatic was released earlier this year, all to the adoring roars of those who jumped on the Bulgari bandwagon early on.

For those who may be wondering why a label as established as Bulgari cares about records in the first place, consider taking a look at the icons already within Bulgari’s ranks: the Bulgari Serpenti, for example. The Serpenti line is about as recognizable as any model of any watch, anywhere in the world, and remember that the Serpenti was designed for women. But while Bulgari has had some success with several of the watch models the brand has designed for men, it was the excitement of the Octo Finissimo and the records that it broke year after year (and continues to break) that introduced Bulgari’s watches to a whole new world of watch collectors, connoisseurs, and yes, even novices. Every major watch forum had ongoing threads dissecting the new calibers, and social media networks – particularly Instagram – were aflutter with wrist shots taken live as the new models were introduced. And maybe, just maybe, that’s another reason why the Octo Finissimo has been as accepted in the watch community as it has, for a brand that isn’t Rolex or Patek Philippe; because the watch, in fact, belongs to this generation. It’s not a reboot or a reissue. It wasn’t released originally in 1985 only to be out now in a different type of metal with a different colored dial. It genuinely belongs to the 2010s, which in turn, means it belongs to the Instagram generation, and it is that generation who is adding to its notoriety in a way that no other has thus far.

There’s really no stopping Bulgari now, and if the brand is excited about that feeling, they should be. They’ve earned their stripes amongst even the world’s most difficult-to-please watch critics, but their successes didn’t come easily, nor did they come overnight. Bulgari can hold its head high for all of the work they put into establishing themselves as a serious watch brand. Many of their Octo Finissimo models – record-breaking or not – are modern-day icons recognizable to anyone who has even the slightest knowledge of watches. And that alone should be enough for the brand to believe that time, indeed, is very much on their side.

|BY BARBARA PALUMBO