Small Talk FABRIZIO BUONAMASSA STIGLIANI

Bulgari’s senior director of watch design shares his views on the Piccolissimo and Serpenti Misteriosi timepieces

What was the biggest challenge in developing the Piccolissimo mechanical movement?

The movement of the watch is very, very small. When we saw it for the very first time, we realised we couldn’t see the components. From an aesthetic point of view, the most difficult thing was to find the correct finishing and shape of the bridges because we didn’t have many options.

Why is it important to Bulgari that it keeps inventing extremely small and light movements? We’re very proud of this movement because it opens up another chapter in the art of miniaturisation. We have the same obsession for quality and technology for ladies’ [watches]. You don’t have any other watch brand that invests in small mechanical movements for ladies, but for us, it’s a very important market because we’re a jewellery maker, so we love to pay the same attention to both [men’s and women’s watches].

Tell us the story behind why the snake’s tongue on the Serpenti Misteriosi opens the head to reveal the dial.

The idea was to have a completely different watch compared to the previous one. That’s why we decided to have a lot of new details compared to the quartz model, and we wanted the tongue to have a function on top of being a design element. There are so many new components and new details to this watch, with a completely different body, neck and even head of the snake.