Watches & Wonders 2021: Bvlgari’s Octo Finissimo Breaks Yet Another Record

Bvlgari’s Octo Finissimo Breaks Yet Another Record With The Thinnest Perpetual Calendar

For Bvlgari, this year is all about the celebration of their Octo Finissimo. Since 2014 when they launched the thinnest tourbillon in the world they have gone on to constantly break records for thin watches. They have had titles for thinnest automatic watch, thinnest chronograph GMT and even the thinnest minute repeater. This year they continue this tradition with the thinnest perpetual calendar and they also announce an incredibly stylish collaboration watch with the renowned architect Tadao Ando.

Octo Finissimo Perpetual Calendar

After a thinnest tourbillon, chronograph and minute repeater, it was only a matter of time before Bvlgari took on the challenge of the perpetual calendar. This year they have achieved an unthinkable feat by carefully arranging 408 components of the movement into a 2.75 mm calibre and encased it in a slender case of only 5.8 mm. As you could probably imagine, this required the master watchmakers at Le Sentier to come up with ingenious ways of fitting all components in without reducing their dimensions. Additionally, they even had to employ a micro-rotor to optimise the use of space.

Introducing the thinnest perpetual calendar in the world, we think they will hold this record for some time to come.

The perpetual calendar is a complication that many Haute Horlogerie enthusiasts acknowledge as one of the most complex movements to master. The ability to accurately keep the time, day, date, month and keep count of leap years without needing adjustment until the year 2100 is truly astounding when you consider there it is all done mechanically.

Thus, Bvlgari’s ability to compress this impressive movement into the space it occupies will truly delight even the most discerning of connoisseurs.

The Bulgari Octo Finissimo Perpetual Calendar is available in both a titanium case and a platinum one as well.

Octo Finissimo Tadao Ando

Where the previous watch focused on fitting as many components as possible into the case, this collaboration with the internationally renowned architect Tadao Ando does the opposite. It strips down the dial design to the bare essentials, a small seconds hand, the hour and minute hands, and a single crescent moon on the dial.

It really is like looking up (or down) at the mood in the night’s sky.

The design is based on the Mikazuki concept (三日月), offering the crescent moon on a dark blue lacquered dial as a visual representation of the moon in the night’s sky. As with previous Tadao Ando collaboration watches, this Octo Finissimo also offers a series of spirals or ripples extending from the base of the small seconds hand as a way to indicate how time starts with the counting of the seconds.

Honourable mention: Serpenti Misteriosi Cleopatra

The new chapter of Bvlgari’s Colour Treasures series sees the introduction of the Serpenti Misteriosi Cleopatra a jewellery piece worthy of the Queen of the Nile herself. This one of a kind, high-jewellery cuff watch with a diamond-set dial, hidden behind a faceted hexagonal see-through rubellite of over 5 carats.

Walking into a room with one of these on your wrist will guarantee all eyes on you.

Beyond that, the piece is also set with pairs of faceted hexagonal amethysts and citrines, an aquamarine, rubellite, Chrome tourmaline, tanzanite and a peridot with a total weight of over 50 carats, accompanied by close to 4,000 snow-set diamonds.

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