Serpents and gold co-star in Bulgari’s desert debuts this week, unveiled during Watch Week in Dubai where the brand joins its LVMH brethren to showcase new watches for 2020.
The jewelry and watchmaking company, which capitalizes on its deep Italian design and Swiss watchmaking prowess, adds several effervescent new models to its snake-head shaped Serpenti collection while also adding new gold (and ceramic) finishes to its record-holding ultra-thin Octo Finissimo collections.
Serpenti & Dreams
Emphasizing a host of new and updated watches in its Serpenti Seduttori and Divas’ Dream collections, Bulgari sets the bar high by hatching a newly complicated Serpenti, the Serpenti Seduttori Tourbillon, with which Bulgari welcomes mechanical movements back to its collection of small watches for women.
Within the snake-head-shaped Serpenti Seduttori Bulgari places its new tourbillon caliber (BVL150) in the watch’s most prominent position just below the center to leave no doubt about the highly complicated nature of the watch’s movement.
Bulgari designed the movement specifically to fit and be clearly visible within the small Serpenti case. Bulgari watchmakers assured full transparency by developing a clear sapphire bridge to better display the tourbillon.
Bulgari places a clear sapphire bridge on the Serpenti Seduttori Tourbillon to insure a view of the new tourbillon.
Likewise, the tourbillon is highly visible from the back thanks to a sapphire crystal caseback.
View of the Bulgari tourbillon from the back of the new Serpenti Seduttori Tourbillon.
Bulgari also hand-decorated the entire caliber and then rhodium-plated it for extra brilliance, while utilizing a special diamond setting technique to ensure a thin case while also maximizing the watch’s high-carat glitter.
The Serpenti Seduttori Tourbillon is being offered with either a rose gold or a white gold case on a leather strap, or in white gold with a full diamond bracelet .
More for Women
While the tourbillon model highlights Bulgari’s 2020 offerings for ladies, look for at least five new Serpenti Seduttori watches in 2020, including at least one with diamonds and another that combines steel with rose gold and with white gold.
Bulgari's new Serpenti Steel and Rose gold. Additional models include diamond bezels, an all-steel case, and an all-gold case.
Also for women, Bulgari’s Divas’ Dream collection expands this year with a Divas’ Dream Minute Repeater Malachite, featuring a beautifully striped malachite green dial, surrounded by a diamond-set bezel. You may recall that this design is currently the thinnest minute repeater made for a women’s watch.
Bulgari also adds two new gold Divas’ Dream watches without the repeater. One features a rich blue lapis lazuli dial while another is finished with a colorful peacock feather dial.
Octo Repeater in Gold
Another highlight among Bulgari’s Dubai 2020 debuts is the new Octo Finissimo Minute Repeater in rose gold, powered by the ultra-thin (3.12mm) manual-wind minute repeater movement, the BVL 362 caliber.
The new Bulgari Octo Finissimo Minute Repeater in rose gold, powered by the ultra-thin 3.12mm Mechanical Manufacture Minute Repeater movement
This all-new version of the much-heralded record-breaking titanium-cased Octo Finissimo Minute Repeater from 2016 now glows on the wrist with an impressive sandblasted rose gold case.
From the back of the new Bulgari Octo Finissimo Minute Repeater in rose gold you can see the ultra-thin 3.12mm mechanical minute repeater movement.
As seen on earlier models, this rose gold edition retains the dial's cutout hour and small seconds markers that serve to amplify the repeater’s chime. The pusher that activates the striking mechanism (at 9 o’clock) is wisely fitted with an "all or nothing" safety device. When fully wound, the movement delivers a 42-hour power reserve.
New Finishes
Throughout the Octo Finissimo collection, Bulgari in 2020 again focuses on the Italian design aspect of its Swiss engineered three-hand GPHG-Award-winning Octo Finissimo Automatic models.
The new Octo Finissimo Automatic Satin-Polished, rose gold and steel models.
Looks for three new models in this collection. First, two emphasize their new satin-polished non-monochromatic timepieces. These are the Octo Finissimo Automatic Satin-Polished Steel and the Octo Finissimo Automatic Satin-Polished Rose Gold. Both watches show off the thin BVL 138 Finissimo caliber (2.23mm) and feature a polished black lacquer dial.
Up close with the Octo Finissimo Automatic Satin-Polished Steel.
While the steel model features a nicely integrated steel bracelet, the rose gold version comes on an alligator strap.
The third new Octo Finissimo, the Octo Finissimo Automatic in Black Sandblast-Polished Ceramic, features a new sandblast-polished ceramic case and bracelet and sandblasted ceramic dial. This monochromatic look alternates its matte and polished surfaces, an effect that allows the light to play off the case and bracelet angles.
Look for pricing and additional details about Bulgari's 2020 collection in future posts.