The Sound of success
Jean-Christophe Babin, Bulgari’s CEO, says the constant challenge for the maison’s watchmakers is in achieving the essence of elegance. “We need to trigger the Italian idea of beauty which encompasses style and refinement – a concept synonymous with Bulgari,” he says. “It’s not the only way but ultra-slim timepieces is certainly one of the ways to fulfill that dream.”
Hence, this year’s hand-wound Octo Finissimo Minute Repeater (SFr160,000, S$226,000), which sets the mark for being the world’s slimmest minute repeater – with a case size of only 6.85mm. A second record is also achieved through the in-house developed and produced 3.12mm-thick BVL Calibre 362 which powers the minute repeater. In order for the latter to happen, Bulgari’s watchmakers at its Le Sentier manufacture had to produce components which are between 60 and 70 per cent smaller than the norm.
“We are fortunate that our company possesses people specialised in each activity,” Babin says. “Assembling and regulating such a precise movement is not easy but we managed to recreate the dynamics of a big case through a variety of factors. Our watchmakers employed a new geometry of hammers, harnessing titanium on the case and also the dial. They then pierced the dial for hour-markers thus creating the free space necessary for purer acoustics to develop.”
Only 50 pieces of the Octo Finissimo Minute Repeater will be produced.
