REVOLUTION_International_Vol 54

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The Octo Finissimo Automatic in satinpolished rose gold case with integrated brown alligator leather strap. Midnight blue barathea wool with black silk facings, The Deck.
CEO of Bvlgari, Jean-Christophe Babin, and Fabrizio Buonamassa (right), Director of Watch Design at Bvlgari. ORIGINS OF A HOROLOGICAL ICON But before we go into the history and milestones of the Octo Finissimo, let’s pause to examine the genesis of the integrated sports watch and the way in which Bvlgari is both spiritually aligned and yet a radical departure from its rivals. So, time was, if you were a Riviera Rake with the last name Agnelli or Rubirosa in that halcyon era between the ’50s and the ’70s, before the Côte d’Azur was overrun by oligarchs and priapically winged orange Lamborghinis that look like mobile fertility symbols, before the era of champagne bottle wars and when culture, taste and money still aligned, you had to dress in a certain way. And that was with a certain educated but nonchalant élan, a Cifonelli or Caraceni blazer worn or, better, cast over one shoulder like an old bathrobe as you hopped out of your Ferrari 250 SWB and carved your path through the trellises of connubial haut monde mademoiselles to the bar at the Hôtel du Cap. Now the watch on your wrist could hardly be something as pragmatic as a diver’s tool watch. No, what you needed to have, to casually check how many hours from sunset and that rendezvous with that Italian screen ingénue decamped incognito to a nearby villa, was an integrated bracelet, sports chic watch. In the ’70s there were two models, the Royal Oak created in 1972 and the Nautilus in 1976. The man behind both these watches, and clearly an individual with a penchant for slim timepieces with faceted bezels that exhibited a dynamic tension between bold, muscular designs counterpointed by slim (some would even say lithe) profiles, was one Gérald Genta. When Genta eventually created his own eponymous brand, he would also design an octagonal watch with an eightsided bezel. Cut to several decades later in 2000 when Bvlgari would purchase both Gérald Genta and Daniel Roth, at the time both owned by Singapore’s Tay family of The Hour Glass fame, and inherit a great deal of high-complication competences — two watch manufactures and the octagonal model that, while appealing, had not yet realized its full creative potential. Indeed, it took a few years for Bvlgari’s team of Babin, Fabrizio Buonamassa and then-watchmaking head Guido Terreni to realize what Genta’s design truly could be. However, to achieve this, they had to undertake one of the most technically innovative and daring creative programs in the history of luxury watchmaking. The complexity came about because one of the key objectives with Bvlgari’s new Octo model, to be named the Octo Finissimo, was to create the world’s thinnest mechanical watch. Says Jean-Christophe Babin, “With respect to my competitors, movement innovation like this hadn’t really been achieved since the last real pioneering era of the late ’60s, when the industry was chasing the achievement of the first automatic chronograph with Heuer, Breitling and Hamilton pursuing the Caliber 11 and Zenith ultimately arriving at the groundbreaking El Primero. For us, it was never the pursuit purely to have the world’s thinnest mechanical watch. Rather, the goal was to bring that same daring, innovation and finesse that has made us a leader in the ladies’ and jewelry sector to the world of men’s watches. It dawned on us that our advantage is that we are Italian. All our watches and their components are made in Switzerland but from a design perspective, as an Italian company, we are much more open than the Swiss. We draw inspiration from Italian architecture, from fashion, from cinema, from the automotive world and from the very landscape of our home city, Rome, which is so beautiful. We decided we wanted to express the two very Italian qualities of strength and elegance in a bold and groundbreaking manner.” COVER STORY 29
Page 1 and 2: CELEBRATING THE MACHINE WITH A HEAR
Page 3: BREGUET BOUTIQUES - NEW YORK 646 69
Page 7 and 8: COLLECTION Fifty Fathoms ©Photogra
Page 9 and 10: HOME OF FINE WATCHMAKING SINCE 1833
Page 11 and 12: CALIBER RM 67-01 RICHARD MILLE BOUT
Page 13 and 14: SEVEN DAYS V45 S6 SQT 212.463.8898
Page 15 and 16: intentionally allowing the majority
Page 17 and 18: Tangente Update. Made in Germany. T
Page 19 and 20: CALIBER RM 07-01 RICHARD MILLE BOUT
Page 23 and 24: Piaget Altiplano 38mm Bulino Engrav
Page 26 and 27: On Niclas Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso
Page 28: THE GREAT INNOVATOR — THE INCREDI
Page 33 and 34: I should also pause to reflect on t
Page 36 and 37: The Octo Finissimo Automatic Sandbl
Page 38 and 39: TIMELINE 2014 OCTO FINISSIMO MECHAN
Page 41 and 42: 2018: OCTO FINISSIMO TOURBILLON AUT
Page 44 and 45: The Bvlgari × Revolution Octo Fini
Page 46 and 47: 2020: OCTO FINISSIMO AUTOMATIC SATI
Page 49 and 50: THE MODERNIST At the attic of Zenit
Page 51 and 52: THE GAME CHANGE - LVMH WATCH FAIR I
Page 53 and 54: with an integrated bracelet. While
Page 55 and 56: BVLGARI SERPENTI SEDUTTORI TOURBILL
Page 57 and 58: In 1983, Land Rover created one of
Page 59: LVMH WATCH WEEK DUBAI MADE OF STARD
Page 62 and 63: This page, clockwise from top left
Page 64 and 65: ZENITH × REVOLUTION AND THE RAKE T
Page 66 and 67: 64 THE MODERNIST
Page 68 and 69: This page, from top The crowd watch
Page 70 and 71: THE ABSOLUTE ZENITH OF MANUFACTURE
Page 72 and 73: THE FIRST FULLY INDUSTRIALIZED WATC
Page 76 and 77: WHEN THE STARS ALIGN One of the bri
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INTRODUCING THE ZENITH X THE RAKE A
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THE MODERNIST 81
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ZENITH X REVOLUTION CHRONOMASTER RE
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THE MODERNIST 85
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staying too deep for too long. It c
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THE CARRERA, 1964 (LEFT) VS 2020 (R
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BACK TO THE FUTURE Combine a French
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n . it was always for me and how fa
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significant technological advanceme
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LA GRANDE DAME As Grand Seiko celeb
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A NEW SPRING DRIVE Last year when w
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This page, clockwise The SBGW263 in
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Next, housed in yellow gold and wit
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In January this year, when Oris bro
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This page, clockwise from top left
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INNOVATIONS IN THE INDUSTRY: HUBLOT
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INNOVATIVE MATERIALS Hublot’s inn
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A TRUE SCIENTIFIC LABORATORY This m
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THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING RETAIL-SMAR
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smell what is going on, they can fe
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A SPECIAL HOUSE Parmigiani CEO Davi
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128 BACKTOTHEFUTURE
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STRIVING FOR HONESTY A Breitling am
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132 BACKTOTHEFUTURE
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to California to visit Joshua Tree,
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VINTAGE Bona fide style icon and fo
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VINTAGE 139
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changed color through the alchemic
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this. As a comparison, of the Ferra
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HOW LASER WELDING WORKS 1. A series
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adage that “you don’t buy the w
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Left The Day-Date 36 reference 1803
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Above left A reference 18238 “Gol
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A-Z OF DAY-DATE STONE DIALS Agate A
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The 18188A ‘Lucky Wheel’, featu
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CALL COLLECT: MARK CHO Founder of T
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VINTAGE 159 chronograph I ever boug
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I couldn’t get over the big Bvlga
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Wei Koh: Welcome Austen, to our new
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Above The Royal Oak Perpetual Calen
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the knowledge or the know-how to di
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www.grand-seiko.com/us-en
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