Pure Bulgari

Bulgari has enhanced its watchmaking capability in recent years, launching an in-house automatic caliber, BVL 191, in 2013, followed last year by the world’s thinnest tourbillon movement and then a new chronograph caliber, the high-frequency (36,000 vph) Velocissimo. It is obvious Bulgari is heavily investing in its fine watchmaking capacity, but it has also been quietly asserting its capability as a maker of high jewellery watches. This is a reflection of its roots as a maker of a specific kind of high jewellery: colorful, glamorous and flawless. High watchmaking paired with high jewellery is a growing niche in watchmaking, and Bulgari’s attention to detail as a jeweller is part of what informs its attitude to watchmaking.

This year in Basel, the new Magnesium smart watch, the anniversary edition Roma and the new Papillon complication timepieces were almost overshadowed by the new high jewellery collection Geometry of Time. It is a limited collection of bracelet watches that are engineered as high end jewellery, with links carved out of gemstones or made of gold and set with gemstones, including onyx, turquoise, coral, mother-of-pearl, sapphire, diamond, emerald, amethyst and ruby. The design is rigorously geometric, with angular cuts and components expertly linked or screwed together in a kaleidescope of colors, framing a dial that is either paved with diamonds or carved out of hard ruby. The construction is as complex as any high complication.

“Only Bulgari can do this”

At a glance, these watches identify as pure Bulgari. “We love to play with colors and we love to play with unique designs, and that is the essence of Bulgari,” says Fabrizio Buonamassa, the head of watch design at the company’s La Chaux-de-fonds manufacture. “Two years ago, we made a bracelet of this design, and it was so amazing, we had to make it as a wristwatch,” he says. The designs are all similar in arrangement but each is slightly different, since all are made by hand. The bracelet portion is crafted in Bulgari’s atelier in Rome and then shipped to Switzerland where it is assembled as a watch. “This marriage is a little bit strange – the Italian know-how in terms of jewellery, and the Swiss know-how in terms of watches – but it works very well for us,” says Buonamassa. “It is the technique we use now to produce all of our jewellery watches.” Each piece in the Geometry of Time collection takes eight months to produce, from the design to sourcing the gems and assembly of each piece by hand. Prices range from USD 95,000 to USD 1 million.

The movements in many of Bulgari’s high jewellery watches are mechanical, including the Berries Tourbillon, with the BVL 313, and the highly decorated Giardino Marino, with the tourbillon Caliber BVL 263. But Geometry of Time movements are quartz (with the crown in the back where it will not interfere with the integrity of the design), mainly because of size. “We don’t have in our assortment a mechanical movement with this dimension,” explains Buonamassa. “There are only one or two references in the world in this segment, including for example the Jaeger-LeCoultre [Caliber 101].” Will Bulgari develop a small mechanical caliber for its ladies’ pieces? “I have to say, I hope so,” says Buonamassa. “But to develop a movement like that, you need four or five years and you have to think about how many are you going to sell.” Only 20 pieces will be made in the Geometry of Time collection.

That said, Buonamassa acknowledges the importance of the high jewellery niche for the brand. “They are an amazing asset for Bulgari,” he says. “We push a lot in this segment because it is a part of our history.” “We have very talented craftspeople with the right skills in our ateliers in Rome and Valenza, and we have another team that ensures we have the very best stones. So it is very easy for us to produce these amazing pieces by hand because we have the capabilities in place. Only Bulgari can do this.”