iW Magazine Spring 2020 | Page 59

BY MICHAEL THOMPSON BULGARI COMPLICATES SERPENTI At LVMH Watch Week in Dubai, the Italo-Swiss watchmaker and jeweler added a tourbillon to Serpenti and debuted the first steel Octo Finissimo Automatic. Bulgari places a clear sapphire bridge on the Serpenti Seduttori Tourbillon to insure a view of the new tourbillon. in white gold with a full diamond bracelet. Prices start at $78,000. with a colorful peacock feather dial. MORE FOR WOMEN OCTO REPEATER IN GOLD 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. 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 GPHG-award winning 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 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. This all-new version ($170,000) 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. 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. SPRING 2020 | INTERNATIONAL WATCH | 59