Thursday, 31 January 2013

Bulgari Octo Watch

Gerald Genta design lives on…
Did you know the original “Octo” was created by legendary Swiss watch designer Gerald Genta?  Yup, and now the Octo lives on under the Bulgari brand.  Bulgari acquired the Gerald Genta brand in 1999/2000, and in 2010 it announced that it would be fully “integrating” Gerald Genta (and Daniel Roth) into Bulgari.  In other words, the Gerald Genta name would soon live on in spirit only.  Now in 2010 Bulgari did showcase some pieces with both the Bulgari and Gerald Genta logos on them — I do not know if these pieces were produced as such or not, but in some number of years they might be worthy collector’s pieces.  Anyway — back to the Octo.  Originally created by Genta and named for its eight-sided case, the watch was produced with a wide array of complications including a Grand Sonnerie Tourbillon.  But as you can see this new Octo from Bulgari is very simple and elegant whilst carrying on the Octo design.  I’ve got more pics and video, below.

41.5mm case in pink gold or steel (10.5mm thick), automatic mechanical manufacture BVL 193 caliber
You can see the case, made in-house, is quite angular (even the lugs) — it has a total of 110 facets, each hand-finished with a nice mix of polished and satin surfaces.
The Octo has an in-house made automatic movement, the Bulgari Caliber BVL 193.  It is nothing spectacular (only 50 hours with 2 barrels), but it is a good base caliber offering time and date functions, and some decent decorative aspects:  bridges and adorned with Côtes de Genève motif, chamfered and polished bridge edges, circular-grained mainplate, satin-brushed wheels, polished pivots.


Bulgari Octo Watch
by Kyle Stults on October 28, 2012
Gerald Genta design lives on…

Did you know the original “Octo” was created by legendary Swiss watch designer Gerald Genta?  Yup, and now the Octo lives on under the Bulgari brand.  Bulgari acquired the Gerald Genta brand in 1999/2000, and in 2010 it announced that it would be fully “integrating” Gerald Genta (and Daniel Roth) into Bulgari.  In other words, the Gerald Genta name would soon live on in spirit only.  Now in 2010 Bulgari did showcase some pieces with both the Bulgari and Gerald Genta logos on them — I do not know if these pieces were produced as such or not, but in some number of years they might be worthy collector’s pieces.  Anyway — back to the Octo.  Originally created by Genta and named for its eight-sided case, the watch was produced with a wide array of complications including a Grand Sonnerie Tourbillon.  But as you can see this new Octo from Bulgari is very simple and elegant whilst carrying on the Octo design.  I’ve got more pics and video, below.
41.5mm case in pink gold or steel (10.5mm thick), automatic mechanical manufacture BVL 193 caliber


You can see the case, made in-house, is quite angular (even the lugs) — it has a total of 110 facets, each hand-finished with a nice mix of polished and satin surfaces.

The Octo has an in-house made automatic movement, the Bulgari Caliber BVL 193.  It is nothing spectacular (only 50 hours with 2 barrels), but it is a good base caliber offering time and date functions, and some decent decorative aspects:  bridges and adorned with Côtes de Genève motif, chamfered and polished bridge edges, circular-grained mainplate, satin-brushed wheels, polished pivots.



Price for the Bulgari Octo in steel is $9,500 and $28,300 in 18k pink  gold.  I find this to be a very sensibly styled and fashionable watch with great proportions.  It is not too bold and “in your face” as some Bulgari pieces are — and the price is also about right.  Nicely done Bulgari.

Video

No comments:

Post a Comment