THE HISTORY OF THE BULGARI OCTO FINISSIMO ULTRA
It is extremely difficult to understand what the Octo Finissimo Ultra actually is without having it in your hands: the thinnest mechanical watch in the world, at just 1.8mm thick, may give you an idea but it does not do justice to the watch itself, nor to the Manufacture that created it.
The Ultra is the seal of a decade-long journey that began in 2012 with the launch of the Octo collection, evolved two years later with the first Bulgari Octo Finissimo and continued at forced and ingenious stages until today. At the presentation of the first Finissimo in 2014, many turned up their noses at yet another sports watch with a bracelet, with obvious stylistic references to the traits of Gerald Genta; others did not appreciate the thinness and the resulting lightness; some even made fun of the name Finissimo, comparing it to the well-known coffee pods…
Yet only 8 years later we are talking about an icon of modern watchmaking, recognizable on a par with other much longer-lived “bracelet cousins”, with extremely prestigious “ancestors” or signatures of designers who are now considered true legends in the sector.
OCTO FINISSIMO ULTRA: UNIQUE CHARACTERISTICS
To achieve this result, Bulgari has leveraged three pillars that have proven to be successful: first of all, the avant-garde design personified by Fabrizio Buonamassa, the qualitative and mechanical excellence built on the acquisitions of the Gerald Genta and Daniel Roth factories with their related know-how and finally, perhaps what best represents the soul of Bulgari, the constant desire to question and reinvent itself without ever betraying its origins.
Thanks to these traits, Bulgari has gradually managed to overturn opinions, transforming them from critical to celebratory, collecting eight world records and three Grand Prix d'Horlogerie awards along the way, combining avant-garde choices without ever deviating from the original aesthetic canons.
From satin-finished titanium, the stylistic hallmark of the collection and its lightness, to platinum, passing through steel, ceramic and carbon fibre, Bulgari has managed to combine a series of noteworthy complications within the same 40mm case: chronograph, GMT, manual and automatic tourbillon, minute repeater, perpetual calendar, often combined with each other with unique results and with an accompanying record for thickness.
THE WORLD'S THINNEST MECHANICAL WATCH
2022 was the year of checkmate, the year in which after a few years of silence and apparent surrender to Piaget in the race for the thinnest mechanical watch - whose crown was held by the 2018 Altiplano Ultimate Concept with 2mm - Bulgari presented the Ultra, 10% thinner.
Never was a name more appropriate, because the concept of “beyond” is the only one capable of explaining how in just 1.8mm you can combine a mechanism, a case with sapphire crystal and create a wearable watch. This last aspect is fundamental: the instinctive approach is the one you would have when handling a very delicate relic; but a few seconds are enough and the fear of breaking it is replaced by the sensation of resistance and wearability that you would not expect a watch like this to have. Much of this merit is not dictated by the mechanism, without taking anything away from the BVL 180 caliber which with its mono-axial construction is a true work of art capable of showing hours, minutes and seconds and also features a QR code that refers to a unique NFT: the sapphire crystal is so thin that it is technically flexible and so, invisible to the human eye, some microscopic transparent pillars ensure its rigidity by resting on the mechanism itself. The bracelet, as thick as the case, could not accommodate a classic “Octo” clasp, even if it was already thin: an “ultra” clasp was needed and so the integrated deployante is literally immersed in the bracelet itself, resulting invisible and irrelevant in terms of thickness. Finally, the case back is not a case back, but in reality the bridge on which the entire mechanism rests and from which two very thin gears protrude, which serve respectively to wind and regulate the watch.
This last detail represents the only real “limit” of the Ultra: it is waterproof to a depth of just 10 metres.
But there will only be 10 lucky owners who Bulgari will have to make understand that it is better to take off the Ultra before diving in…
HISTORY OF THE BULGARI OCTO FINISSIMO RECORDS
2014 – Octo Finissimo Tourbillon – the thinnest Tourbillon movement, 1.95mm / case thickness 5.00mm – caliber BVL 268
2016 – Octo Finissimo Minute Repeater – the thinnest Minute Repeater movement, 3.12mm / case thickness 6.85mm – caliber BVL 362
2017 – Octo Finissimo Automatic – thinnest automatic movement, 2.23mm / case thickness 5.15mm – caliber BVL 138
2018 – Octo Finissimo Tourbillon Automatic – the thinnest automatic movement and the thinnest Tourbillon movement, 1.95mm / case thickness 3.95mm – caliber BVL 288
2019 – Octo Finissimo Chronograph – Thinnest Chronograph movement, 3.30mm / Case thickness 6.90mm – Calibre BVL 318
2020 – Octo Finissimo Tourbillon Chronograph – the thinnest Chronograph Tourbillon movement, 3.50mm / case thickness 7.40mm – caliber BVL 388
2021 – Octo Finissimo Perpetual Calendar – thinnest Perpetual Calendar movement, 2.75mm / case thickness 5.80mm – caliber BVL 388
2022 – Octo Finissimo Ultra – the world’s thinnest mechanical watch, case thickness 1.80mm – BVL 180 caliber
In-depth analysis by Davide Azzini
