The Bold And The Beautiful

In just 10 years, the Octo collection has become a true icon of contemporary watchmaking, and now with the Finissimo Ultra, it’s about to become emblematic of the industry’s boldness

- Jonathan Ho

TEN YEARS AGO, Swiss watchmaking excellence and inimitable Italian elegance combined in a heady mix of aesthetics and technical sophistication never before seen in the industry. Birthing the Octo Finissimo, Bulgari heralded a new era for our generation, disrupting the dominance of two luxury sports watch pioneers with a seemingly simple formula – tight aesthetics and a penchant of fantastic, never before attempted, record-breaking high complications.

Having amassed the 60 or so international prizes awarded to the Octo Finissimo, including the “Aiguille d’Or” – the Best in Show award – at the latest Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève, the collection’s minimalist design matched by maximalist engineering is proving a potent cocktail of exquisite contradictions that simply make it a horological gateway to bigger yet thinner high complications.

What began with the powerful Octo L’Originale – something this author badged “the Royal Oak of my generation”, a neither round nor square asserting its charismatic personality through the harmonious combination of two elemental shapes – have indeed proven to be geometric catnip for watch connoisseurs. Further perfected in 2014, the Octo Finissimo collection has redefined traditional haute horlogerie, reinterpreting classic and sophisticated watch complications in a resolutely contemporary manner symbolising Bulgari’s own Estetica della Meccanica: the art of absolute innovation in form as well as in substance.