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Chris Hemsworth shows how to do the red carpet right with a Bulgari Octo Finissimo Skeleton Chris Hemsworth shows how to do the red carpet right with a Bulgari Octo Finissimo Skeleton

Chris Hemsworth shows how to do the red carpet right with a Bulgari Octo Finissimo Skeleton

Luke Benedictus

EDITOR’S NOTE: Let’s face it watch spotting is a game that’s fraught with error. Yesterday, we suggested in this story that Chris Hemsworth was wearing a Bulgari Octo Finissimo Extra Thin. We’ve since received confirmation that the watch in question was, in fact, the skeletonised version of this watch. The copy below has now been updated.

There’s a saying that a good watch is the best thing a man can have on his arm after a beautiful woman. On Wednesday, Chris Hemsworth doubled down by enjoying both. The Aussie actor appeared on the red carpet at the Sydney screening of the new Netflix release Interceptor to support his wife, Elsa Pataky, who stars in the film. Pataky turned heads in her black, strapless gown enlivened with a sparkling array of Bulgari jewellery purportedly worth $474,000. But watch nerds will have been equally drawn to Hemsworth’s own Bulgari accessory.

Bulgari Octo Finissimo Extra Thin

For many years, Hemsworth was, of course, the poster boy for TAG Heuer with his departure creating a vacancy for Ryan Gosling to step into the ambassador role. Since then, Hemsworth seems to have been enjoying his horological freedom with a variety of brands. Last year, for example, he was memorably snapped en route to an ’80s themed party wearing a gold Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, while this year he was photographed doing a spot of Rolex window-shopping in St Moritz.

But during his red-carpet appearance last night, Hemsworth took a more refined approach, wearing a Bulgari Octo Finissimo Skeleton. While you usually see the Finissimo draped off that slinky integrated bracelet, Hemsworth opted to go a little dressier wearing his rose-gold Octo Finissimo Extra Thin on an alligator leather bracelet.

In recent years, we’ve become accustomed to actors turning up at such shindigs (and even the Oscars) wearing chronographs and diving watches at times, but it’s nice to see Hemsworth showing the virtue of a more traditional approach. The Octo Finissimo may not be the most orthodox dress watch due to the visual pizzazz of its multi-faceted 40mm case and, this case, a skeletonized dial. But it still ticks a lot of the boxes due to its extra-thin case that allows it to slide neatly under your shirt cuff and, of course, that glossy leather strap. Despite that relative simplicity, the combination of the rose gold against the black exudes the sort of opulence that you’d expect from the $50,300 price tag.

Bulgari Octo Finissimo Extra Thin

Following the Met Ball this year, there was much hand-wringing among fashion journalists that the event was now more about fancy dress than elegance  – “It’s turned into a costume party,” remarked Tom Ford. On the back of all that, it was somehow reassuring to see one of Hollywood’s leading men turn out to support his wife in a classic three-piece suit and a contemporary dress watch. The rules aren’t always made to be broken.