LVMH WATCH WEEK: Bulgari 2022 novelties overview

Editor’s note: We get that this LVMH Watch Week there is a ton of ground to cover, with four brands all releasing a range of novelties to kick off the year. So, for your convenience, we’re offering a quick overview of each brand’s new novelties – touching on each new reference or collection and their headlining points. Stay tuned throughout the week for deeper coverage, some of which will include live pics and our hands-on perspective. But for now let’s run through each of the new watches – here are the Bulgari 2022 novelties of LVMH Watch Week.

Octo Roma Blue Carillon Tourbillon

It combines two traditional high-end complications – the tourbillon and the Grande Sonnerie striking mechanism that sounds the hours, quarters and minutes – in a strikingly modernist approach. Inside its platinum case, the watch features a graphic skeletonised movement with blue bridges, the colour echoed in the blued titanium caseband and blue alligator-leather strap secured by a platinum triple-blade folding clasp.

To make the most of its striking mechanism, the case has been designed to amplify sound rendition and clarity. That’s the reason behind its generous 44m diameter proportions that enable increased torque and sound power production from the three hammers in the hand-wound calibre BVL428. Cavities have also been inserted into the caseband to help the sound from leaving the chamber.

Available in a 30-piece limited edition, the watch has a transparent sapphire crystal caseback and is guaranteed to be a singular piece in any collection. Prices haven’t yet been announced at the time of writing, but we’ll bring you all the info and a full review soon.

Octo Roma Emerald Grande Sonnerie

A piece unique should always be special and Bulgari emphatically delivers on that brief. Yes, the Octo Roma Emerald Grande Sonnerie includes Bulgari’s Grande Sonnerie striking mechanism that is impressive enough in itself (the Maison is amongst only a handful of Swiss watchmakers capable of producing this mechanism that sounds the hours, quarters and minutes). But it’s permissible to be distracted from all that as Bulgari turn the volume up to 11 to showcase their fabled skill in gem-setting.

The watch is set with 446 baguette-cut Zambian emeralds and diamonds totalling over 30 carats. Crafted in white gold with a sapphire crystal case-back, it’s presented on a bright green alligator strap to match the emerald-set bezel. It’s a watch that you ensures you’ll never forget that, despite Bulgari’s horological achievements in recent years, the brand is still a jeweller at heart.

Lucea

Bulgari’s Lucea timepieces are all about the language of light and evoking a sense of the Roman sky. The new 2022 models add fresh colours to the palette, with their dials crafted in pink mother-of-pearl and aventurine Each of the dials is assembled using the marquetry technique in a pattern called “Intarsio” in which the 37 micro-elements are cut and then faceted by hand before being assembled according to a precise and regular geometry to form the three-dimensional surface of the dial. Diamond bezels and hour markers add further dazzle to these watches that will be available in both quartz and automatic configurations.

Serpenti Misteriosi High Jewellery

After exploring the limits of ultra-thin mechanical watchmaking in the Octo Finissomo, Bulgari now lays a new milestone in the field of ultra-small with Piccolissimo, the Italian for “very small”. This year, they’re introducing four new Serpenti watches, upgrading the iconic design from the 1950s with the new Piccolissimo mechanical movement, one of the smallest in the world.

The new Serpenti Misteriosi timepieces are opulent, colourful and designed to showcase the brand’s jewellery virtuosity. Masterpieces of goldsmithing, their constituent parts are individually shaped before being decorated, gem-set and assembled. Particular attention has been paid to the overall design of the precious metal structure forming the bracelet and the head to ensure that it is comfortable and light to wear.

Hewn in yellow and white gold: the snake wraps itself around the wrist with a double-tour yellow gold bracelet entirely adorned with brilliant-cut diamonds on the white gold head and tail. The animal’s head is then graced with round-cut diamonds. But that’s not all. In a charming trick, press the snake’s tongue on the Serpenti Misteriosi to open the reptile’s head to reveal the watch. A bidirectional crown located on the caseback enables manual winding and time-setting. Oh, and when it comes to your “snake eyes”, you’ve got a bunch of options, too, as you can choose between rubellite, emerald and diamond peepers.

Serpenti Misteriosi Romani

Serpenti Seduttori

Just as snake sheds its skin, Bulgari has chosen to broaden the Seduttori’s impact by adding a new bracelet. Its construction is based on a slinky jigsaw of hexagonal motifs that enable it to flow sinuously over the wrist. This bracelet forms one with the case, which represents the head of the snake. The case and bracelet now come in steel, rose gold or a mix of the two. We’ll bring you images and a full review of the new watches as they drop.