BREAKING TRADITIONS
Bvlgari was founded in 1884, and the name has been synonymous with Italian style and elegance ever since. Steeped in tradition, most of the brand’s products have a link to the history of the maison. At the same time that the Roman brand has been focused on the historical and the traditional, Bvlgari has been aiming to be as disruptive as possible. Seems like a paradox, doesn’t it?
That’s exactly why Bvlgari CEO Jean-Christophe Babin is smiling. He wants you to question, to refuse to accept the status quo, to ask why and to ask why not, to revel in the confusion, then realise that it all makes sense.
While Bvlgari is playing with traditional codes and styles, it is moving watchmaking and watch design forward into the future. Disruptive but not destructive. Modern but with a traditionally elegant soul.
MAKING THE BREAK
Where other brands might have been content with just style exercises, that was never going to be enough for Bvlgari. For the brand, what’s inside matters just as much – if not more – as the design on the outside.
“Octo is to men what Bvlgari jewellery is to women,” explains Babin. “The Octo is expressing ultimate, contemporary luxury. The Octo is THE Bvlgari men’s watch, refined but casual, with a very strong character. We believe that even a high-end, grand complication is a watch that you should be able to wear every day. I wanted the Octo, in all its forms, to be a daily wear watch.
“As early as the 1960s, Bvlgari turned high jewellery into something women could wear every day, which was quite a revolution,” he continues. “For watches, we are bringing these grand complications to daily usage, daily enjoyment, which makes Bvlgari a major protagonist in high watchmaking. For the Octo, it’s much more about enjoyment and pleasure rather than just possessing. People want to enjoy what they buy. The drive to possessing just to possess is gone, now it’s about enjoying what you possess. Our expressions of high watchmaking in the Octo focus on enjoyment as well as collecting.”
Most complicated watches are designed for the safe, or for occasional, gentle wear, while Bvlgari with its Finissimo
