LVMH Watch Week 2023: Bvlgari Bedazzles with Gem-set Jewellery Watches

Organised by the LVMH Group, the LVMH Watch Week is, traditionally, the first event on the calendar of watch industry showcases. The event highlights the dynamic momentum of LVMH watchmaking brands and the entire industry. This year, Bvlgari, Hublot, TAG Heuer and Zenith premiered their latest collections and exceptional timepieces for journalists from around the world in Singapore.

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If we look at Bvlgari, known for its elegant boldness, the Maison has brought bright, joyful colours to its iconic designs, demonstrating once again that time is indeed a jewel! The Roman watchmaker’s creative vocabulary has been steadily evolving since its origins. The jeweller and watchmaker dazzled watch lovers at the LVMH Watch Week once again with its timeless creations, featuring aesthetic codes that have become signatures. 

Here are the exciting novelties from Bvlgari. 

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True Colours: Allegra ‍

Sparkling with colours and shapes is the uninhibited and precious Allegra. Bvlgari’s Allegra is like a tangy cocktail brimming with surprises. The watch made its debut in 2022. The gems – tourmalines, citrines, rhodolites and peridots – explode in a variety of joyful shapes. There are two models: The Pink Sapphire and the Yellow Sapphire with variations in gemstones and straps. Each model features a mother-of-pearl dial, set with a 12 round diamonds index. 

The Spirit of Dolce Vita: Divas’ Dream

Surrounded by precious mobile petals is the pearly face of Divas' Dream, impelled by wrist movements. The shape draws from the ginkgo leaf, symbolising the union of opposites. Bvlgari blends hard stones with fluid, fanned petals. The watch is enriched with topazes, tanzanites, amethysts, tourmalines, rubies and diamonds — gems in brilliant colours, brimming with promise. Shades of blue grace the first model and mauve the second, while the third one is in bold red with eight rubies – a colour that symbolises good luck and fortune in Asian culture. The beauty of polished rose gold at the base of the petals combines with the sparkle of diamonds. Each of these Divas' Dreams is paired with a perfectly matched strap. 

Colour and Light: Divas' Dream Mosaica

The two brand new Divas' Dream Mosaica models represent Bvlgari’s jewellery and watchmaking expertise. The dial is fully set with a fan-shaped pattern that reminds one of the mosaics adorning Rome’s Baths of Caracalla, with a subtle sapphire gradient, ranging from pale pink to magenta for the first rose gold version and from sky blue to deep azure for the second white gold iteration. Against a background of brilliant-cut diamonds, a polished gold decorative fillet frames this design. 

Vividly coloured gems light up the hours on the bezel and the crown set with cabochon-cut diamonds – a Bvlgari signature. The rose gold version sports a purple alligator leather strap, fitted with a sparkling gold and diamond folding clasp. The gem-set lugs on the bracelet echo the dial motifs. The blue sapphires model is paired with a spectacular bracelet, featuring ‘glittering stars’, each of the fan-shaped links sparkles with a profusion of diamonds. The transparent caseback reveals a finely decorated mechanical self-winding movement from the Bvlgari watch manufacture in Switzerland.  

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‘Round the Wrist: Serpenti Tubogas Infinity 

The serpenti or the snake represents perpetual rebirth, wisdom and vitality. Bvlgari's fascination with this mystical creature and its talisman-like allure has always inspired some of its best collections. The wrapping bracelet is the result of a complex technique that involves coiling several metres of gold or steel wire. In 2010, Bvlgari united two icons in a contemporary version, with the sinuous case of the Serpenti watch set atop the Tubogas bracelet. In 2022, Bvlgari’s Piccolissimo Calibre BVL 100, the smallest round mechanical movement, was fitted into the Serpenti high jewellery timepieces. In 2023, the Serpenti Tubogas Infinity enhanced Bvlgari's intensely Italian style and expertise. For the first time, the serpentine silhouette continues from the watch case all the way to the bracelet, thanks to the refined gem setting adorning a modular construction. The rings are moulded – each in unique dimensions – before getting polished, gem-set and assembled on a titanium blade. There are two versions of the watch – one fitted with a single twirl and the other with a double twirl rose gold bracelet.

Serpenti Seduttori 

Snakes have been an important motif for Bvlgari's designs since its inception. They are a symbol of strength, vitality and renewal, and embody seduction and radiant femininity, evident in the Serpenti Seduttori. The signature curved case recalls the shape of a snake’s head, extended with a hexagonal scaglie (scale) bracelet, perfectly integrated and inspired by the ‘secret’ Serpenti watches of the 1960s. The bracelet is exquisitely articulated in a geometric repetition of masterfully crafted elements. The two new Serpenti Seduttori models come with deep black lacquered faces. To contrast the dials brilliantly, the first is crafted in steel while the second combines it with the beauty of rose gold. Pink rubellite adorns the crown of the sinuously fascinating case – a signature of the Roman jeweller. The bracelet with its emblematic scales appears to merge seamlessly into the case. A comfortable folding clasp holds these subtle expressions of contemporary glamour firmly on the wrist. 

Flower Power: BVLGARI BVLGARI X LISA

Bvlgari Bvlgari has found a new muse in Blackpink’s Lisa. The new BVLGARI BVLGARI X LISA limited edition is all about feminine power. It is crafted in steel and rose gold with a BVLGARI BVLGARI-engraved bezel and the dial is lit up by diamonds. Lisa’s choice and rendering of her favourite flower, edelweiss, a very Swiss Alpine star, was a nod to the country that she is fond of and the Bvlgari watch manufacture. With an exuberant display of BVLGARI BVLGARI on the rose gold bezel, the dial features a more minimalistic tone with its green and blue hues, with a dash of purple — invented by Bvlgari specifically for LISA. 

The hours are studded with diamonds, swept over by two rose gold hands. The crown is topped by a cabochon-cut rubellite, one of Bvlgari’s aesthetic signatures. The singer has drawn her own initial, an "L", at the heart of the petals, as a nod to her involvement in this project. This sketch is engraved on the back of the BVLGARI BVLGARI X LISA LIMITED EDITION, alongside the words, ‘Fabriqué en Suisse’ (French for ‘Made in Switzerland’). Powered by a quartz movement, the BVLGARI BVLGARI X LISA LIMITED EDITION is a limited series of 700 for the 33 mm-diameter version and 300 for the 23 mm-diameter iteration.

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New Horizons: Octo Finissimo Ultra 10^th Anniversary

After the big win for the Octo Finissimo Ultra at the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) in 2022, Bvlgari is back with a new version to mark its tenth anniversary. 

The dial features a ‘10’ instead of the traditional ‘12 o’clock’ numeral as a nod to the collection, Octo. The limited series of 10 timepieces for the tenth anniversary of the Octo has set a record for this construction, measuring just 1.80 mm in thickness and resulting in eight patent applications. 

Bvlgari has also developed a unique experience associated with its presentation box. Bridging the gap between tradition and modernity, it’s a new attempt at hybrid watchmaking 3.0 creations, offering owners a new experience of setting and winding their watches. It has reinvented two processes that have remained unchanged. The Octo Finissimo Ultra can still be set by hand, but with the interactive presentation box, collectors can place the watch in the box next to a digital screen on which they can programme the desired time. A button is then pressed to start the cycle and, as soon as the box is closed, magic happens while hidden from sight! Upon opening it about 20 seconds later, the owner will find the watch perfectly set to the desired time and fully wound – silently, delicately and with infinite precision. Bvlgari calls it a kind of ‘at-home watchmaker’, precisely adjusting on demand the delicate mechanism of the Octo Finissimo Ultra. 

The watch also blurs the boundaries between real and virtual with its NFT. It comes with a QR Code, engraved on the ratchet of its barrel. By scanning this QR Code, the owner will be able to access a personal mini-website that will take him or her on a journey to discover the art that brought the watch to life, including videos and photos of the construction of the timepiece, enhanced by sketches and interviews. Every watch comes with an NFT artwork created under the artistic direction of Fabrizio Buonamassa Stigliani, Product Creation Executive Director at Bvlgari Watches. It also certifies the link between a Bvlgari creation and its associated NFT work of art, while preserving the authenticity and possession of both the physical and virtual creations via the blockchain.

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