Bulgari’s record-breaking Octo has been a huge hit for the brand. Holding the current honours for thinnest self-winding watch, thinnest tourbillon and thinnest minute repeater all with the same case is an incredible achievement. One of the most popular models has been the Octo Finissimo Automatic in titanium, for which the brand has achieved a wonderful all-grey look with the case, dial and even a sublime ultra-thin titanium bracelet. Although they would never admit it publicly, of course, it’s the envy of several other brands. So how does the newer skeleton version with the same titanium case match up with this already popular version?
First of all, merely the act of putting the watch on was a delight for me. I wear a lot of chunky divers watches, so an ultra-thin watch would not necessarily be my first choice. But the Octo Finissimo can be just as much an everyday watch as a dress watch and this shows the second you have it on your wrist. Being used to wearing self-winding watches, I immediately had to take it off again to set the time and wind the manual movement. This was my biggest source of delight and one that I would probably never tire of: when you pull out the crown you can see the stem engage and when you start winding you can watch the mainspring coil up at the same time as the power reserve indicator just above 9 o’clock starts to move anti-clockwise towards 12 o’clock. Once fully wound, you can admire the entire mechanical dance, starting from the mainspring barrel at 1 o’clock and progressing around the dial anti-clockwise to the balance oscillating at 5 o’clock, with all the different gear wheels visible rotating at their different speeds. The Dauphine hour and minute hands are faceted and polished (and, of course, skeletonised) to offer perfect legibility, as are the small seconds scale between 7 and 8 and the power reserve indicator, with their black rings.
One big concern with skeletonised watches for the more hirsute gentlemen can be the problem of seeing unsightly hairs through the transparent crystals. This is not a problem with the Octo Finissimo Skeleton, however, for two reasons: Firstly, the movement is arranged so densely that – even if your eye did find time to wander beyond the marvel of mechanical motion – there is little else left to see. Secondly, because this is one of the thinnest cases on the market, there is hardly any depth to the movement, which is often what magnifies any hairs visible through the sapphire crystal case back.
Although no record holder, at just 2.35mm thick the Calibre BVL 128SK powering this watch is among the thinnest in the world. It beats at 28,000 vibrations per hour and offers a power reserve of 65 hours that can be seen on the small counter above 9 o’clock (or in a more abstract way by the visible state of unwinding of the mainspring). It is available in titanium for 19,900 Swiss francs or in red gold for 24,500 Swiss francs.
