The Bulgari Octo Finissimo Automatic won the Men's Watch Prize at the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) 2017. But it had already won the title of watch of the year at the prestigious Tiempo de Relojes Awards at the SIAR in Mexico just one month before, as well as being awarded watch of the year by the magazine L'Orologio in Italy and shortlisted in the "Design Stars" category of Germany’s Watch Stars 2017/2018. In addition to breaking records (it is the thinnest automatic watch in the world), the Octo Finissimo Automatic has also won widespread acclaim from watch experts around the world.
In the same collection, the Octo Finissimo Tourbillon Skeleton also won the "Tourbillon and Escapement" category at the GPHG. This second prize confirms the adaptability of the collection and further underscores the sucess of the Octo collection. These awards are also a recognition of Bulgar's legitimacy in the watch industry and a reminder that the brand has much more to offer than the jewellery for which it is already highly renowned.
The surprising thing about the Octo is that it is rapidly gaining the status of a cult watch even though it has a relatively young design. Compared with models from other brands whose designs date back to the 1960s and 1970s, the current Octo collection is just five years old. What gives the Octo its appeal is the fact that it is so different from any other designs on the market. Because of the complex shape of the case, which has numerous individual facets, with a combination of brushed and polished finishes, the Octo successfully marries the square with the circle without you really noticing it. Look closely, however, and if you traced a line around the extremities of the case you would end up with a shape that resembles more a square than an octagon. The bezel, on the other hand, is a circle. But the many angles on the lugs and the octagonal interior flange cause the two distinct shapes to intermingle, giving rise to the Octo’s distinctive shape.
In its short lifespan the Octo has evolved into a fully-fledged watch collection with a range of different movements – from the simple three-hand classic (the “Solotempo”) all the way up to the minute repeater. In the Finissimo line, the self-winding, tourbillon and minute repeater versions are all record-holders in terms of the thinness of their respective movements. There is even a hand-decorated skeletonised version of the tourbillon movement that is no thicker than the record-breaking version at 1.95mm thickness, which represents an additional technical tour de force. But there is also a manually-wound calibre with power reserve visible on the back and a high-frequency (5Hz) column-wheel chronograph calibre found in the Velocissimo chronograph and the recently launched Octo Maserati line. The two extremes of the collection are set by the extremely elegant Octo Roma models at one end and, at the other, the extravagant Ultranero sapphire tourbillon with its pillars filled with green SuperLuminova.
The Octo collection is necessarily infused with the Italian touch and offers designs that appeal to a variety of tastes. Models such as the Ultranero, for example, have a more urban and contemporary feel with their dark accents and splashes of vibrant colours. The Finissimo models appeal to connoisseurs who appreciate the technicality that goes into complications such as the minute repeater and the skeleton tourbillon. While the Octo Roma, presented earlier this year, introduced a softer take on the case design to appeal to those who appreciate Italian elegance.
Given its success, the Octo collection is sure to evolve even further, and perhaps sooner than we think.
