This is the season for admiring the watch world’s novelties as over 50 brands are unveiling their 2023 timepieces this week. It is an incredibly exciting time, but it can also get a bit overwhelming as we will see over a thousand watches in one week. I often compare it to having too much time at the airport and starting to smell all the perfumes in the duty-free. After a while, you have no clue what you like, what you don’t like, what is floral, spicy, woody, citrusy, or sweet.
My Own Personal Test
Luckily, when it comes to watches, I have my own personal test. Every time I see a timepiece that I like, I have this overwhelming desire to touch it. My fingers start to jitter like I am air typing or something. It is like this overwhelming need for my hands to fully understand the weight, the finishing, the smoothness, the angles, and the way it all feels.
Why am telling you all this? Well, I am sitting in front of two photographs of the new redefined Octo Roma pieces, and I really want to touch them, and I can’t, because they aren’t out until next week, and I’m feeling very frustrated by this, which is a very good sign!
All the Details
Bulgari has, however, given me all the details, so we can at least look at what is new. The collection was first unveiled in Rome in 2012 long before the whole steel sports watch mania became a thing. Since then, Bulgari has been expanding on the model in a myriad of directions using different materials, complications, and designs, but somehow it is the simplest model of all that almost demands the most respect. Making things simple is often the hardest thing to do, and that is what the Octo Roma is all about.
The first new edition is powered by an automatic movement that indicates the hours, minutes, seconds, and a date. It comes in a 41mm stainless steel case and features a dial in a choice of blue, anthracite, or white. For the manufacture chronograph version, it comes in a 42 mm size in a choice of blue or black dial. There is a central chronograph seconds hand and three sunray-finished counters for rapid reading of the elapsed time and a running seconds.
So, What’s New?
So, what’s new? Well, firstly, the crown has been harmoniously integrated into the case, especially on the chronograph version with its crown protectors that almost fool you into thinking it’s a monopusher system as they are almost hidden into the lines of the case. Secondly, the integrated bracelet is now interchangeable, and comes with both a stainless-steel bracelet and a rubber strap, and it can be changed in seconds. The dial has also been rethought, with a new Clou de Paris design that brings a new texture to the surface. The luminescent Arabic numerals and the indexes also look sportier and more prominent, but maybe that’s me.
So, not only am I going to seek these pieces out this week, but if your fingers are twitching, I suggest you do too!
