The 2021 edition of the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) was held on November 4 in Geneva. Bulgari, whose four watches entered in the competition were all nominated by the Jury for the final round of voting, was awarded the most prestigious prize of all. This distinction rewards a watch, Octo Finissimo Perpetual Calendar, as well as celebrating the epic saga of extreme thinness initiated by Bulgari since 2014.
The “Aiguille d'Or” Grand Prix is a “best in show” prize rewarding the finest watch across all categories, and which is also deemed the most representative of the watch industry. From this perspective, Octo Finissimo Perpetual Calendar – seventh in an unbroken line of world records since 2014 – tells a story that has reshaped the watchmaking landscape in recent years.
The Finissimo line has profoundly disrupted the codes of classicism by demonstrating that it is possible to reinterpret classic and traditional watch complications through a resolutely innovative and contemporary approach.
Bulgari has revisited the entire range of the finest and most complicated watchmaking while moving in one sole direction: ultra-thinness. This approach has involved entirely rewriting the rules of watchmaking construction, pushing Bulgari and its teams to reinvent concepts and find innovative technical solutions. It has also radically renewed the genre, leading several Haute Horlogerie brands to follow suit.
In this sense, the reach of the Octo Finissimo collection has not only demonstrated that Bulgari is now definitively playing in the big league, but also that its impact is taking on a dimension that impacts the entire industry.
This is the 14th GPHG award for Jean-Christophe Babin, who is actually the only CEO of the watchmaking industry to have won two Aiguilles d’Or for two different major companies, first one in 2012 for the TAG Heuer Mikrogirder, and the second one this year for the Octo Finissimo Perpetual Calendar. A unique achievement that demonstrates his continuous engagement for innovation and rules breaking.
“This prestigious Award rewards the in-depth work initiated by Bulgari to redefine the fundamentals of Haute Horlogerie in terms of Art of Miniaturization”, commented Jean-Christophe Babin, CEO Bulgari Group. “It rewards finally Bulgari’s spirit: boldness, disruptive and innovative.”
Octo Finissimo Perpetual Calendar
Bulgari: Time Mastered with extreme Finesse until February 2100
Octo Finissimo Perpetual Calendar, the Seventh World Record, Once Again Pushes The Limits Of Contemporary Haute Horlogerie
2014 - 2021: seven years, nearly 60 international awards and a seventh world record for Bulgari with the Octo Finissimo Perpetual Calendar for Bulgari.
Octo Finissimo has definitely made its mark on the Haute Horlogerie landscape in a very short space of time. After exploring ultra-miniaturisation in the fields of the automatic movement as well as the minute repeater, chronograph and tourbillon, Bulgari presents Octo Finissimo Perpetual Calendar, the slimmest in the world.
Once again this development redefines the limits of contemporary fine watchmaking, a dynamic that began in 2014 and involved rewriting the heritage conventions of traditional watchmaking year after year based on modern codes. A successful exercise: Octo Finissimo has set a trend and reinvented high-flying contemporary watchmaking by bringing it that touch so brilliantly mastered by the Italian House of Bulgari: L'Estetica della Meccanica, or the art of in-depth innovation with regard to both form and substance. Aesthetics are inseparable from functionality when it comes to reinterpreting a sophisticated classic horological complication in a resolutely contemporary manner.
The outcome? No less than 408 components interacting within the extremely limited space provided by the slender 5.80 mm case of the Octo Finissimo Perpetual Calendar. The development of the 2.75 mm calibre required the movement design engineers of the Manufacture in Le Sentier to devise new solutions, such as the use of a micro-rotor and the optimal use of the space between the components without reducing their dimensions. Testifying to true genius in the realm of miniaturisation, this development powers the hours and minutes hands along with all the perpetual calendar functions: retrograde-display date, day, month and retrograde-display leap years. They are adjusted by means of three correctors: one for the date at 2 pm, another for the month at 4 pm and a third for the day between 8 and 9 o’clock.
This horological complication is imbued with a sense of magic. The perpetual calendar symbolises mankind’s relationship with time, the fluid concept that gives rhythm to existence and to all human activities and which has never been entirely tamed.
This complication is the most accomplished in this respect and the Octo Finissimo Perpetual Calendars offers a talented reinterpretation by merging watchmaking excellence and Italian aesthetic sensitivity. Two versions are available, in titanium or platinum. Their owner will be able to read the time without worrying about having to adjust the indications before February 2100, a leap year that will require the adjustment of the functions by... his or her descendants.
Having made its mark on the turn of the century as one of the most contemporary models, Octo Finissimo Perpetual Calendar looks even further ahead, already propelling us towards the XXIInd century.
