A journey of limitless creativity. Bvlgari, the iconic Italian Jeweler of Time unveils its limitless creativity at this year’s Geneva Watch Days with these stunning new timepiece designs, all representing an open invitation to travel.
Roman jeweler and watchmaker Bulgari has long been known for its high jewelry and for its command of watchmaking. Now, in its newest watch collection, Divina Mosaica, the brand brings its expertise from both worlds together in a motif inspired by ancient Roman mosaic work. In fact, the brand’s designers journeyed back to the Baths of Caracalla when creating this series.
The ancient Roman public baths were built between AD 216 and AD 235 and were used for about 300 years before falling into ruin, but they have long served as inspiration for other buildings and art works, including Pennsylvania Station in New York and the Farnese Bull. Now, the fan-shaped mosaic floors of the baths are the muse for the Divina Mosaica watches – a series of three high-jeweled masterpieces. Using the round Diva case with fluted lugs, the Divina watches are a mesmerizing mosaic of diamonds and gemstones.
The highlight of the collection is an all-diamond version that features multiple cuts of diamonds meticulously set on the dial to form a fan motif, on the case, case sides, lugs and more. The watch is powered by a mechanical hand-wound movement that includes a minute repeater function.
From the case side at 7:00, a diamond-set fan-shaped charm is the activator for the repeater. When pulled, the watch chimes the hours, the quarter hours and the minutes past the quarter hour in beautiful harmony using two hammers and a gong. The complex caliber inside this watch is the world’s thinnest repeater movement.
The 37mm 18-karat white gold Divina Mosaica Minute Repeater is entirely set with brilliant- and baguette-cut diamonds set in a mosaic pattern. Exactly 689 diamonds weighing 11.6 carats grace this timepiece. Each stone is individually set by hand, requiring hundreds of hours of craftsmanship. The watch is finished with a blue cabochon-cut sapphire for the crown and a blue alligator strap.
The other two versions bring vivid color to the forefront. Each of the two 37mm color gemstone versions house the mechanical self-winding Manufacture movement, Caliber BVL 191 that offers hours and minutes.
The Divina Mosaica Tsavorite watch is powered by an in-house-made self-winding movement, and is crafted in 18-karat white gold and is set with 282 brilliant-cud diamonds on the dial and the lugs, and with 262 tsavorites. The lugs and the case are set with matching-hued baguette-cut tsavorites, while the fan motif on the dial uses gradient tones of green tsavorite to form the pattern. The watch is finished with a green tsavorite cabochon-cut crown and green alligator strap.
The Divina Mosaica Pink Sapphire watch is crafted in 18-karat rose gold and features a bezel set with baguette-cut pink sapphires. The bracelet lugs are set with brilliant-cut diamonds and edged with baguette-cut pink sapphires. The fan motif on the dial is created using a mix of different pink sapphire hues and diamonds. In total, the watch is set with 282 diamonds weighing 2.16 carats and 261 pink sapphires weighing 12.7 carats. It is finished with a purple alligator strap with a rose gold folding clasp that is also set with baguette-cut pink sapphires.
Bvlgari Divas’Dream
Relive the Dolce Vita. In the more everyday quartz-powered Divas’ Dream collection, the fan motif moves from the dial to the bracelet, making room for beautiful gemstone dials. The bracelet alternates 18K rose gold and diamond-set fan-shaped links, the effect of which adds depth and dimension while maintaining serene opulence.
The Divas’ Dream also takes inspiration from the Roman Baths of Caracalla, just like the Divina Mosaica, utilizing the same fan theme. This collection features two 33m rose gold watches set with brilliant-cut diamonds on the bezel, dial, and bracelet. In total, watch has 433 diamonds, weighing approximately 2.9 carats, and is water-resistant up to 30 meters. The fundamental difference between the two watches comes down to the stone dials.
There are two gemstone dials available – one lapis lazuli (ref. 103574), one malachite (ref. 103521) – highlighting the Bvlgari logo and sitting atop a B043 calibre movement. The green dial wonderfully compliments the warm tones of the rose fold. The horizontal striations of the natural malachite pattern also work in harmony with the rest of the design. Obviously, this pattern is a natural formation, so it will vary from dial to dial.
The second model features a blue dial made of lapis lazuli. In my opinion, the vivid blue hue doesn’t work as well with the rose gold case; it’d possibly look better in a yellow gold or white gold case. The natural pattern of the lapis lazuli is not as visually appealing as that of the malachite, and it seems a bit ‘flat’ in comparison. I’m sure some will disagree with me, but that’s fine. Art is supposed to be subjective.
Bvlgari Octo
And the Octo saga embraces travel with the innovative Octo Roma WorldTimer and unique Octo Roma Central Tourbillon Papillon.
The Octo Roma Worldtimer features an actual worldtimer complication meaning the user can instantly read the time in all 24 cities indicated on the dial. If you’re sitting in your house in London, and you want to know the time in Sydney and Anchorage simultaneously, this watch has you covered! Powering these attractive timepieces is an all-new integrated movement, the BVL257, designed and developed by the Manufacture in-house in Le Sentier.
You may also notice that some of the cities/locations on the dial are not the standard locations you might be used to. For example, Bvlgari chose to represent the Caribbean not by St. Barts instead of the usual Bermuda (sorry Bermuda) as the watchmaker believes it embodies the heart of luxury in the region. Bvlgari also highlighted certain cities where it has a hotel or plans to open one.
The 41mm Bvlgari Octo Roma Worldtimer is available in satin-brushed and polished stainless steel and matching bracelet or in a DLC coated black steel with sandblasted surfaces and a black rubber strap.
The Octo Roma Central Tourbillon Papillon is a fascinating timepiece. It eschews the standard method of displaying and reading time in favor of a retrograde minute scale on the lower half of the dial and a jump hour display at 12 o’clock. As one of the Papillon minute ‘hands’ starts to move from 0 to 60, it rotates to an active position, interacting directly with the scale around the periphery of the dial. When the other Papillon ‘hand’ exits the scale at the 60 mark, it rotates to a retracted position and ceases to interact. It’s kind of hard to explain as it’s a very visual display, so take a look at the image, and you should see what I’m talking about.
Despite the stunning central tourbillon, the beautiful simplicity of the patented Papillon device is the star of the show for me. According to Bvlgari, the sophisticated Paillon mechanism consumes less power than a traditional minutes display. This, of course, has a positive knock-on effect on the overall power reserve, allowing for 60 hours of power once fully charged. A handy power reserve indicator is visible through the case back.
The hand-wound Calibre BVL 332 drives the Octo Roma Central Tourbillon Papillon. It is entirely designed and assembled in-house by Bvlgari’s team of master watchmakers. It’s a gorgeous movement, and the black and gold bridges and parts perfectly complement the 41mm rose gold Octo Roma case. Again, at the time of writing, no pricing information is available. Still, I’d expect it to be on the higher side of things.
Bvlgari watches for men and women are available at Bvlgari Boutiques and selected stores worldworde. Come in the beautiful and timeless world of Bvlgari.
Yakymour 