Last week’s LVMH Watch Week saw Bulgari’s ‘serpent with a secret’, the Serpenti Misteriosi, return with a new mechanical micro-caliber. The ultimate power piece, it comes with the back-winding and back-setting caliber BVL 100, possibly the smallest round caliber in the market today. There are four references, with the flexible modular construction sporting brilliant-cut diamonds and gold, and pear-cut emeralds or rubellites for the eyes. The fact that Bulgari created a whole new micro-caliber for these watches - when the quartz movement is more convenient for secret watches - reflects a more thoughtful approach to the high-jewellery watch.
This time around, the forked tongue lever reveals the hidden instrument, and by reversing the side, you can wear the watch on your right or left hand. This easy access to the caliber also helps with post-sales service, without damaging the watch.
“We’ve got 80 years of history in secret watches. Watchmakers are not always pragmatic but we learn,” laughs Antoine Pin, head of the watch division at Bulgari, on a video call. It reminds me of something he said at last year’s virtual Watches & Wonders fair in Geneva. “We aim at having the most performing calibers in the smallest space possible for a very good reason. We want to give more freedom to our designers, to express beauty and elegance,” he had shared then. In retrospect, it wasn’t just the Octo Finissimo, a marvel in miniaturisation, that he was referring to.
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The Piccolissimo caliber (Italian for ‘very small’) has highlighted Bulgari’s intent to target the serious woman watch collector. But at LVMH Watch Week 2022, it has resulted in Pin being badgered with a similar set of questions. “People ask me, ‘why should women wear quartz watches and not mechanical?’ or I get the question, ‘why are you doing mechanical watches for ladies, don’t you think there should be quartz as well?’” His response? “Why don’t people ask me this question about men’s watches…are all our men’s watches mechanical watches?” More from the Bulgari watch chief about genderless watches and significance of sustainability in the industry:
With sustainability becoming key at luxury watch brands, what is Bulgari’s take on it this year?
Every division of Bulgari is addressing this question of sustainability. We are now validated according to the international norm ISO 14001 [an international standard for environmental management systems]. Also, 99% of our gold is recycled and more and more of our bracelets are rubberised, with lesser animal straps. We have people dedicated to improving our environment footprint globally. But for me, the worst case would be to do greenwashing and propose just one collection that is ‘perfect’ [eco-friendly]. I would rather go slow [with our eco-friendly initiatives], but make sure that what I say is justified and rational.
The debate around gendered watches has been building. What are your views?
Like the environment question it is about finding our way of doing things. I cannot tell the studio to go and create a genderless watch, because frankly, I don’t know what a genderless watch is. If it is about putting a long strap or a short strap on a watch, that we do already. There is nothing bad about doing something bearing the codes of traditional femininity or masculinity. Also, how can we be more generous in our approach than by developing the culture of mechanical movements both for men and ladies’ calibers. Isn’t that the true nature of this question of gender fluidity? I think we are sometimes missing the point, which is to be generous. And to just remove your judgements, be it the studio or the clients.
Last year, Bulgari and MB&F developed a joint watch project and announced the Legacy Machine FlyingT Allegra. Is there more coming up?
There is no plan to turn this beautiful initiative into something systematic. Because it doesn’t work like that. The beauty of this collaboration with Max [MB&F’s Maximilian Büsser] was that we have a very friendly relationship with him and his team. It was super effortless. That said, we have a male client who purchased this MB&F collaboration. He said, ‘I like it, I don’t care who it is meant to be for.’ ‘Good for you,’ we said. It is a celebration of watchmaking. This is being genderless.
Back to the Piccolissimo caliber…is there a smaller diameter round movement in current production?
This is what we think, but you know the world over, and in the Swiss watch industry, someone will raise their hand and say, ‘we did it two years ago’. We are very cautious about what we are saying. We believe that in the market today, we bring the smallest round caliber. There is also the versatility of the round calibre, contrary to the Caliber 101 (originally developed in 1929 by Jaeger-LeCoultre). Our diameter is 2.5 mm, while the length of Caliber 101 is 14 mm, but the 101 has less volume than ours at the end of the day.
The Serpenti Misteriosi is priced at approx ₹1.5 crore onwards, available from April.
