Let me preface this article by saying I don’t know how it will be possible to succinctly convey the scale and magnitude of Bulgari’s latest haute horological project in a single, coherent article. They have produced three minute repeater watches, each with their distinct attributes and features that simultaneously make them impressive individual watches while also coming together to create a stunning series when viewed as a whole.
To steal some terms from the music industry, there is a dissonance between them all that somehow melds with the overall harmony of the collection. The watches that form the collection are the Octo Roma Grande Sonnerie Tourbillon, Octo Roma Carillon Tourbillon and Finissimo Minute Repeater Carbon.
Before we delve into the individual watches, let’s take a look at an overview of the collection. A minute repeater, a carillon and a grande sonnerie are all variations of chiming complications with the grande sonnerie being the most prestigious of the three. The easiest way to express that is with the number of hammers and gongs (the hammer strikes the gong to produce the chiming sound) present in each type of watch – the more hammers and gongs a chiming watch has, the more complex and varied a tune the chimes can emit. The Bulgari minute repeater has two hammers, the carillon has three and the grande sonnerie has four. There are more differences than that but it’s enough to get us started.
What’s special about this 2024 series of chiming watches is that Bulgari have teamed up with Swiss conductor Lorenzo Viotti to produce a bespoke tune for these watches’ chimes. A focal point of this collaboration was the use of tritones in the chimes. As I’m no music expert, I’ll let Viotti explain: “The tritone, often referred to as the ‘Devil’s Interval,’ spans six semitones or three whole tones. It divides the octave in half and brings dissonance and tension.”
“It strongly contrasts with the modern preference for consonant harmonic intervals. In medieval symbolism, certain chords were linked to spiritual concepts. The tritone was considered disturbing, and due to its asymmetry, contrary to the religious canon of reflecting divine harmony – hence the nickname associating it with the devil’s workings.”
Bulgari Octo Roma Grande Sonnerie Tourbillon
Starting with the most prestigious of the three we have the Octo Roma Grande Sonnerie Tourbillon 103962. It’s equipped with a 45mm diameter titanium case in the signature round shape of the Octo Roma. The dial is partially skeletonised with a perforated pattern made from brass with a dark grey PVD coating. It makes for a very modern, technological appearance that reminds me of a high-end speaker in a hi-fi system.
The movement visible is the BVV800, a manual-winding calibre with a 72-hour power reserve. A grande sonnerie automatically chimes the hours and quarters as they pass and can also repeat the hours, quarters, and minutes on demand, which is the base function of a standard minute repeater. Due to the power intensive nature of these chiming complications, there is a separate power reserve indicator for the chiming mechanisms and time keeping functions.
On top of that it also has a tourbillon located at 10 o’clock. The combination of these many and varied complications has led Bulgari to describe this watch as the most complicated they have ever produced. That’s quite an accolade from one of the most cutting-edge brands who consistently push the boundaries of what is possible.
Price and Specs:
Bulgari Octo Roma Carillon Tourbillon
Sitting in the middle of the series is the Octo Roma Carillon Tourbillon. It’s aesthetically similar to the Grande Sonnerie except that its case is made from rose gold and is slightly slimmer at 44mm. Beyond that, the aesthetic is virtually identical with the same perforated skeleton dial with exposed hammers and tourbillon. On this model the position of the tourbillon and hammers is inverted compared the Grande Sonnerie with the rotating cage of the tourbillon at 6 o’clock.
Powering it is the modified BVL428 manual-winding movement with a 75-hour power reserve. The name Carillon comes from the fact that its minute repeater has three hammers and gongs, giving it a more diversity of chime compared to a standard two gong minute repeater. In the music world, a carillon is a set of bells played using a keyboard, albeit one with at least 20 more chimes than Bulgari’s.
As the middle child of the series, the Carillon is arguably the least interesting of the three – which is mad to say because in isolation this is an incredibly technical and stunning watch, but it’s overshadowed by the Grande Sonnerie which is yet more complex and the Octo Finissimo Minute Repeater for reasons we’re about to discuss.
Price and Specs:
Bulgari Octo Finissimo Minute Repeater Carbon
The Octo Finissimo range is where Bulgari typically flex their horological muscles, especially in their endeavour to create the thinnest examples of all the common watch complications, a quest that has led them to several world records. In 2016 they added the record for producing the thinnest minute repeater with the calibre with the BVL362, a movement that has been reissued in the Octo Finissimo Minute Repeater Carbon with a new carbon case.
That case measures 40mm in diameter with a thickness of 6.85mm in CTP (Carbon Thin Ply). It looks very striking with the layered pattern across the case, bezel and dial. The dial in particular is very unusual with a pockmarked like appearance that reminds me of an eroded and crumbling concrete wall – especially in combination with the openworked hour markers and subdial. It gives it a cool urban decay sort of vibe that I’m a fan of, a post-apocalyptic minute repeater discovered by the survivors in the same way that the Antikythera mechanism was discovered.
Between the cool case and world record movement, this is quite a special and unusual minute repeater. The same could be said for all three of these watches, which brings me back to my opening statement that while each of these watches is unique and separate from the others, they work in harmony as a trio. Three watches with a dissonance that works to create a broader harmony in the complete work, or in music terminology, a tritone.
Price and Specs:
More details at Bulgari.
