I must admit that as a watch enthusiast, the closest I generally get to a musical instrument is a Casio wristwatch because they happen to also make keyboards. However, even I know that one of the most famous guitar brands in the world is Fender and their most iconic creation is the Stratocaster. It is THE archetypal guitar. It also happens to be the Stratocaster’s 70th anniversary as it was first created back in 1954. To celebrate this milestone Fender have teamed up with Bulgari to create the Bulgari Aluminium GMT x Fender Limited Edition.
Only 1,200 examples of the Bulgari Aluminium GMT x Fender will be produced, launched in an initial batch of 140. A number arrived at via the calculation of the anniversary year times the number of time zones on the watch’s GMT display. At the same time, the Fender Custom Shop in Corona, California (Fender’s most high end workshop) will produce up to 70 Fender x Bulgari Stratocasters, so you can match your watch to your guitar. I say ‘up to’ because the Fender Custom Shop works exclusively upon request, which is also why you’ll find no pictures of said guitar in this article because none have been made yet.
The watch itself is a very similar to the original rendition of the Aluminium GMT that was released in 2021. It has a 40mm case made from lightweight aluminium – hence the name – with a DLC coated titanium caseback and brown rubber bezel. The combination of a fairly unusual watch material and rubber made the Aluminium something of an iconoclast when it was released but today it has graduated to being a sports classic in its own right.
As for the colours, those are pulled from one of the most recognisable editions of the Stratocaster, which had a warm brown lacquer and cream accents. This is represented by the brown fume dial, brown GMT hand and cream day/night 24-hour scale. One of my favourite details is that the standard baton hour markers have been replaced with guitar frets, which is really the only visual indication that this is a guitar themed special edition rather than just a cool retro colourway.
Although flip the Bulgari Aluminium GMT x Fender Limited Edition over and the caseback will tell you about the collaboration in less uncertain terms thanks to the big Fender logo. Beneath the titanium back you’ll find the B192, which features hours, minutes, seconds, date and GMT. It has a 42-hour power reserve, which is low by Bulgari standards but that’s because the Aluminium is their most accessible collection. Especially in comparison to the masterpieces they’ve just announced as part of the Octo chiming collection.
Another interesting note is that the watch has been specially adapted to make it easier to wear while playing guitar via a redesigned Velcro strap. How exactly they’ve redesigned the strap in order to achieve this, they haven’t announced, but it’s cool that they’ve at least considered it. You wouldn’t want your strap to come undone in the middle of a sick riff.
Price and Specs:
More details at Bulgari.
