(Not So) Heavy Metal: Bulgari Continues to Rock with Colorful New Aluminium Models

Bulgari surprises us. It delights us. It never ceases to amaze or even amuse us. It’s a brand that, for some, flies under the radar as a watchmaker, but for many, has risen to the position of a “grail” (and rightfully so). But in 1998, the Roman brand was at the start of its steep climb up the mountain of horological respectability.

However, Bulgari wasn’t alone in its ascent because 1998 was a year of upward growth for many companies and even entire industries. After all, 1998 is the year that introduced the world to the search engine Google, the iMac computer, and, well, Viagra (we’ll let you readers draw the parallel on that one).

Meanwhile, in the watch industry, it was the year when sport met science in the form of the Bulgari Aluminium watch.

Discovered in 1825 by Danish physicist Hans Christian Ørsted, aluminum (atomic number 13) became widely available to the public by 1886 and was used for aviation purposes in both World Wars I and II. By 1954, aluminum became the most produced non-ferrous metal in the world (for the non-chemists in this room, “non-ferrous” means it’s a metal that doesn’t contain any appreciable amounts of iron). And by the 21st century, aluminum (the twelfth-most common element in the universe) was being used for transportation, engineering, construction, and packaging.

But somewhere along that timeline, Bulgari decided to use it for watches.
 

As previously mentioned, the late 1990s were innovative, daring, and frankly, a bit ballsy; three adjectives that could easily apply to the Bulgari brand, both then and now, so using aluminum alongside rubber (GASP! RUBBER??) may have seemed a stretch to some, but for a brand that advertised this watch on the side of an Alitalia 747 jumbo jet, it was all in a day’s work.
 

With the Aluminium collection, Bulgari offered a daring and lightweight sports watch crafted in a size that was gender neutral (again, ahead of its time). It was even affordable to many. In short, the Aluminium was a win for the brand and for people who wished to own a timepiece issued by the highly respected Italian label.

Bulgari also launched new versions of the Aluminium line in colors (colors, you say? COLORS, INDEED!); the blue Capri Edition, in both the Solotempo and the Chronograph models, and the green Match Point Edition, non-chronograph.
 

Like the Solotempo, the 40mm Aluminium Match Point Edition also contains the calibre B77 movement. However, this version is geared toward the tennis enthusiast with its lightweight structure, Velcro strap, grassy-green color, and left-handed crown.