Geneva Watch Days
Artist Statements: A Retrospective of the Bulgari Octo Finissimo’s Most Intriguing Limited Editions
Over the last ten years, the collection has produced many amazing objets d’art, including the just-unveiled Octo Finissimo Lee Ufan x Bvlgari. Here are six of our favorites.
By Rhonda Riche
Editor-At-Large
We’ll be darned if Geneva Watch Days isn’t making us reflective. Not in a nostalgia for watches of the past, but rather, so many of the show’s most memorable pieces express just how far watchmaking has come in the last ten years.
This year at the fair, Bulgari is presenting a first-of-its-kind exhibition showcasing the evolution of its groundbreaking Octo Finissimo line.
Spanning from its 2014 debut to its just-launched novelties, this mini museum entertains with examples of its many record-breaking, super-thin timepieces (including the Octo Finissimo Perpetual Calendar from 2021, which remains the world’s thinnest perpetual calendar watch at just 5.80mm thick), as well as its innovative collaborations with living artists.
To better understand the Octo’s artistic journey, Watchonista is looking back on some of our favorite editions from the past.
2015: The Octo Finissimo Tourbillon by Simon Ma Pièce Unique (Ref. 102602)
Hong Kong-based artist Simon Ma started studying traditional Chinese ink painting at the age of seven, under the guidance of renowned Master Fan Tzu Teng. As his practice evolved, Ma began to incorporate Western traditions – including collaborations with international luxury brands such as Lamborghini, Porsche, Ferrari, Ducati, Martin 1898, Chivas 18, and, of course, Bulgari.
In 2015, Bulgari unveiled 13 unique takes on the theme of the Horse and its meaning in the Chinese horoscope. Each version featured a dial hand-painted by Ma himself.
The most impressive piece in this collection was an Octo Finissimo Tourbillon (ref. 102602), powered by the Calibre 269 – the smallest tourbillon ever (at the time). Not only does this pièce unique provide a lot of horsepower in its tiny mechanism, it also captures the elegance of its equine counterpart thanks to the economy of Ma’s graceful brushwork (so suited to the Octo’s minimalist design) and its 18K pink gold case and black alligator leather strap.
2018: The Octo Finissimo “Hiroshi Senju” Titanium (Ref. 103051)
Despite its slim silhouette, the Octo provides a vast canvas for artists to explore. Case in point, the 30-piece limited edition Octo Finissimo “Hiroshi Senju” Titanium (ref. 103051) was, as its name suggests, a collaboration with Japanese painter Hiroshi Senju featuring a matte grey titanium case and a matching mother-of-pearl dial that symbolizes a waterfall, Senju's signature subject.
Like the gigantic forces of nature that Senju paints, the artist typically works on a large scale, with his art often displayed in corporate and public buildings. So, to see the force and beauty of a waterfall successfully encapsulated in a 40mm timepiece is an impressive feat.
2022: The Octo Finissimo “Sketch” 10th Anniversary Edition (Ref. 103672)
Unveiled in 2022 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Octo Finissimo line, the time-only, 200-piece limited edition Octo Finissimo “Sketch” (ref. 103672) also honors Bulgari’s design chief Fabrizio Buonamassa Stigliani by incorporating his original drawings into the dial design.
Buonamassa Stigliani is never not drawing, so the typography looks firmly assured and hand-drafted at the same time, perfectly complementing the angular shape of the Octo Finissimo’s 42mm cool titanium construction. Also coming across as confident, the high-grade, automatic movement, calibre BVL 138, which is visible through the display caseback.
2022: The Octo Finissimo Tatsuo Miyajima Edition (Ref. 103569)
Japanese artist Tatsuo Miyajima rekindles the nostalgia of a child’s toy digital watch – one with a lenticular face where the time “changes” according to the angle of the wrist.
One of the most playful artistic interpretations of the Octo Finissimo, this much more upscale version of those toy watches is framed by a 40mm steel case and a matching bezel. And the numbers at the center of the dial are transformed by the direction in which the light hits. And speaking of light, a titanium bracelet makes the Octo Finissimo Tatsuo Miyajima Edition (ref. 103569) effortless to wear.
2024: The Octo Finissimo Laurent Grasso Edition (Ref. 104005)
The Octo Finissimo Laurent Grasso Special Edition (ref. 104005) is an interesting study in contrasts. Here, the Italian aesthetic of the Octo’s eight-sided geometrical case meets the creative vision of the French conceptual artist Laurent Grasso.
Just as Grasso works across different disciplines, such as film, installation, and painting, this collab is a true mixed-media piece animated by a brass dial embellished using a seven-pass serigraphic (a.k.a. silk-screen) printing process infused with metallic pigments. The case and bracelet are crafted from titanium with a blue PVD coating. Other industrial design elements include brass hands.
Meanwhile, an ultra-thin (2.23mm) automatic BVL 138 calibre movement, with a platinum micro-rotor decorated by hand with Côtes de Genève, chamfering, and perlage finishing, powers this masterpiece.
2025: The Octo Finissimo Lee Ufan x Bvlgari (Ref. 104132)
Korean painter, sculptor, poet, and philosopher Lee Ufan is the latest artist to fall under the patronage of Bulgari. Lee’s work and the 150-piece limited think-piece released at Geneva Watch Days this week are based on one of the artist’s key themes: the contrast between a rock (which is static and limited) and the infinite reflections of a mirror.
Thus, the mirrored dial of the new Octo Finissimo Lee Ufan x Bvlgari (ref. 104132) is accented with black hands, so as not to disturb the placid surface. Meanwhile, a textured titanium case and bracelet serve as the rock, surrounding and protecting this reflective pool.
But the face and case are not the only points of contemplation: the Lee Ufan houses the BVL 138 manufacture calibre with micro-rotor, just 2.23mm thick, for an overall height of only 5.5mm.
Finally, like any great work of art, the caseback is inscribed with Lee’s handwritten signature.
For more information about the Octo Finissimo line, visit the Bulgari website.