Bvlgari Bvlgari Aluminium GMT x Fender® Limited Edition
Geneva Watch Days: Bulgari & Fender Team Up for a Rockin’ Watch and Guitar Collaboration
This year marks a major moment for Fender: the 70th anniversary of the iconic Stratocaster. In celebration, the iconic guitar maker teamed with legendary Roman jeweler Bulgari to create the ultimate tribute watch. Oh, and 70 lucky collectors can get a custom Fender guitar to match!
By Cait Bazemore
Contributor
Co-designed timepieces have long been a part of the watch industry. However, collaborations have become increasingly prevalent year over year. What started as straightforward partnerships between two brands, often in adjacent industries like automobiles or fashion, has dramatically expanded.
As the trend of mashups has grown in popularity, watchmakers have gotten increasingly creative with the collaborations they embark on and the timepieces they create. In fact, in the past few years, we’ve seen brands think totally outside the box, from Oris teaming up with Kermit the Frog to Angelus teaming up with a winery.
Today, we take a look at the results of Bulgari’s most imaginative and perhaps most unexpected partnership yet: the Bulgari Aluminum GMT x Fender Limited Edition.
Bulgari Collaborations Through the Years
Over the years, Bulgari has been highly selective and, in our opinion, a bit more conservative in its approach to collaborations than many brands. We’ve seen the Roman Maison partner with Ducati, brand ambassadors like K-pop star Lisa of Blackpink, and even Watches of Switzerland for the British retailer’s 100th anniversary.
Earlier this year at Geneva Watch Week, Bulgari embarked on an exciting collaboration that pushed the bounds. The brand tapped the famed Japanese architect Tadao Ando to co-design a collection of four Serpenti models, one for each season.
Now, at Geneva Watch Days, Bulgari has unveiled what may be its most exciting partnership yet: the legendary guitar maker Fender.
Origins of the Bulgari Aluminium GMT Collection
Bulgari has built a strong reputation off the backs of its ultra-thin watches and high jewelry watches. However, the Roman Maison also has a history of complicated watches, from complex tourbillons to grand sonneries to highly useful GMTs.
Bulgari has incorporated the GMT complication into countless watches throughout its catalog, particularly in the past three decades since the introduction of its first true sports/tool watch, the Diagono, in 1988.
More recently, we’ve seen the brand focus on integrating the GMT into its beloved Aluminium collection, which first launched in 1998 with the original Aluminium GMT and was later revamped just a few years ago in 2021.
Since its debut in the late 1990s, the Aluminium collection has been distinct for its use of aluminum, hence the line’s name. However, the Aluminium’s unconventional combination of aluminum and rubber was considered groundbreaking in 1998 and ultimately helped pave the way for the concept of sporty elegance that’s become highly popular today.
Today, Bulgari, with the help of the Fender Custom Shop, is taking an entirely fresh approach to the Aluminium GMT.
The Bulgari Aluminium GMT x Fender Limited Edition
As previously mentioned, 2024 marks an important milestone for Fender because the Stratocaster, the guitar that made the company famous and ensured Fender’s place in the music history books, celebrates its 70th anniversary this year.
Like Bulgari’s watches, the Stratocaster has taken a myriad of forms over the years, from bold, ultra-colorful versions to custom graphic designs to simple, sleek black. Still, the most famous, quintessential variation of the Stratocaster is the original design from 1954, which had a two-tone sunburst fading from a rich chocolate brown to a warm golden brown with a creamy white pickguard.
It is this iconic instrument that served as the inspiration for Bulgari’s latest creation: the Aluminium GMT x Fender Limited Edition, featuring a design that perfectly echoes the guitar’s while maintaining the instantly recognizable DNA of the Aluminium collection.
As you can see, the Aluminium GMT x Fender Limited Edition has a beautifully rendered sunburst dial that serves as an ode to the original 1954 Stratocaster. It features a nearly identical color palette that fades from dark brown on the outside of the dial to a warm golden brown at the center.
Meanwhile, the two-tone cream and brown GMT scale along the dial’s periphery nods to the guitar’s contrasting white pickguard, with cream denoting daytime hours and brown the nighttime. Moreover, the rhodium-plated and polished indices and hands were designed to mimic the guitar’s frets.
From there, the watch takes shape in alignment with the hallmarks of the Aluminium line, with its signature aluminum case construction, rubber bezel (albeit in brown), and articulated rubber strap (also in brown).
Lastly, inside its lightweight, highly wearable, and perfectly sized 40mm case is the B192 calibre, which offers GMT functionality (obviously), automatic winding, a 3 o’clock date indication, and a 42-hour power reserve.
However, the watch isn’t the only part of this exciting limited edition.
Pricing & Availability
The Bulgari Aluminium GMT x Fender Limited Edition timepiece is produced in a run of just 1,200 pieces. However, 70 lucky collectors with equal passion for watchmaking and music can have the opportunity to get a custom guitar to match their watch.
How? To mark this monumental 70th anniversary, Bulgari and Fender have created a special set of seventy that includes the co-designed timepiece and a Fender Custom Shop Limited Edition Bulgari Stratocaster guitar.
Finally, if watches are your primary passion, Bulgari is offering a second set in a run of 140 (70 for each of the two time zones on the Bulgari Aluminium GMT). These include the limited edition Bulgari Aluminium GMT watch, its bespoke case whose design was inspired by iconic guitar cases, and a book tracing the 70-year history of the Stratocaster.
The individual Bulgari Aluminium GMT x Fender Limited Edition, as well as each of the two sets, are available today. For more information, including pricing, please visit the Bulgari website.
Exclusive Video: A Deep Cut Explaining the Bulgari x Fender Connection
By Watchonista
One of the biggest pieces of news to come out of Geneva Watch Days 2024 was a game-changing collaboration between Bulgari watches and Fender guitars. Today,...
