LVMH Watch Week: Bulgari Introduces the New Calibre BVS100 Inside Its New Serpenti Seduttori and Tubogas Models
The Maison is kicking off its 2025 by placing an all-new, in-house automatic movement inside seven new Serpenti Seduttori and two new Serpenti Tubogas models.
We’re super excited for Lunar New Year because it’s the year of the wood snake. According to the Chinese zodiac, wood represents growth and wisdom, while the serpent represents transformation and creativity. These are all things we need for 2025!
The best fortune of all would be if this was the year we finally got our hands on one of Bulgari’s Serpenti models – the most audacious of jewelry watches.
A master of miniaturization and jewelry creation and design, Bulgari has married these skills with the seven new Serpenti Seduttori and two new Tubogas timepieces powered by a new in-house automatic movement: the Lady Solotempo BVS100.
The Eternal
Even if you weren’t born in the year of the snake and don’t subscribe to the Chinese Zodiac, you can’t deny the powerful symbolism of the snake. Bulgari’s founder, Sotirios Voulgaris (or Sotirio Bulgari in Italian), was a Greek-born silversmith and distinguished businessman. He was also a student of history, and in Greco-Roman mythology, the ouroboros (the snake eating its tail) is a symbol of eternity and continual renewal of life.
Today, Bulgari tips its cap to its founder with the release of the new BVS100 self-ending calibre. Called the Lady Solotempo, this teeny tiny, self-winding movement, like the ouroboros, represents endless renewal.
Bulgari is at the forefront of ultra-thin movements, but to create this new calibre, the brand’s expertise was used to meet another challenge. Namely, there was no other movement that fit the size and volume of the shape of the Serpenti’s head. Even with the brand’s expertise, this wee mechanism required years of research and development.
Faithful Serpent
Designed and assembled entirely in Bulgari’s Swiss manufacture, the Lady Solotempo Automatic movement builds on record-breaking innovations, such as 2022’s Piccolissimo Calibre BVL100 and 2020’s Calibre BVL150, which is one of the smallest, shaped tourbillons ever produced.
The main claim to fame of this time-only piece is its impressive 50-hour power reserve. That is because a self-winding mechanism uses a rotor that winds the movement as it rotates, thanks to gravity and inertia created by the slightest movement of your wrist, and conventional wisdom would tell us the bigger the rotor, the better the action, right?
Not in this case; though it weighs in at just 5 grams and measures just 19mm in diameter and 3.9mm in thickness, it still provides a respectable 50 hours of power reserve.
The Future
Of course, an achievement like the BVS100 can’t be contained by just one watch. Perhaps that is why, today, Bulgari released nine new watches – seven new editions of the Serpenti Seduttori (the one with a supple bracelet with “scales”) and two different takes on the Serpenti Tubogas (the one that wraps around the wrist like a snake) – all of which incorporate this new calibre.
With cases and bracelets ranging from stainless steel to precious metals to all kinds of dial decorations, including opaline, lacquered sunray, and diamond pavé options, all of these new editions feature hours, minutes, and seconds displays, with the term “Automatic” on the dial as a nod to their mechanical sophistication.
Diamond accents on the bezel highlight the technical achievement, while a transparent sapphire caseback unveils the mesmerizing motion of the oscillating weight, which has been decorated with seven serpent-inspired scales.
And because this movement debuted at LVMH Watch Week in New York, it’s also fitting to note that in the future, the BVS100 is expected to be manufactured by Zenith in its Movement Manufacture for use in other LVMH group Maisons. According to the brand, “Bulgari is proud to contribute to the manufacturing ecosystem established by LVMH in support of Watchmaking excellence and craftsmanship in Switzerland.”
For more information, including pricing and availability, visit Bulgari’s website.