Watches and Wonders
Skinny and Snaky: Bulgari Breaks Records and Hearts at Watches and Wonders
The Maison introduces the Octo Finissimo Ultra Tourbillon, the world’s thinnest tourbillon ever, and two takes on the new Serpenti Aeterna model.
By Rhonda Riche
Editor-At-Large
While it’s not our first time at the rodeo, 2025 marks Bulgari’s debut at Watches and Wonders. Yes, the brand maintained a presence in Geneva outside Palexpo during the fair every year. However, seeing its horological offerings amid the action has brought extra Italian energy to the exhibition.
Thus, for its debut year, Bulgari has brought new timepieces from two of our favorite collections, each of which represents opposite ends of the luxury house’s expertise. First, for the technical side, there’s the Octo Finissimo Ultra Tourbillon – the thinnest tourbillon-equipped timepiece ever made
Second, to represent Bulgari’s gem-setting skills, there are two new bangle watches from the Serpenti Aeterna high jewelry collection.
Here’s how both models are bringing the brio to Watches and Wonders Geneva 2025.
The Octo Finissimo Ultra Tourbillon
The theme of Bulgari’s first booth at Watches and Wonders is duality, specifically, how a Roman jeweler evolved into a Swiss watchmaker. The façade features elements of the Razionalista architectural style. Inside, seven curated showcases help guide visitors through the many eras of Bulgari.
In this setting, the new Octo Finissimo Ultra Tourbillon (€750,000) is presented as both a record-breaking achievement and a manifesto rejecting the general consensus of collectors and journalists that held Bulgari couldn’t make its Finissimo any thinner.
Why did Bulgari’s Swiss watchmaking division decide to prove the naysayers wrong by adding watchmaking’s most emblematic complication to an Octo Finissimo Ultra? Because the tourbillon holds a special place in Bulgari’s heart.
After all, it was the release of the Octo Finissimo Tourbillon in 2014 that set into motion a decade-long odyssey that has led to ten world records. Now, by integrating a skeleton tourbillon into the movement of a watch with a total thickness of just 1.85mm, Bulgari has done it again, but this time with panache.
The brand has taken skeletonization to the extreme on the new Octo Finissimo Ultra Tourbillon. All this openwork has resulted in maximum light diffusion throughout the movement, turning the mechanism’s “basic” components into dial decoration.
Any time I’ve had the privilege of trying on an Octo Finissimo, I can’t resist raising my wrist slowly in the air as if lifted by an invisible helium balloon. Not only is it a super slender timepiece, but it’s also incredibly lightweight. And the 40mm Ultra Tourbillon, which features a bezel, case middle, and lugs crafted from microbead-frosted titanium and a mainplate constructed from tungsten carbide, might be the most gravity-defying Octo Finissimo yet.
As any stylish Italian will tell you, tailoring is everything. Each element of this horological wonder is well-considered. For instance, the two stainless steel planar “crowns” that peek out from the side of the case serve to either wind the mechanism or set the time feature circular-graining. Meanwhile, the ratchet is decorated with engraved geometric patterns.
For optimal legibility, the hour dial features rhodium-plated hour and minute hands set against a sand-blasted brass surface with a charcoal grey PVD coating. This wafer-thin instrument is set on an integrated microbead-frosted titanium bracelet that measures just 1.5mm thick, including the folding clasp.
We could go on and on, but we’ve also got some jewelry watches to gush over.
The Serpenti Aeterna
Aeterna is one of Bulgari's most beloved high jewelry collections. And for the first time, the Maison is introducing a watch to the family.
Of course, the Serpenti is also a Bulgari signature, and at first glance, it doesn’t make sense to marry the two. Nevertheless, the brand’s designers have opted to interpret the snake symbol through the Aeterna lens. The result is an avant-garde interpretation of a watch formed more as a bangle. There are no eyes, no scales, and the body is merely a suggestion.
There are two versions of this slinky watch, one in white gold (€200,000) and one in rose gold (€81,500). However, while the rose gold version’s bangle has snow-set diamonds and a dial paved with brilliant-cut diamonds, the white version gets the full pavé treatment, plus a brilliant-cut emerald set into its crown.
“Aeterna is more than a timepiece or jewellery,” said Fabrizio Buonamassa Stigliani, Bulgari’s Product Creation Executive Director, in a press release. “It is the ultimate expression of Bvlgari’s avant-garde vision. I wanted to capture Serpenti's DNA, distill it to its essence, and project it into the future.”
For more information about the Octo Finissimo Ultra Tourbillon and the Serpenti Aeterna, visit the Bulgari website.