Spotlight: Bulgari Aluminium Collection

Sometimes you see a watch that immediately peaks your interest and you want to know more. This happened to me recently when I first heard about the new Bulgari Aluminium releases. I went to check these out and suffice it to say I was not disappointed; this article shines the Watch Affinity Spotlight on Bulgari’s new Aluminium collection.

Bulgari Aluminium Collection

As soon as I saw the first shots of these pieces, I have to say I was enamoured by the bold design. Sure, in recent years Bulgari has (quite rightly) been lauded for the ultra-thin Octo Finissimo collection, one of my favourite designs over the past few years and packed with numerous record breaking movements (the world’s thinnest: automatic movement, automatic chronograph/GMT, minute repeater, automatic tourbillon, and even the world’s smallest tourbillon in production), however it is refreshing to see another addition to the catalogue.

Bulgari’s foray into high-end watchmaking followed the acquisition in 2000 of both the Gerald Genta and Daniel Roth brands, after which Bulgari spent around a decade developing a fully integrated manufacture, building up a knowledge base in high horology and expertise in complicated movements. Ultimately this has led to the creation of the Octo Finissimo and other high horology pieces such as the Commedia Dell’Arte pieces with high-end complications that celebrate a historic genre of Italian performance art, serving to cement Bulgari’s place at the table in terms of high-end watchmaking.

To me, these Aluminium watches are more of a celebration of Bulgari’s history, serving as both an alternative entry point into the brand and appealing to a different client as a sports watch, of course minus the bells and whistles of a minute repeater or an ultra-thin movement.

This particular trio are recreations of sports pieces that Bulgari produced in 1998, which comprised an aluminium case, rubber strap and quartz movement. The general aesthetics of these pieces are very similar to their predecessors, however these modern reinterpretations include a mechanical movement instead of quartz and whilst the case is again constructed from aluminium, today this is an aluminium alloy that is more resistant to everyday wear and tear.

The case is sandblasted aluminium, framed with a matte black rubber bezel which matches the colour and material of the strap. The caseback for each is solid titanium as opposed to aluminium and fits in seamlessly given they are the same colour as the bezel and strap. Another practical bonus of these pieces is that they offer up to 100m water resistance, making them ready for most everyday situations.

The dials, too, have a matte finish which all combines to give the watch a rather understated feel to it; they are not trying to be flashy, which I think suits these as a sports watch. The design of the dial, regardless of the model, I think works well. The oversize 12 numerals (and the 6 on the time and date models) seem to help balance the overall appearance. Looking at the pieces laid out above, it almost appears to imply a continuous ‘imaginary’ line, running vertically from the 12 to the 6 and extending either side onto the strap with the silver hinges, connecting these features which are all evenly spaced. The dial of each model has a splash or two of red on the seconds hand, which delicately breaks up an otherwise potentially monotonous palette (albeit the ‘white’ dials are a slight off-white, beige colour which helps achieve the same effect – a nod to the original pieces from 20 years ago).

Each of the three watches is 40mm in size; the time and date models are 9.4mm thick and the chronograph is 11.1mm thick. These both weigh in at less than 80 grams and factoring all this together it is unsurprising that these watches are each incredibly comfortable to wear. The design of the strap is unusual, with the strap on either side of the case split into three portions, the first two of which are separated by a hinge. This seems a little strange at first but given my penchant for liking things that are a little unusual, it is a feature I quite enjoyed and ultimately found to be quite comfortable. The strap is secured with a pin buckle fastener.

You might have noticed that despite these pieces not being overly flashy, each is adorned with the Bulgari logo no less than 5 times (the dial, twice on the bezel, and on the strap above and below the watch). This might seem a little excessive, and I’ll be honest here and say that on first glance I didn’t even notice it! However, far from being an over-the-top embellishment, as I said at the start of this article I think these pieces are more of a celebration of Bulgari’s history, and this is a feature for which Bulgari certainly have previous.

The inclusion of the Bulgari logo in such a prominent manner is a feature that we can see during the 1970s, looking at the Bulgari Roma in 1975 and more so with the Bulgari Bulgari in 1977 (a watch which came courtesy of legendary watch designer Gerald Genta). This design is said to have been born of inspiration taken from Roman coins, often with writing inscribed around the edge of the coins, and Rome being the birthplace of the Bulgari brand when it was founded by Sotirios Voulgaris in 1884.

Finally, let’s have a look at the automatic movements. Given the price point of these pieces it is no surprise that these are not the haute horology movements we find in the Octo Finissimo. Nor are they in-house movements – instead we have the B77 calibre in the time and date models, Bulgari’s modified automatic ETA 2892 calibre affording the wearer a 42h power reserve. This movement provides hours minutes and seconds functionality with a date window at 3 o’clock position. The white background of the date wheel I think works better against the black dial than the off white as it is more in keeping with the white hour markers and keeps a better balance on the dial. The chronograph contains the B130 calibre, another Bulgari modified ETA movement, except this time based on ETA 2894-2 which again offers a 42h power reserve along with three sub-dials and a date window between 4 and 5 o’clock.

In Summary

The watches in the Bulgari Aluminium collection are not something that I would have thought would normally catch my eye, however that is the beauty of this world of watches: you never know what may or may not attract your attentions, and even more so that this can completely change again when trying something on in real life. For me, this watch lived up to my expectations – at first, I found myself drawn to the white dial versions, but up close it was the black dial which won me over the most.

I think it is important to remember that these pieces are not supposed to be the high horology we see in the Octo Finissimo collection. They serve a totally different purpose, and most importantly they are supposed to be fun. I thoroughly enjoyed getting hands on with these, and as a sports watch with a rubber strap and 100m water resistance I can easily see them being a great summer watch or a holiday companion.

Finally, I’d like to extend a huge thank you to Bulgari’s David Roditi for showing me these pieces and taking the time to speak with me about them. You can follow David on Instagram @david_roditi_at_bulgari.

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