Spotlight: Bulgari Octo Finissimo by Tadao Ando

Bulgari’s Octo Finissimo collection has sprung to the fore of high horology watches in recent years, and deservedly so having introduced new world records for the thinnest complications for the past seven years consecutively. In this article, we take a look at the limited-edition pieces created in collaboration with Tadao Ando – but who is Tadao Ando, and why is he such a perfect fit for these collaborative pieces?

Who is Tadao Ando?

Tadao Ando was born in Osaka, Japan, on 13^th September 1941. As a young man once he had finished high school, he started out in a career as a boxer and fighter, before making the switch to architecture a couple of years after he graduated. This switch was a particularly interesting one given Ando had no prior education or experience in the realm of architecture, and he was entirely self-taught in the domain.

After several years spent exploring the world of architecture, travelling the world to experience different styles, in 1969 he founded Tadao Ando Architect & Associates.

Over his career, Tadao Ando has worked on over 300 architectural projects, and has won multiple awards for his work. In 1995, Ando won the Pritzker Prize which according to their website honours “architects whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision, and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture”.

A decade later in 2005, Ando also won the UIA (International Union of Architects) Gold Medal in 2005. This award is the highest honour that an architect can receive from fellow architects, recognising their achievements and contributions to architecture throughout their career.

Ando has taught at US colleges including Harvard and Yale and has been a Professor Emeritus at the University of Tokyo since 2003.

Tadao Ando’s Architecture

I will preface this section by saying I am certainly no expert in architecture, but from researching this article it appears the common theme through Tadao Ando’s work is an imaginative use of both light and the natural world around. From exploring his work, I think this idea is best conveyed through looking at his design for the Church of Light in Osaka, which uses the light from outside in an extremely clever way.

His work also cleverly creates focal points out of empty space; I think I could best relate this to watches by comparing it to the ideas of “negative space” found on some Jaquet Droz timepieces, indeed Ando has described the ideology of his style as ‘pure geometry’. It is this clever use of geometric shapes and space, and the relative ‘starkness’ of his work conveyed through his use of concrete, which is perhaps what made Tadao Ando the perfect candidate to collaborate with on the Octo Finissimo, the minimalist colourways and geometric shapes on the case and bracelet making a perfect canvas upon which to showcase his work. I have picked a couple of examples of Ando’s architectural designs below to hopefully help you see the similarities.

Back in 2019, Bulgari first announced a new addition to their Octo Finissimo collection, a 200-piece limited edition designed in collaboration with Tadao Ando. This collaboration has seen the creation of three watches in particular, the most recent of which launched earlier this year at Watches & Wonders.

Bulgari Octo Finissimo Tadao Ando Watches

The first Octo Finissimo watches appeared in 2014, featuring a manual-wind calibre, BVL 128, measuring just 2.23mm thick. This was joined by an automatic calibre in 2017, BVL 138, which for the first time included an automatic micro-rotor movement and astonishingly added absolutely nothing to the overall thickness of the movement of the watch.

It was this 2017 release in titanium which provided the foundation for the first watch born of the collaboration between Bulgari and Tadao Ando. The design strips the dial of all features – the Bulgari logo, the 12 and 6 numerals, the hour markers, the markers around the small seconds dial, and even the ‘Swiss Made’ notation at the bottom of the dial.

Such is the brilliance of the design of the watch, that none of this detail being removed detracts from instantly recognising it as an Octo Finissimo.

Ando replaced the original dial decoration with a spiral pattern which emanates from the fixing point of the small seconds hand to the edges of the dial, reminiscent of ripples on a body of water, and makes for an incredibly eye-catching visual. The round bezel on the watch helps to tie the spiral pattern into the overall design of the watch, where the wider case and the integrated bracelet provide the angular and geometric facets.

On the reverse of the watch, the sapphire caseback is retained allowing for a view of the BVL 138 micro-rotor calibre, although for this special edition Ando has added somewhat of a literal signature of his design, adorning the window with his own signature.

The first time I saw the release pictures of this watch I was utterly enamoured with it, although with it being a release for the Japanese market only, I didn’t really hold out much hope of ever being able to see one in person. Luckily, I had an unexpected chance encounter when visiting David Roditi at the Bulgari flagship store on Bond Street in London, where David was able to show me the piece and I could get a closer look – suffice it to say I was not disappointed one bit!

At the same time as the above release in titanium, there was a somewhat lesser-known accompanying reference limited to only 8 pieces featuring a carbon case and bracelet, featuring the BVL 288 calibre – the world’s thinnest flying tourbillon movement with the tourbillon on display at the 6 o’clock position.

With this piece, the same spiral design is prominent on a dial again otherwise devoid of any logos or markers, except this time the spiral emanates from the tourbillon which serves to create a similar ripple effect that is less compressed the closer to the top of the dial you look. Again, the sapphire caseback is adorned with Ando’s signature to complete the piece.

Earlier this year, the third Bulgari Tadao Ando collaboration watch was announced at Watches & Wonders 2021, this time restricted to only 160 pieces. We see the same distinctive, spiral dial design from the earlier collaborations, however with this piece Ando has taken a step away from the monochromatic colourways, introducing a black sandblasted ceramic case and bracelet with a blue lacquered dial and a gold crescent moon at 5 o’clock.

This thin crescent moon is not just an artistic addition, it has an underlying deeper meaning. This type of thin crescent moon in Japanese is known as Mikazuki and refers to the phase of the moon seen three days into a new lunar cycle (in fact, the kanji characters for Mikazuki taken literally mean “the moon on the third day of the lunar month”), which is seen as a representation of the passage of time.

The blue lacquered dial and the crescent moon, combined with the spiral and its ripple effect, is intended to connote a deep blue night sky reflecting on a body of water, and serves as a subtle and effective way of demonstrating the link between Ando’s architectural work and its relationship with the natural world – I think the idea behind this design becomes even more substantive when taking Mikazuki into account.

I think this is a very welcome addition to the collaborations between Bulgari and Tadao Ando, offering a take on nature and introducing a splash of colour to contrast nicely against the two previous versions which are more obviously reflective of Ando’s architectural style and their monochromatic appearance.

The addition of the moon phase might not be to everyone’s tastes and might even initially be mistaken for a moon phase complication, however I think it adds something new to the design which might have perhaps seemed a little underwhelming had this edition been simply a re-release of the first collaboration but in sandblasted ceramic and a blue dial.

A special thanks to @kingflum for use of his photographs.

In Summary

Bulgari’s Octo Finissimo collection is one of my personal favourites. The design of the watches I think is spectacular; the fact that Tadao Ando was able to strip all the detail from the dial yet the watch remains immediately recognisable as a Bulgari Octo Finissimo, to me says everything you need to know.

My only issue with the Octo Finissimo is that I don’t think I have the style to be able to pull off the bracelet (!) and if I were to have one on the leather strap option, I feel like the watch would be missing a key component of the overall design of the watch in the bracelet.

The first Tadao Ando collaboration is my personal favourite of the three, but it is also the only one I have seen in person. I have enjoyed seeing all three releases and I am curious to see whether or not we can expect to see more from Bulgari and Tadao Ando in the years to come.

A huge thank you to David Roditi at Bulgari Bond Street, and @KingFlum for letting me use his photographs – be sure to follow both David and @kingflum on Instagram.

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