Each the tourbillon escapement and the minute repeater rank as a few of the most prestigious and complicated issues within the horological pantheon, and any model capable of develop certainly one of these ornate components in-house earns a sizeable fame for watchmaking prowess. An in-house design that incorporates each of those issues, then, is a real piece of mechanical spectacle. The 2021 launch of the Bulgari Octo Roma Carillon Tourbillon was a major instance of this, taking an ultra-modern method to a miniature repeater tourbillon design based mostly on the model’s fan-favorite Octo platform. For LVMH Watch Week 2022, Bulgari returns to this high-end idea with a softer, extra luxe colorway. The brand new limited-edition Bulgari Octo Roma Blue Carillon Tourbillon brings a richer, extra layered character to this advanced design with out sacrificing the ultra-modern edge that made the unique mannequin so putting.
Measuring in at 44mm-wide and 12.83mm-thick, the Bulgari Octo Roma Blue Carillon Tourbillon’s case adapts the model’s cornerstone Octo Roma case design into a fancy acoustic instrument. The acquainted angular chamfered lugs and ornate two-layered bezel meeting are rendered in brushed and polished platinum, offering a vibrant and splendid base for the design in preliminary photographs. From right here, Bulgari extensively reworks the mid-case of the Octo Roma with a sequence of slots working the circumference of the watch. Past giving the case a larger sense of depth and visually breaking apart the case aspect profile, this slotted blue coated titanium ring acts as an amplifier for the minute repeater chime, permitting the sound to hold louder and extra clearly. Bulgari provides a 3rd metallic to the combination for the trapezoidal 9 o’clock minute repeater activation pusher, giving this tactile ingredient a extra upscale really feel in white gold. The three o’clock crown additionally includes a matching white gold therapy, topped with a cabochon in black ceramic. The platinum caseback provides additional sound-enhancing grooves to the case design, which additionally serve to border the sapphire show window handsomely in preliminary photographs. As one would possibly count on from a case stuffed with slotted openings, water-resistance for the Octo Roma Blue Carillon Tourbillon is low at 30 meters. That stated, that is removed from a sporting design.
As with the case, the skeleton dial of the Bulgari Octo Roma Blue Carillon Tourbillon brings a pointy, modernist visible model to its pair of classical issues. Wealthy ocean blue vacuum-coated titanium bridges proceed the motif of the mid-case and take up nearly all of the visible actual property right here. This lends the design a pleasingly cohesive look and strikes a stable midpoint between dial legibility and a view of the motion beneath. Moderately than utilizing particular person indices, Bulgari goals to simplify an already advanced dial structure by condensing its hour markers all the way down to a pair of brushed partial outer rings hooked up to the blued bridges beneath by distinguished screws. Whether or not this answer seems streamlined or unfinished and industrial will come down to private choice, however the outsized Arabic numerals at 12 o’clock do properly counterbalance the 6 o’clock tourbillon in preliminary photographs. Timekeeping features are dealt with by a set of skeletonized dauphine palms in an identical brushed end. By cutaways within the bridges and the outer chapter ring, nonetheless, Bulgari retains the visible concentrate on the Octo Roma Blue Carillon Tourbillon’s two namesake issues at 6 o’clock and 10 o’clock. Due to a light-weight skeleton bridge in matching blue and a pared-back cage, the 6 o’clock tourbillon provides a virtually unimpeded view of the oscillating escapement. At 10 o’clock, Bulgari frames the hammers of the minute repeater with a cutaway bridge, which ought to give wearers an opportunity to see the complete workings of the chime in motion. To simplify the look and guarantee a transparent sound, Bulgari connects the gongs for this minute repeater on to the edges of the case and stacks them vertically across the perimeter of the motion for a low-profile look in photographs.
Contained in the Bulgari Octo Roma Blue Carillon Tourbillon beats the in-house BVL428 hand-wound minute repeater tourbillon motion. Moderately than the slotted design of the dial aspect, the blued bridges seen via the caseback are stable and broad, flanking an online of brighter brushed ratchets, wheels, and levers related to the minute repeater complication. The widest of those bridges additionally features a small round energy reserve indicator with a cleanly minimal scale. The ability reserve itself for the BVL428 is a powerful 75 hours, with a gradual 21,600 bph beat charge. Bulgari completes the look with a basic matte navy blue alligator leather-based strap on a platinum butterfly deployant clasp.
With a pair of ornate issues coupled to a deeper, extra luxurious colorway, the limited-edition Bulgari Octo Roma Blue Carillon Tourbillon is a putting and refined showcase of the model’s high-end horological prowess. Solely 30 examples of the Bulgari Octo Rom Blue Carillon Tourbillon can be made, and the watch is offered now via licensed sellers. MSRP for this mannequin is said at $317,000 as of press time. For extra particulars, please go to the model’s web site.
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