Jamie Weiss
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Well known for pushing boundaries, Bulgari has done it again with a new world record-breaking watch, the Octo Finissimo Ultra COSC, a fully COSC-certified watch with a thickness of just 1.70mm.With each model limited to 20 pieces, the Ultra COSC is extremely rare, produced in both titanium or platinum, with tungsten carbide main plates making up the structure of the watch.The watches are built around the calibre BVL 180, a COSC-certified manually wound movement, which has a 50-hour power reserve and comes in at no more than 1.5mm thick.The title of the world’s thinnest watch has seen some serious horological one-upmanship in recent years. First, Piaget had the throne with the Altiplano Ultimate Concept, and then Bulgari snatched the throne with the Octo Finissimo Ultra… Only to be immediately one-upped by Richard Mille’s UP-01 Ferrari. Bulgari didn’t take that lying down, with the Italian brand firing back this year with the Octo Finissimo Ultra COSC – which, as the name implies, isn’t just the thinnest mechanical watch in the world, it is also the world’s thinnest COSC-certified chronometer. Wow.At 1.70mm thick, the Bulgari Octo Finissimo Ultra COSC is 0.1mm thinner than the Bulgari Octo Finissimo Ultra and 0.05 thinner than the Richard Mille UP-01 Ferrari. Interestingly, it uses the same BVL180 as the Ultra: Bulgari found that extra tenth of a millimetre by reworking the watch’s sapphire crystal.Aesthetically, the Bulgari Octo Finissimo Ultra COSC is easily differentiated from the ‘standard’ Octo Finissimo Ultra by darker time-telling dials, of which the seconds dial also features text reading “Chronometer Certified”. The ratchet wheel has also been redesigned, utilising a more glamorous DataMatrix rather than a QR code and now also featuring text denoting its model and limited edition status.The other big flex here is that Bulgari hasn’t just crafted the Octo Finissimo Ultra COSC from titanium, but they’ve also made a platinum version. Titanium is already a difficult material to work with thanks to its reactivity, but platinum is more difficult still because of its density. Additionally, where the full titanium Octo Finissimo Ultra COSC opts for a monochromatic look, the platinum Octo Finissimo Ultra COSC features blue PVD subdials.“The Octo Finissimo is a vast playground of innovation and design and a source of unprecedented challenges for Bulgari’s R&D department,” Antoine Pin, director of Bulgari’s watchmaking division, explains. “This marks the ninth occasion our engineers, watchmakers, and designers have defied the laws of physics to offer complex timepieces of unparalleled slimness. These accomplishments go deeper than the watchmaking prowess they represent: they define our DNA. Bulgari stands to innovate, to keep pushing the boundaries, and to master the art of the extraordinary and to always surprise.Bulgari Octo Finissimo Ultra COSC pricing and availabilityThe Bulgari Octo Finissimo Ultra COSC will be available from September 2024, limited to 20 pieces of each metal. Price: 600,000 (titanium), 620,000 (platinum)BrandBulgariModelOcto Finissimo Ultra COSCReference104081 (titanium)103832 (platinum)Case Dimensions40mm (D) x 1.7mm (T)Case MaterialPlatinum or titaniumCrystal(s)Sapphire crystalDialGrey or blue sunburstStrapCase-matching flat-link bracelet with titanium folding buckleMovementCalibre BVL180, in-house, manual-windingPower Reserve50 hoursFunctionsHours, minutes, secondsAvailabilityFrom September 2024Price600,000 (titanium)620,000 (platinum)
08.04.24