Haute Highlights Of The 2021 LVMH Watch Week

Although digital, was this year's edition of the LVMH Watch Week quite the event. Hublot, Zenith, and Bulgari all showed that not even a pandemic could slow down their drive to innovate, as they presented their latest watches. While they all impressed, these are our haute highlights;

By Martin Green

Bulgari Shows That They Are A Complex Brand With New Octo Roma Carillon Tourbillon

As a fully integrated manufacture, Bulgari is not only capable of making record-breaking ultra-slim watches but also other impressive complications. With the new Octo Roma Carillon Tourbillon, they show once more that they are also a brand that can harmonically combine great aesthetics with a technically very advanced movement. They do this by applying focus because everything about this watch is dedicated to creating the best and loudest sound.

Watches Of Switzerland Soho Boutique Debuts Geneva Watch Fair Timepieces

For a limited time, Watches of Switzerland Soho Boutique will be debuting select timepieces from the Geneva Watch Fair for the first time in the U.S.

Bulgari Pushes The Ultra-Thin Envelope Again With Octo Finissimo Tourbillon Chronograph Skeleton Automatic

Bulgari has gathered quite an impressive collection of world-records when it comes to ultra-thin watches, and last week in Geneva they added another one. The Octo Finissimo Tourbillon Chronograph Skeleton Automatic is with a thickness of 7.4mm by far the thinnest watch of its kind ever made. The movement itself measures only 3.5mm, yet it still sports a superb finish on all levels and is even fitted with a column-wheel and vertical clutch. Because of the advanced skeletonization of the movement, all these parts can be admired in full.

Four Watches That Prove That Thin Is In

While no official standards are indicating when a watch can be called (ultra-)thin, it is reasonably easy to pass your judgment about it. The heights of both the movement and the watch itself are common knowledge for most watches, and can therefore be compared to the record-holders in a specific category. Especially in recent years thin movements, and watches, have become en vogue again, as many people realized that in a sense they represent the nec plus ultra of the watch industry. Watches like the Bulgari Octo Finissimo also showed that it is not only classic dress watches that can benefit from this. Even the cool-factor of a modern-looking watch for every day, and every occasion, increases significantly when powered by an ultra-thin movement. Leave it to the following four watches to that thin is in.

Four Sports Watches Perfect For Welcoming The Summer Season

The meteorological summer has begun, so it is officially time to take in again the joys that this season has to offer. Short sleeves are more often than not, what we wear during this time of year, putting more of an emphasis on the watches that we are wearing. Here are four sports watches that are perfect for welcoming the warmest season of the year.

Watch of the Week: Bulgari Octo Finissimo Minute Repeater Sandblasted Rose Gold

Bulgari has spoiled us over the last few years with ultra-thin delicacies that they presented within the Octo Finissimo collection. One of the highlights in this line-up is, without a doubt, the minute repeater. It has a natural attraction to watch connoisseurs because of its complex mechanism, but also due to the sound it makes. Many brands have invested significant resources in improving the vibrance and tone when the hammers hit the gongs, but Bulgari also focussed on the movement itself. Through clever engineering, they succeeded in making it only 3.12mm thick, which is as astonishing as it is record-breaking.

Whirlwind Romance: Tourbillon Watches For Her This Valentine’s Day

While the efficacy of a tourbillon on timekeeping is contested, it doesn’t take away from the complexity and inherent beauty of the whirling mechanism. After all, it’s not the practicality of mechanical watches that captures our attention anymore—there are countless devices that can tell us the time—but rather the romance, whimsy, and audacity of it all. So what better way to revel in that romance by having an “open heart” with a tourbillon watch?

Pantone Picks Color Of The Year; It’s Time To Wear Blue Watches

Color is serious business at Pantone and along with standardizing colors across the board, the company has also selected a “Color of the Year” since 2000. This year’s choice from Pantone is Classic Blue, “a solid and dependable blue hue we can always rely on” Pantone Color Institute’s Executive Director Leatrice Eiseman notes.

Shed Some Weight With Titanium Watches

As far as New Year’s resolutions go, aiming for a smaller number on the scale is a popular one. But we’ll leave the diet and exercise tips to the experts and focus on what we do best—outline some topnotch luxury timepieces! The use of titanium in watches is becoming more predominant thanks to its impressive strength-to-weight ratio. Titanium is just as strong as stainless steel but almost double in strength. So if you want a tough timepiece that doesn’t feel heavy on the wrist, check out these four lightweight titanium watches.

Bulgari Expands Octo Finissimo Collection And Launches New Tourbillon

Bulgari uses its presence at the LVMH Watch Week, which is held at the Bulgari resort in Dubai, to expand the highly successful Octo Finissimo collection further. Some interesting new varieties will now be available, making this watch more appealing than ever. While titanium is what people often think of with this ultra-slim watch, is it also stunning in traditional stainless steel. Bulgari already introduced this option in 2018, but now makes it available with an attractive black dial. This gives the watch a more traditional sports-watch look, which suits the Octo Finissimo perfectly. The stainless steel features a nice alternation between polished and satin-finished surfaces, which cleverly highlight the unique design of this watch.

2020: What To Expect From A New Decade Of Watches?

Moving into another year is always something, but entering an entirely new decade seems to come with even higher expectations. The last decade was a turbulent one, with rapid innovations of which one, the smartwatch, was accompanied by a potential cloud of doom for the traditional watch industry. While primarily the Apple watch sold very well, the watch industry wasn't plunged into another quartz crisis. Many now consider that smartwatches got a new and young generation of customers used to wearing something around their wrist. As a result, they also are curious about what else there is to wear, and then the magic of tiny little gears, levers, and other parts that work together in an astonishing precision seems to be hard to resist. In the new decade, the smartwatches with undoubtfully hold their ground, as their technological features will ever increase. Still, they will no longer be an imminent threat to the mechanical watch industry.

Haute Time’s Hottest Chronographs Of 2019

It is still interesting to see that the development of certain mechanical complications doesn't stop. A great example of this is the chronograph, where brands continue to find new ways to take it to the next level. 2019 was a year in which chronographs broke records and celebrated anniversaries, as it has been 50 years since the very first automatic chronographs hit the market. So no wonder that 2019 was a great year for chronographs.

Into The Complex World Of The Bulgari Octo Grande Sonnerie

Ultra-thin is not the only name of the game at Bulgari, as they also master that of ultra-complex watches. The Octo Grande Sonnerie Perpetual Calendar is a perfect example of this. Housed in their signature Octo case, they equipped an automatic movement with a tourbillon, which is also fitted with grande and petite sonnerie, as well as a minute repeater.

Four Animal Inspired Watches

Nature is often a source of inspiration for how we design things. Especially in jewelry, are there many objects whose shape is inspired by animals, flowers, or the world below sea level. In watches, it is usually animals that inspire designers to create something unique, like the following four watches;

Four Watches That Are ‘Carbon Cool’

Next to being ultra-light and very strong is carbon visually a very cool material. It can be processed in a variety of different ways, each with an appearance of its own. In watchmaking, the advantages that this material offers where recognized at a very early stage by quite a few watchmakers. It is utilized primarily in sports watches, as this type of watches makes the most out of the benefits that carbon offers over steel and even titanium. Next to that do they also utilize carbon as an important visual element of the design. That this can result in very tempting watches is proven by the following four watches;

Digital Displays: Jump Hour Watches

Rather than a traditional hour center hand that sweeps around the dial pointing to 12 indexes, jump hour watches use a digital display (not to be confused with modern digital watches) to indicate the current hour. This particular mechanical watch complication dates back to 1883 when Josef Pallweber patented his invention using rotating discs for hours and minutes and displayed the time numerically via a pair of windows. Over a century later, Pallweber’s innovation is still alive and well as illustrated by these three brilliant examples of jump hour watches.