Jonathan Brinbaum, Managing Director of Bvlgari Watches, sat down with us on the sidelines of Watches & Wonders to discuss the maison’s participation in the fair, new releases, and the movement concepts that the Bvlgari is focusing on…
Can you tell us first about the importance of Bvlgari taking part in Watches & Wonders and the design of the Bvlgari booth?
We are happy that Bvlgari is participating in Watches & Wonders and are very thankful to the Watches & Wonders Committee, with whom we had to work to figure out the right location, and the 1,000 sqm of space we needed to make the right statement. We could not compromise on the statement we wanted to make at Watches & Wonders. Our booth is designed as a Roman temple, with a column outside, which is inspired by the Pantheon. All the marble and the textures you can find inside the booth, the travertine, the coloured marble, and so on comes from our desire to show our Roman DNA. It’s the right moment because Bvlgari watches has experienced an outstanding growth over the last decade. We have been making a lot of investments in watchmaking – not only in design, but also in manufacturing. We now completely do our movements in-house at Le Sentier. We have more than 10 movements that we have launched over the last decade, most of them being Finissimo; 10 world records with another one this year. We are now at a stage where we believe that we need to mark another step in the future of Bvlgari and Watches & Wonders is the perfect occasion to tell this to the world.
You have released the Octo Finissimo Ultra Tourbillon this year; when was the decision made and what was the difficulty of getting a tourbillon to 1.85 mm thickness?
The project started nine months ago, and we developed the thinnest tourbillon in the world in nine months, which is insane. We wanted to do something that is more than a record; we wanted to do something that literally everybody considered impossible. The first time we said we wanted to go to 1.85 mm on the tourbillon, the first reaction from the teams was that it’s impossible. Our engineering teams, and our partners with whom we worked, challenged everything on this watch. The Ultra Tourbillon has eight different patents, of which six are specific to the tourbillon, such as the glass, the structure of the tourbillon, and how it’s positioned within the cage. All of these had to be reviewed to match this thickness. Some of the obstacles we faced included patents that were already existing, which we had to work around. To overcome the challenges of solidity, we used tungsten carbide for the main plate.
Another important challenge was to make this a fully self-functioning watch that does not need any other tool to make it work. Every ultra-thin watch on the market needs a corrector tool to set it. For example, if you’re travelling, and you lose the corrector for the watch, you can’t set the time exactly. It is for this reason that we prefer to make a fully self-functioning watch. You can rewind it; you can set the time directly on the watch without any tool. Another challenge was the power reserve; because it’s a 4Hz movement, it consumes high energy, while the tourbillon also consumes more energy than the standard movement. We were able to achieve 40+ hours of power reserve.
We wanted a skeleton watch as our clients feel that when our movements are so beautifully finished, they deserve to be seen. Our finishings are outstanding, and this makes the see-through aspect much more striking. There were obstacles and challenges along every step of the way, but we were able to overcome all of them.
The new Serpenti Aeterna comes as a complete surprise; how did that happen?
You know Serpenti is Bvlgari, and Bvlgari is Serpenti; we are building an icon with the Serpenti as it is a global symbol; the snake plays an important role in the culture of so many societies from across the world. Bvlgari is now known for the Tubogas and the Seduttori. We wanted to offer something that is slightly less figurative, less of a snake, and more abstract. This would appeal to another clientele of ladies who want something less Serpenti and slightly more discreet. This is also inspired by our Viper jewellery collection, which is a very successful line. It’s a new way of wearing the Serpenti.
Could the Aeterna be a separate line in the future?
This will be a very important line for us in the future. We see this complementing the Seduttori and Serpenti. We’re offering two versions – the semi pavé and the full pavé, which is the high-end one, and we have plans to make it a bigger line.
Were you surprised at the great feedback for the Aeterna?
We’re very happy about the feedback; I think it is because it looks very consistent with Bvlgari, and that’s most important. Innovation doesn’t make sense if you don’t innovate within the frame of your DNA. Everybody now understands that the snake is the territory of Bvlgari, so it’s seen as very consistent, and it’s seen as very modern.
With Bvlgari making so many movements of its own, do you foresee any supply issues in this regard?
We recently launched the Lady Solotempo automatic movement in the Seduttori at LVMH Watch week. We are using it in the Tubogas right now for the two most precious, gold, versions. The idea is to offer both – quartz and automatic – movements, because we are seeing that more and more ladies are interested in mechanical watches. They will have the choice of this self-winding automatic movement, while ladies who appreciate their watches more as a jewel can use a quartz movement.
How will you manage the production of movements for so many lines?
We have to keep pace with the demand, and we have dramatically ramped up our production capacity in Le Sentier to produce all the Finissimo movements, and the Lady Solotempo. We want Le Sentier to focus on movements that are specific to Bvlgari, with our three central themes. We want to keep investing and innovating in these three areas. The first one is thinness, i.e., everything related to the Finissimo, where we’re still developing new concepts.
The second is miniaturisation, which uses the same techniques – the same engineering processes – used for thinness, just applied in a different manner. We need it for the Serpenti, as the Piccolissimo goes in all our jewellery watches. That’s the second axis of development in Le Sentier. The third one is the chiming watches. With the Octo Roma Grande Sonnerie Tourbillon that we presented at Geneva Watch Days, Bvlgari now is also one of the best chiming experts in the market. Le Sentier is designed to develop and drive all the movements we use at Bvlgari, focusing on these three pillars.
As we announced at LVMH Watch Week, we are talking with other Maisons, notably Zenith, to see if in the future Zenith could become the producer of this movement not only for Bvlgari, but for all the other maisons of the group. This will take time; then Bvlgari can focus on innovating our movements, focusing fully on what distinguishes us from the others – thinness, miniaturisation, and chiming.
