Bvlgari’s Obsession with Scale

Meet the record-thin movement measuring a mere 1.8 mm in height.

Bvlgari's celebration of the Octo collection's 10th anniversary looked impressive. On March 21, guests arrived on a square in Rome called Piazza della Rotonda for a unique show.

Сolorful art installations were projected directly onto the pronaos of the Pantheon, and Bvlgari CEO Jean-Christophe Babin gave a warm-up speech leading into a live performance by the Percussion Ensemble of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia - Alta Formazione.

What other jewelry and watch manufacturer could put this kind of show together? The momentous scale of the event fully lived up to the revolutionary effect the Octo collection had in watchmaking, although the opposite idea behind the new model in the Octo Finissimo Ultra series was all about scaling down.

This watch measuring just 1.8 mm in height is now the world's thinnest mechanical watch. The record had previously been held by the Piaget Altiplano Ultimate measuring 2 mm in height. While you could compare how thick Piaget's watch is to a one-euro coin, Bvlgari's novelty is closer to a thick piece of paper or a twenty-cent coin to use the same currency for comparison.

The Piaget Altiplano Ultimate initially debuted as a concept before its creators announced it'd be suitable for everyday wear just two years later in 2020. Bulgari's watch may look more fragile, but it met the standards for durability we now expect classic models to have right from the outset.

Head of Product Development at Bvlgari Watches Julien Behra confirms that durability was actually one of the main goals that was kept in mind when the watches were being created. And this was the determining factor behind choosing titanium as the main case material for the ultra-thin collection.

Titanium has also been used to make the sandblasted monochrome gray case for the Octo Finissimo Ultra. The novelty is already the eight record-holder in the Octo Finissimo line, and it's surprising how the designers have managed to maintain a unified style for all its watches.

The novelty is no exception. Its 40 mm case frames two miniature subdials for the hours and minutes along with an openworked escapement mechanism with a flexible shock-absorbing bridge. The running seconds indication is directly on the movement's fourth wheel at 6 o'clock.

No conventional winding crown has been used in the BVL Caliber 180. There are just two ratchet wheels sticking out on either side of the case: one for winding the watch and another for setting the time. Everything is geared towards the idea of minimizing and simplifying to achieve impressive results.

The manually wound movement is just 1.50 mm thick with a 50-hour power reserve. There's a QR-code engraved on the ratchet wheel which is directly visible on the dial side and provides access to blockchain technology confirming the watch is genuine, although it's hard to imagine how someone could forge anything close.

It also allows you to admire the exclusive NFT artwork. Just ten people can become owners of this exclusive watch — that's the limit set for the release of the Octo Finissimo Ultra.