A watch that reflects everything.
The Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in London's Kensington Gardens with a reflective roof structure comprised of aluminum sheets, the Toledo Museum of Art's transparent Glass Pavilion, the glass and steel Louvre-Lens art museum and the EPFL Rolex Learning Center with glass walls.
All of these are projects by the SANAA architectural firm, co-founded by the Japanese architect Kazuyo Sejima. All of Sejima's creations explore the topic of what’s seen and unseen, where glass walls and reflective surfaces allow buildings to melt into their surrounding landscapes.
Kazuyo Sejima has a new project to her name this year. The object may come as a surprise — it's a watch. The architect has brought her unique perspective to a special edition Bvlgari Octo Finissimo. The Sejima Edition is the first fully polished model in the line. Not only are the case and bracelet polished to a mirror finish, it now also has a reflective dial.
Sejima'a studio was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2010 and a Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale of Architecture in 2004. Playing with transparency, she's created a pattern of etched metallic dots for the watch’s sapphire crystal dial. The resulting dial is visible, but the aim wasn’t to create a completely invisible watch.
Mind you, the sapphire crystal on the caseback hasn't been given any extra decoration — its aim is to showcase the finishing on the watch's automatic manufacture BVL 138 movement. The only additions are the Japanese architecture's signature and the inscription "limited edition".
The 40-mm case made of polished stainless steel houses an ultra-thin movement equipped with a platinum micro-rotor. The movement measures a mere 2.23 mm in height. It still packs a power reserve of 60 hours. Octo Finissimo Sejima Limited Edition will be available in a limited series of 360 pieces. The model is presented in a special steel presentation box that mirrors the watch's theme.