In case you for some reason didn’t realise, Bulgari is about as Italian as a Vespa-riding pizza delivery lad in Rome. They also happen to be pretty exceptional watchmakers, particularly when it comes to their ever-growing parade of record-breaking Octo Finissimo models and, in the latest edition of the collection’s tourbillon they’re really showing their Roman pride.
Bulgari isn’t particularly shy and retiring at the best of times, but it takes a special kind of confidence to pull off a design flirting with the extras at Caesar’s Palace. Needless to say covering the face of the Finissimo Tourbillon with a 4th century Roman coin isn’t for everyone but, like anything divisive, we can’t help but love that it exists.
Bold the Monete may be but it’s not actually that large. The 40mm diameter is even on the small side and based as it is on the world’s thinnest tourbillon it’s none too bulky either. Granted the addition of a hinged, rose gold set coin adds a couple of millimetres but it’s still a remarkably sleek timepiece.
Beneath that coin the tourbillon is the same as the old 2014 watch that’s been one of Bulgari’s watchmaking centrepieces for the past few years. The addition of the coin isn’t ground-breaking, but having a coin dating back to as early as 307 AD is a spectacular touch. Even if you don’t like the look, it’s a piece of history from a civilisation that shaped the world arguably more than any other.
Is it kitsch? Yes, and there’s no getting around it. Is it unique? Definitely. Most of all however there’s the fact that if you wear it, people will remember. You don’t see 1,700 year-old coins often and never on a watch – except this one.
Price: CHF 450,000; www.bulgari.com
