I’ll start off by saying that I know next to nothing about watches. However, I’ve noticed that Bulgari watches are rarely mentioned here. I love the styling and even have an Octo Velocissimo that I bought a few years back. However I see that the brand doesn’t come up in any discussions or recommendations here. So whatsup?

  • Askymojo@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    2 years ago

    It comes down to the price point, around $13,000 USD. That price point is absolutely crowded with incredible competitors.

    Bulgari has only one special and interesting watch, the Octo Finissimo and its many iterations. And the design for it is polarizing. Personally I think it looks like the bracelet links are trying to swallow the watch, like something Michael Bay the Transformers director would have designed. And its biggest claim to fame is how thin it is, which is impressive technologically, but I personally don’t like how it looks being that thin. That’s my subjective take on it.

  • therealserialninja@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    2 years ago

    I have an Octo Finissimo. I think from a horological perspective Bulgari is fairly well respected - ever since the Finissimo came out, Bulgari has been recognized as breaking/pushing boundaries of ultra thin movements. From a design perspective it’s indeed polarizing and not everyone’s cup of tea - lots of angles and lines, very contemporary and architectural, very strong design language.

    In my own watch journey, I’d read about it and thought it was an interesting watch, but never crossed my mind to buy one. One day I was at Bulgari looking at the Serpenti Tubogas for my wife. Tried on an Octo Finissimo and somehow connected with it - I wear a lot of white, black and grey, and I loved how the matte grey looked, and the design was very contemporary without being overly “busy” visually. Ended up buying one. But I only like (in the sense that I would only ever buy) the matte grey titanium models, which to me are the most iconic representations of the Finissimo.

    To me the Octo Finissimo was a classic case of not knowing how I felt about a watch until I tried it on, and since then I have always believed that you must wear a watch on your wrist to really understand if you like it. Sometimes you connect with something unexpected, and sometimes you don’t connect with a watch that you were expecting to love.

  • Tslurred@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    2 years ago

    I went into their boutique in Vegas back in 2003 hoping to check out a watch or two there. Unfortunately their salespeople were straight human garbage. Fuck Bulgari.

  • potua@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    2 years ago

    To be fair, it’s not a brand that has a lot of following in the past, they’ve just come to the forefront with the Octo Finissimo line. Yes, they are a jewelry line, and a lot of people who are into watches may not be used to that. A lot of people come to it for the tool watch aesthetic. And so the aesthetic is different from the way Bulgari presents their watches.

    I do caution people to differentiate some jewelry brands from just fashion brands, however. I made another post on it the other day. To differentiate from Michael Kors, Ekko, and Coach watches, certain jewelry brands really do work hard in order to compete with haute horology pieces.

    From my earlier post: “Bovet, Bulgari, Harry Winston, Chopard, and of course the usual suspect, Cartier - they make insane watches as they partner with independent watch movement manufacturers such as Agenhor, Flurier, and Chronode. These independent movement makers are partnering with MB&F for projects, and that’s insane to me.”

      • potua@alien.topBEnglish
        1·
        2 years ago

        Fantastic, I love Chopard and what they are doing. I was going to check out the LUC line while in Japan, but I found a Czapek I could not tear myself from. It beat out a Breguet as well as JLC and ALS. Look, I knoow that’s crazy, but the heart wants what the heart wants.

  • swatchesdavid@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    2 years ago

    I own a bunch of watches (feel free to check my profile, I list them for sale regularly) and my Octo Finissimo is the most pleasant-wearing watch I have. It’s halfway between architecture and a tattoo.

  • Porencephaly@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    2 years ago

    I have tried on an Octo Finissimo of various flavors multiple times. They are technologically very impressive, but the extremely wide bracelet makes them look like you are wearing a big leather cuff bracelet rather than a watch. It’s a look that a lot of people don’t like on themselves.

  • hope2c50@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    2 years ago

    Because they really only sell one watch model in different variations.

    Kid you not, I went to the Bulgari BOUTIQUE at the Houston, Galleria and they didn’t have a single watch in there. Not cause they were sold out, she said they just don’t sell them there.

    All they had was women’s jewelry. It looked like a Tiffany store