In a bid to capture a higher percentage of the lucrative Indian luxury watch pie, estimated at Rs 2000 crore (of the total Rs 6,500 crore) by Euromonitor, Bvlgari has launched three of its iconic watch ranges in India, in the first half of 2019.

Among the Indian launches are two watches from their women’s jewellery watch range, Divas Dreams. The all-new Divas’ Dream Finissima Minute Repeater blends a jeweller’s touch with the finest of watchmaking traditions. It possesses a manually wound extra thin minute repeater, the BVL 362 calibre movement, visible through a transparent back. Diamonds encircle the deep aventurine dial, which is detailed with a fan-shaped Divas’ Dream charm and covered in diamond pavé. An 18 kt white gold crown is set with a facetted diamond, a blue aventurine dial studded with nine diamond indexes and an off-centered seconds’ counter.

Then there is Divas Dream Peacock, which has a colourful métier d’art (an art of either engraving or marquetry) — the jewelry watch is set with a real peacock feather on its face. The Divas Dream Peacock is Bvlgari’s attempt to use unexpected materials and vivid colours in its watches. The white gold case encircles round-cut diamonds.

The jeweller and watchmaker’s second collection from the Serpenti Collection, which famously pays tribute to the company’s founder Sotirio Bulgari’s Greco-Roman lineage, artfully blends rose gold and gold with brown-coloured ceramics with a metallic finish. Serpenti Tubogas features a cabochon-cut pink rubellite in the crown and a new pavé dial to match the steel and rose gold Tubogas bracelet. Its sophisticated design ensures that it works as both, a piece of jewellery and a watch. A “tubogas” in Italian is a reference to a woven-metal gas pipe inspired by industrial objects; in Bvlgari’s watches and jewellery, the design is created by weaving bands of gold or steel (or both in combination) around a steel core.

The Divas Dream Peacock is Bvlgari’s attempt to use unexpected materials and vivid colours in its watches. The white gold case encircles round-cut diamonds.

But Serpenti is more than just a watch. The Serpenti “Twist” is also a striking piece of jewellery, shaped in the classic shape of a serpent. It comes with a wide variety of colourful interchangeable leather straps is. A specially developed smartphone app allows customers to configure their watch from the numerous combinations possible, the most luxurious featuring an 18-carat rose-gold bracelet made up of four tiny individual gold chains.

One of the major launches in the Serpenti range is the Serpenti Seduttori collection, which interprets the iconic drop-shaped watch case, but in a thinner version. It is set with diamonds on the side bezels and has a sinewy new bracelet that is flexible. Inspired by the original Serpenti watch, with links that mimic the shape of the case and a serpent’s head, it has a crown topped by a pink rubellite cabochon in a nod to Bulgari’s roots as a luxury jewellery brand. There are several options, including rose, yellow, white gold and two diamond pavé options.

Also within stores is the new Octo Finissimo Chronograph GMT Automatic – an automatic chronograph with a GMT function that can claim the title of being the world's thinnest mechanical chronograph. The sleek and streamlined Octo Finissimo Chronograph GMT Automatic has an almost industrial vibe to it; its angular case is made of sandblasted titanium with a titanium dial and a titanium bracelet to match. The dial's oversized registers use minimal typography and markings to keep it from looking cluttered. The brand new movement, Caliber BVL 318, just 3.3mm thick, is the thinnest automatic chronograph caliber ever made. To make the movement this thin, Bulgari had to utilise a peripheral rotor in solid platinum. The BVL 318 offers a 55 hour power reserve and you can adjust the local time by pushing the button set into the case at nine o'clock, making it easier to quickly change time zones on the go.

The futuristic lines of Octo case and dial is the result of 827 individually hand-crafted components coming together in perfect synchronicity. The movement is just 3.3mm thick. To make the movement this thin, Bulgari had to utilise a peripheral rotor in solid platinum.

The all-new Divas’ Dream Finissima Minute Repeater blends a jeweller’s touch with the finest of watchmaking traditions.

Clearly, with these three collections, the Roman watchmaker is upping its watch game. Bvlgari marries Italian design with extraordinary Swiss engineering. “We bring together the best of Italy’s design traditions and the Swiss horological craftsmanship, to create masterpieces constituting enduring legends,” says the brand’s CEO, Jean-Christophe Babin about the brand’s watchmaking legacy.

Vertically integrating to dent the Swiss-dominated market

For Bvlgari, which was founded as a jewellery label in 1884 by Sotirios Voulgaris, a Greek silversmith and jeweller living in Rome, the shift to watches has proven to be extraordinarily successful. Today, the brand is considered a technically accomplished watchmaker with the craftsmanship of a jeweller at its heart. It has innovated several new designs and movements to make a dent in the luxury watchmaking business, which is almost exclusively dominated by the Swiss.

The success of the watch segment can be attributed to the brand’s vertical integration strategy that has seen it acquire Swiss companies considered experts in different departments of watchmaking. Among them, Gérald Genta S.A. and Daniel Roth S.A., both leaders in high-end watchmaking, and Manufacture de Haute Horlogerie S.A., the owner of the related manufacturing facilities, based in the famous Swiss watchmaking region of Vaud, Le Sentier (2000); Finger S.A., which specialised in the creation and production of sophisticated cases for complicated watches (2007); and Cadrans Designs S.A., considered a leader in the creation of avant-garde dials for complicated high-end watches (2009). Today, Bvlgari designs, develops and produces in-house all the essentials components of its watches, from the casting of the gold alloys to the machining, crafting, assembling and finishing of the movement, case, dial and bracelet.

Serpenti Tubogas features a cabochon-cut pink rubellite in the crown and a new pavé dial to match the steel and rose gold Tubogas bracelet

Bvlgari’s India connection

The brand, which first entered India in 2004 through a joint venture, exited it in 2011 in a bid to seek the Indian government’s permission to open stand-alone stores. Bvlgari re-entered the Indian watch market four years later with a store in DLF Emporio, Delhi. In its second coming, the brand has far more control over its retail and wholesale operations, through a full-fledged Bvlgari subsidiary. While Indians continue to trust their family jewellers and Indian jewellery brands for their need for bling, Bvlgari watches are increasingly finding place in the Indian watch collectors and connoisseurs wardrobe.

Deepali Nandwani is a journalist who keeps a close watch on the world of luxury.

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First Published:Jun 7, 2019 11:42 AM IST