One of the stars of the Basel and Geneva Salons is unquestionably him (and I already stated this in the editorial currently on newsstands).
The photo would be enough, but I want to delight you with the unique technical characteristics of this specimen.
Assioma watch with polished platinum curved case (48 mm).
Curved sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating and transparent back. Automatic tourbillon with perpetual calendar and second time-zone display.
Hand-assembled, four-level Bulgari-manufactured skeleton dial.
Bulgari manufacture self-winding movement, calibre BVL416, comprising 416 parts, 64-hour power reserve. Bridges decorated by hand with perlage motif and exclusive anthracite colour.
White gold skeletonised oscillating weight with applied yellow gold ring.
Limited edition of 20 pieces, numbered on the side of the case.
The BVL calibre 416 movement, made exclusively for the Bulgari brand, is composed of two specialities of the proprietary Daniel Roth and Gérald Genta brands: Roth's M070 calibre, with tourbillon at six o'clock, visible from the caseback side, and the Genta-manufactured perpetual calendar plate, already used in the early 1990s on Gérald Genta's famous Grande Sonnerie, at the time the most complicated and most expensive wristwatch in regular production. It should be remembered that both the manufactures and brands Gérald Genta and Daniel Roth belong to the 100% at Bulgari.
Compared to the base calibre developed by the Daniel Roth manufactory, the new Bulgari tourbillon plate features a new tourbillon bridge design (in addition to the original skeletonised oscillating weight). The tourbillon employs a large screw balance with a flat balance-spring and in-line anchor escapement. Naturally all new is the plate housing the movement, which in Roth's version reproduced the shape of the famous ellipsocurvex case (oval with long straight sides), while on Bulgari's Assioma it is traditionally round.
The perpetual calendar plate used on the Manufacture BVL 416 calibre is derived from the specialised plate developed by Pierre-Michel Golay (the same man responsible for the design of Franck Muller's recent Aeternitas) for Gérald Genta in the early 1990s and inserted in the marvellous "sandwich" of complications that is the Grande Sonnerie of the Maison Genta. Naturally, with the appropriate modifications, including the shifting of the year display, on a four-year cycle, from 3 (on the Grande Sonnerie) to 6 (on the Axioma Multi Complication). The module is placed under the dial of the Axiom, and is complete with the gears for displaying the second time zone, indicated on a twenty-four-digit dial at twelve o'clock.
This watch is water-resistant to 3 atmospheres of pressure.
