Double consecration for Bulgari at the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève 2019. In fact, the Maison won the prize in the Chronograph category with the Octo Finissimo Chronograph GMT Automatic, with which it achieved its fifth world record this year: it is the thinnest chronograph on the market, with just 6.9 millimetres thick for the case and 3.3 for the movement. With the Serpenti Misteriosi Romani model, on the other hand, he won the Jewellery Watch category.
An important victory, which we talk about with Bulgari's CEO, Jean-Christophe Babin.
This is yet another confirmation by the GPHG jury of experts of the incredible success of the Octo Finissimo and the exceptional value of this project. What is your emotion about this award?
It is a great emotion that ties in with the whole Octo saga and then with the specific product, the Chronograph that was awarded. They are all extraordinary watches. Since the first Finissimo in 2014 in just 5 years we have developed 4 other movements quite different from each other, between complications such as the tourbillon (both manual and automatic, ed.) and the minute repeater and then the solo time. The development of the Chronograph took two years, a record time for a totally new movement. Because compared to the other Finissimo, the construction logic was completely different. This victory is a real source of pride for the team that worked on the project, the result of a great deal of work in both technical and design terms. The Octo Finissimo Chronograph GMT Automatic is in fact a watch that is balanced in its proportions, between diameter and thickness, and also represents a way of entering the chronograph market, where we had been fairly absent until now, except through the Velocissimo.
A victory that also goes hand in hand with the award for Best Jewellery Watch, representing great savoir-faire in a long tradition...
The satisfaction is to have won both awards in the same year. Because on the one hand there is Serpenti Misteriosi Romani, which embodies Bulgari's DNA at its jeweller's peak. It is a secret watch, one of Bulgari's watchmaking signatures of the 1940s, it is a Serpenti and then has a bold design set with exceptional precious stones. On the other hand, there is Octo Finissimo, which represents the contemporary and futuristic side of haute horlogerie and reaffirms the essence of Bulgari not only in jewellery watches but also in first-class watchmaking. Being awarded in the two categories is proof of the perfect complementarity of both souls of Bulgari.
You have participated in numerous editions of the GPHG since you have been head of the company. Why is this award so important to you?
First of all because it creates a very strong motivation to stimulate creative energies. If you participate, you do it because you want to win, and if you want to win, you have to develop beautiful new ideas. And then, winning a prestigious prize like this, awarded by an external body, adds even more legitimacy to the watch.
Do you think the GPHG formula is still valid or do you suggest changes?
I think there was a certain balance this year between brands with a history already behind them and emerging brands with interesting ideas. Maybe there are a bit too many categories, but I say this more as an audience than as an industry player. I don't know if we should go back to a dozen categories as it was in the first ten years of the GPHG, which were easier for everyone to understand. But it is also true that the more prizes there are, the more chances you have to win. Maybe if there were a dozen or so product awards and a couple dedicated to people in watchmaking with outstanding achievements, maybe the format would be simpler and there would be a bit more selection on watches. Because some are not really new, but only have small changes, like the colour of a dial. The watch, on the other hand, must be new or offer something new. I cannot, for example, win one year with Diva in white mother-of-pearl and the next year present Diva with pink mother-of-pearl.
What significance do you attach to victory?
That of being recognised as a watch brand at 100% not only in the field of jewellery watches. With a technically complete in-house excellence, ranging from the solotempo to the Grand Sonnerie, which we are among the very few to be able to do in-house in manufacturing. We are a Swiss watch brand with an Italian design.
