Zeroing in on the ongoing trend for killer dial colors, Bulgari is coming to the table with a Tuscan Copper dial Octo Finissimo Automatic that will surely be a guaranteed hit. The color is not quite salmon or chocolate, but a mauve hue that sits somewhere between the two. Its warm tone pairs nicely with the cold steel case but its inspiration is just about as interesting as the resulting look.
First launched in 2017, the Octo Finissimo Automatic marked Bulgari’s third world record as the thinnest automatic watch at the time measuring just 5.15 mm. Building on the legacy, the Octo Finissimo Tuscan Copper is a unique design made exclusively for the North American market. For this particular iteration, the brand drew inspiration from the works of the Italian artist Jacopo da Pontormo, a painter of the Florentine school, da Pontormo. He was known for his use of vibrant, luminous, and boldly disruptive tones that deviated from the harmonious classicism, the discreet color palettes, and the ordered compositions that defined the serene naturalism of the Italian High Renaissance. These hues caught the attention of Fabrizio Buonamassa Stigliani, executive director of product creation at Bulgari Horlogerie, inspiring him to create a watch to showcase such a color.
“The Octo Finissimo opens an almost limitless universe of creation,” said Buonamassa Stigliani in a press statement. “Its design is both so geometric and rigorous, and at the same time so versatile that we can play with a multitude of personalities. Associated with color, it can express ideas, emotions, or abstract concepts. Here, the particular metallic salmon tone—it is extremely rare in Bulgari watchmaking and has only been used once before—draws its inspiration not from the usual vintage aesthetic prized by collectors, but from the very roots of Italian art, that of the 16th-century, and more precisely from a disruptive movement of the time, called Mannerism, which marked my own training as a designer.”
The all-new Octo Finissimo Tuscan Copper will be available in both the U.S. and Canada this April. The model features the Octo’s signature 40 mm stainless-steel case design with a contrasting metallic “Tuscan copper” sunray-finished dial. Inside, you’ll find Bulgari’s ultra-thin mechanical self-winding manufacture movement, the Caliber BVL 138 offering a small seconds counter at seven o’clock and a 60-hour power reserve. The Octo Finissimo Tuscan Copper will be limited to just 50 pieces, priced at $13,300 in the U.S. and $16,700 in Canada.
