Bulgari Octo watches

The Bulgari Octo is Bulgari's octagonal-cased collection, spanning three-hand watches, chronographs and the ultra-thin Octo Finissimo. The shape traces back to designs by Gérald Genta, whose brand Bulgari bought in 2000, and Bulgari presented the current Octo in Rome in 2012.

The 2012 launch models measured 41.5 mm by 10.55 mm, with a round bezel set on an octagonal case of 110 facets, each polished or satin-brushed by hand, and ran on the automatic calibre BVL 193 with a 50-hour power reserve. That fuller-bodied Octo continues in the Octo Solotempo, at 38 or 41 mm and around 10.5 mm thick, and in the Octo Roma 41. Chronographs such as the Octo Velocissimo and the Octo Saltarello Retrogradi Chronograph sit alongside them.

The Octo Finissimo followed in 2014, including a platinum Tourbillon about 5 mm thick, and Bulgari has since claimed several thinness records with it. The Finissimo Automatic, first made in titanium, is 40 mm across and 5.15 mm thick, driven by the BVL 138 automatic calibre with a platinum micro-rotor and a 60-hour power reserve; a 2018 review described it as the thinnest time-only automatic wristwatch. The Finissimo Skeleton opens up the dial at about 5.4 mm, and the 42 mm Finissimo Chronograph GMT stays at 6.9 mm.

The Finissimo Automatic has also served as the base for collaborations, among them the Tadao Ando edition of 200 pieces and the Tatsuo Miyajima versions of 120 pieces each.