Can we all agree that Bvlgari is absolutely slaying it in the high watchmaking category? At this moment, four months after discovering the amazing Octo Finissimo Ultra COSC, we’ve barely gotten over this phenomenal creation that re-examines the possibilities of extreme ultra thinness, and Bvlgari is already champing at the bit to get started on Geneva Watch Days. This time, though, instead of ultra thinness, the manufacture has its sights firmly set on the uppermost echelons of haute horlogerie, striking watches. Once again the manufacture fuses the best of Swiss watchmaking and Italian aesthetics as it unveils a trio of Octo chiming watches, each one as extraordinary as the next.

Octo Roma Grande Sonnerie Tourbillon

If you didn’t realize it by now, Bvlgari is one of the few high watch manufactures with the ability to serially produce minute repeaters, carillon repeaters, as well as grande and petite sonneries.

Minute repeaters are often regarded as the queen of complications given their extreme complexity to produce and near impossibility to industrialize, as we’ve explained in this reference article on repeaters here. Carillon repeaters up the ante by adding a third set of hammer and gong in order to deliver a melody comprising three notes. And the Grande Sonnerie is quite literally the ultimate in chiming complications, delivering a melody comprising four notes, playing either on demand or in passing.

However the news here is not just that Bvlgari has made a collection of Octo chiming complications, but that the manufacture also moved in a completely new and fascinating direction in establishing a new and rather nonconformist approach to the chimes.

Unlike classical grande sonneries, the Octo Roma Grande Sonnerie Tourbillon does produce the conventional Westminster chimes. Rather, Bvlgari has roped in Swiss conductor Lorenzo Viotti to help compose the four note melody based on the tritone harmonic interval. If you knew anything about music history, you will have come across something called the Devil’s Chord and that is another name for the tritone interval.

What gives the tritone interval such a sinister sounding moniker is its dissonant nature, existing between three whole steps that evoke an unsettling vibe. So unsettling, in fact, that it was banned in sacrosanct environments such as the church.

“The purpose of this combination of notes is primarily the dissonance, the tension created by the tritone,” explains Lorenzo Viotti. “It strongly contrasts with the modern preference for consonant harmonic intervals. In medieval symbolism, certain chords were linked to spiritual concepts. The tritone was considered disturbing, and due to its asymmetry, contrary to the religious canon of reflecting divine harmony – hence the nickname associating it with the devil’s workings,” Viotti explains.

Check out this YouTube demo for a quick taste of what the tritone interval sounds like.

A Sonnerie of a different breed

So in taking a completely unconventional approach to honing its chimes, the Octo Roma Grande Sonnerie Tourbillon chimes the quarter hours on four unfamiliar, intriguing and unique notes, creating a dramatic tension embraced by countless composers from Gesualdo to John Coltrane, from Stravinsky to… Metallica.

Says Fabrizio Buonamassa Stigliani, Bvlgari’s executive director of product creation, “Breaking with the classical consensus of horological musicality, Bvlgari invents a new register with the technical and artistic collaboration of a musical prodigy. Even the four notes of its Grande Sonnerie, previously set to the Big Ben chime, eschew the sacrosanct Westminster tones.”

With such a radical take on musicality, the watch cannot possibly be a buttoned-down classic as well and true to form, Bvlgari delivers the goods. The Octo Roma Grande Sonnerie Tourbillon is cased in satin-polished titanium complete with black ceramic crown insert. The use of titanium would take the heft off its 45mm diameter, while the sandblasted openworked dial in brass with grey DLC treatment also does its level best to reduce the overall grammage and provide better acoustics.

Another tiny bonus with the Octo Roma Grande Sonnerie Tourbillon is that it is completely devoid of pushers. Well, not really. Bvlgari has simply very cleverly concealed the pushers into the octagonal case middle. No protruding bits, very elegant from all directions. Through the perforated dial you will also be able to monitor the power reserve for the movement, Caliber BVV800, as well as that for the chiming mechanism.

Octo Roma Carillon Tourbillon

Espousing the same philosophy in musicality, the Octo Roma Carillon Tourbillon also embraces the tritone interval, this time playing it over three notes instead of four during the quarter-hours.

A modified Caliber BVL428 stands sentinel under the perforated dial crafted in sandblasted black DLC treated brass, but this time Bvlgari went with one of the best loved case materials for chiming watches, rose gold. The density of rose gold derived from a mixture of gold, silver and copper is widely regarded as the material which allows for the richest, most colorful chimes.

Octo Finissimo Minute Repeater Carbon

First released in 2018, the Octo Finissimo Minute Repeater Carbon combined ultra thinness with strength and lightness like no other minute repeater did. Not only is the case made in carbon, but the bezel, dial and impressively the bracelet too. Its 40mm diameter meets a 6.85mm height which to date remains the thinnest in the world.

Chiming the hours, quarters and minutes on two sets of hammers and gongs on demand, Octo Finissimo Minute Repeater Carbon returns this year with subtle changes to its aesthetic. While the monochromatic palette remains, it now features polished titanium accents on both flanks. The crown is now made in titanium as well as the push button for the striking mechanism, resulting in a sleeker silhouette that will not go unappreciated by the connoisseurs among us.

Tech Specs: Bvlgari Octo Roma Grande Sonnerie Tourbillon

Movement: Manual-winding Caliber BVV 800; 72-hour power reserve
Functions: Grande and petite sonnerie, minute repeater, tourbillon, power reserve indicator, hours minutes
Case: 45mm × 11.85mm; satin-polished titanium, crown with black ceramic insert; water-resistant to 30m
Dial: Openworked sandblasted brass with grey DLC treatment 
Strap: Black alligator leather with satin-polished titanium folding buckle

Tech Specs: Bvlgari Octo Roma Carillon Tourbillon

Movement: Modified manual-winding Caliber BVL 428; 75-hour power reserve
Functions: 3-hammer carillon minute repeater, tourbillon, power reserve indicator, hours minutes
Case: 44mm × 12.60mm; satin-polished rose gold, crown with black ceramic insert; water-resistant to 30m
Dial: Sandblasted open worked brass with black DLC treatment
Strap: Black alligator leather with satin-polished rose gold folding buckle

Tech Specs: Bvlgari Octo Finissimo Minute Repeater Carbon

Movement: Manual-winding Caliber BVL 362; 42-hour power reserve
Functions: Minute repeater, hours minutes, small seconds
Case: 40mm × 6.85mm; carbon, polished titanium crown with black ceramic insert, polished titanium push button; water-resistant to 10m
Dial: Carbon with stencilled openings
Strap: Carbon bracelet with integrated folding buckle