It’s hard to believe Bulgari could go any thinner, but it just has. The master of micro-watchmaking debuts its 10th world record this week with the Octo Finissimo Ultra Tourbillon, the world’s smallest tourbillon. The knife-edge thin 1.85 mm thickness is made possible by skeletonization (cutting away as much metal as possible), and by integrating the movement with the main plate. It measures in at only a hair thicker than Bulgari’s other most recent world records, the 1.7 mm Octo Finissimo Ultra and the 1.8 mm Octo Finissimo Ultra in platinum. The 1.85 mm dimension leaves little room for error in the making. Taking a tourbillon movement down to that size means adhering to the tightest tolerances imaginable: take away one too many shavings of metal, and you could render the movement too fragile. As Bulgari puts it, the process is “a search for the balance point between lightness, finesse and robustness." It is powered by the manually wound tourbillon caliber BVF 900, a COSC-certified movement.
Case Size: 40 mm
Case Material: Titanium lugs, bezel, and middle case. Tungsten carbide main plate. Winding and time-setting wheels in stainless steel.
Power Reserve: 50 hours
Strap: Sandblasted titanium bracelet
Price: TBD
From the article by Paige Reddinger, Oren Hartov, Victoria Gomelsky, Carol Besler, Justin Fenner
