Watches from jewelry brands don’t usually light the world on fire, but with the Octo Finissimo, Bvlgari have done exactly that. The past ten years of the Octo Finissimo have seen an absurd number of new records set, including thinnest automatic watch, thinnest mechanical chronograph, and thinnest perpetual calendar watch. Yet, the most memorable Octo Finissimo to grace Bvlgari’s catalogues is one that hasn’t set any new records: the 2022 Octo Finissimo Automatic Sketch, introduced to commemorate the collection’s 10th anniversary. As its name might suggest, the Sketch incorporates the original design sketches of the watch into the dial. The aesthetic is jarring; you’ve got this soft and playful ‘sketch’ as a dial but the rest of the watch is cold with hard lines and harsh angles. You either hate it or love it; either way, it’s extremely memorable.
Bvlgari Octo Finissimo Automatic Sketch
For fans of the Sketch, the good news is that a new one is in the block. In conjunction with the brand’s 140th anniversary (yes, it’s another anniversary watch), Bvlgari has introduced a new variation of the Octo Finissimo Automatic Sketch with a new dial design. Instead of “hand-sketched” hour markers and petite secondes sub-dial, this time, it’s the case back view of the movement. Here, we bring you the details and our honest thoughts on the 2024 edition of the Octo Finissimo Automatic Sketch.
The Case, Dial, and Hands
Let’s start with the boring bit: the exterior, which really isn’t boring. From afar, the watch looks like every other Octo Finissimo Automatic that ever existed, and that’s because the general design remains unchanged. But this is the new iteration of the Octo Finissimo Automatic. A closer inspection will reveal that it is negligibly thicker than the old guard at 6.4 mm (vs. 5.15 mm), which is still pleasantly thin. The surface finish has also changed since the last Sketch. Where the case and bracelet were sandblasted in the past, the new Sketch is given a satin finish with polished facets – a more classical approach. The watch, still measuring 40 mm, is available in stainless steel or rose gold.
If you’re interested in the Sketch, chances are that you’re here for the dial. Instead of dial elements like in the 2022 version, the new Sketch showcases a drawing of the movement as seen through the sapphire crystal case back. The intimate mechanics sketched by Fabrizio Buonamassa Stigliani, Bvlgari’s Product Creation Executive Director, include the micro-rotor, escapement, rubies, bridges and even the Geneva waves on the bridges. There are also text and arrows casually labeling or explaining what the different components are, adding more charm to a quirky dial. These extra texts are important as the dial would otherwise just be a 1:1 rendering of something that can be seen by simply flipping the watch over. As for the hands, they remain a constant. The hours and minutes are indicated by openworked dauphine hands while the seconds are indicated by a smaller, full dauphine hand. The lack of hour markers and a seconds track, combined with a rather busy looking dial makes time-telling a little challenging, but let’s be honest, no one buys the Sketch for its time-telling function.
The Movement
Driving the new Octo Finissimo Automatic Sketch is the Octo collection’s bread-and-butter self-winding Calibre BVL138. Make no mistake: bread-and-butter it may be, but it is still one of the thinnest calibres around at only 2.23 mm thick. And despite being wafer thin and a self-winding movement, it boasts a healthy power reserve of 65 hours when fully wound. On the sapphire crystal case back that protects the movement are the words “EDIZIONE LIMITATA”, followed by the number of watch in the series, as well as “1884-2024”, which denotes the 140th anniversary of the brand.
The Calibre BVL138, while mostly machine-finished, is clean and attractive. Most of its real estate goes to the bridges which covers most of the other components. It is decorated by the usual fare: Geneva waves on top, beveling and polishing on the edges. Meanwhile, the wheels are circular grained, screw heads polished, and base plate filled with perlage. It isn’t going to win a beauty pageant but you can trust it to do its job well.
The Competitive Landscape
Being a time-only automatic watch is a tough gig; you have to stand out to make it. The Bvlgari Octo Finissimo Automatic Sketch achieves this by being super thin and having a unique dial aesthetic. The watch is limited to 280 pieces in stainless steel and 70 pieces in rose gold. The former is priced at a competitive EUR17,800 while the latter comes in at EUR51,500.
While ‘sketch’ dials are unofficially monopolised by Bvlgari at the moment, there are still plenty of thin, time-only wristwatches out there with interesting dials. One that bears mentioning is the A. Lange & Söhne Saxonia Thin Blue Copper that’s virtually the same size as the Octo Finissimo Automatic at 39 mm x 6.2 mm. Its spectacular dial appears to be aventurine, but is in fact not even stone. More accurately, it is glass (goldstone) with sparkling inclusions of copper, resembling a night sky full of stars. Retail prices are upon request only these days at Lange but the Saxonia Thin Blue Copper was priced at around USD22,000 in 2018 at its debut – expect its current price to be higher.
If the Saxonia Thin is too dressy for your taste, a middle ground can be found in the Piaget Altiplano Ultimate 900P. In its past life, the 900P was the thinnest wristwatch in the world. This was back in 2013 before the ‘thinnest watch’ arms race went ballistic. Still, at 3.65 mm, it is nearly half the thickness of the Octo Finissimo Automatic. You wouldn’t call it a classic dress watch either because there isn’t really much of a dial and the engine room is fully exposed. This one’s another piece that’s “price on request”, but expect it to be in a similar price range as the Saxonia Thin.
Final Thoughts
The Octo Finissimo Automatic Sketch is edgy, both literally and figuratively, and is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. Nevertheless, it is a solid timepiece even without the novelty of a ‘Sketch’ dial. It will be interesting to see where Bvlgari goes from here now that the brand has done both the front and back ends of the watch using this concept. The obvious route would be to apply the idea in Octos with other complications. The challenge, of course, would be to prevent said idea from going stale.
