Bulgari celebrates Rome, a city of epochs, with a mesmerizing collection of high jewelry watches united in the 2024 'Aeterna' collection.
This year also marks Bulgari's 140th anniversary. To celebrate, creative director Fabrizio Buonamassa has unveiled the most extraordinary watches adorned with signature colored gemstones and unique design bravado. Bulgari's anniversary celebrations, consisting of six magnificent high jewelry pieces, kick off with fireworks, eternally captured in stone on two Fuochi D’Artificio cuff models.
While Bulgari has long been associated with its mascot - the serpent, 2024 opens a new menagerie of creatures. Referring to Bulgari's Greek roots and Roman heritage, the mythological Fenice (phoenix) Secret Watch dazzles with feathers made of 160 carats of gemstones and a large Paraiba tourmaline concealing the dial. The phoenix, slightly lighter to wear on the wrist, also graces the Octo Roma Secret watch with a flying tourbillon hidden under its wings.
Another fantastic creature in the form of a chimera, combining the heads of a lion and a snake, takes center stage with its scales adorned with diamonds and emeralds. In homage to the watch created for Elizabeth Taylor during the filming of 'Cleopatra' in 1962, the iconic Serpenti model transforms into a dragon with a tubogas gold bracelet and a diamond-adorned head, featuring a miniature dial. Except for the tourbillon model, five of the jewelry secret watches are powered by the smallest hand-wound movement available today - Bulgari's Piccolissimo.
Jewelry Cuffs Fuochi d’Artificio
Depicting an explosion of fireworks, recreated with a rich palette of vibrant gemstones. The base of these jewelry cuff watches in pink gold and blue titanium is adorned with polished onyx insets, recreating the night sky. A flurry of gemstones - sapphires, rubellites, mandarin garnets, tanzanites, tsavorites, tourmalines, topazes, amethysts, rubies, emeralds, and diamonds - creates an unforgettable spectacle. The epicenter of the explosion is a sun-shaped diamond secret watch, protected by a large 2.93-carat ruby and equipped with Bulgari's Piccolissimo hand-wound movement.
Fuochi d’Artificio High Jewellery Petite Watch
Slightly smaller in size but no less pyrotechnic, these semi-flexible pink gold cuff watches play with a mix of pear-shaped and cabochon-cut colored stones, diamonds, and aventurine insets - a magical shimmering blue glass invented in Venice in the 15th century. Like its larger sibling, the dynamic composition radiates from the sun-shaped diamond dial, powered by the Piccolissimo movement, also protected by a juicy ruby that opens to reveal the diamond-adorned dial.
Jewelry Watches Fenice
A symbol of renewal and immortality, the mythological phoenix was depicted on coins of the Roman Empire, crowning the heads of emperors. The extraordinary design of the Fenice watch, developed by Buonamassa, comes to life thanks to 160 carats of exquisite colored gemstones - blue, pink, and purple sapphires, amethysts, rubies, pink garnets, tanzanites, iolites, aquamarines, diamonds - arranged to create a gradient effect. However, the jewel in the crown of Fenice is the rare pear-cut 9.78-carat Paraiba tourmaline adorning the dial of these secret watches.
Fenice Octo Roma Secret Watch
The most complex mechanical model in the collection, the Fenice Octo Roma, is equipped with a flying tourbillon, driven by Bulgari's ultra-thin skeletonized movement (268 SK). In keeping with the 2024 collection's secret watch theme, the mechanical details are hidden by an elegant phoenix, adorned with pink, purple, blue, and red gemstones on the hinged cover of a 44-meter platinum case adorned with diamonds.
Chimera Serpenti Misteriosi
A divine, fantastical creature described by Homer in 'The Iliad', the chimera combined parts of a snake and a lion. The white gold case of the secret watch with its elegant curves is encrusted with diamonds, and the snake and lion heads are adorned with bright green emeralds. The lion's head with a flowing mane is inspired by a Bulgari archival piece from the 1950s.
Serpenti Misteriosi Dragone
Metamorphosis is the main theme of this magnificent 2024 Aeterna collection, and the iconic Serpenti model acquires traits of a mythological dragon. In homage to the watch worn by Elizabeth Taylor during the filming of 'Cleopatra' at Rome's Cinecittà studio in 1962, the flexible three-tube gold bracelet, imitating snake scales, is adorned with a stream of baguette-cut diamonds, highlighting its graceful sensuous curves. The magnificent head, guarding the dial, sparkles in the light of diamonds set in different techniques and two glowing eyes of pear-cut emeralds. Like Elizabeth Taylor's Serpenti, the dial is double-sided and can rotate 180 degrees, allowing the watch to be worn on both wrists.
More detailed information can be found on bulgari.com.