Bvlgari's Octo Roma WorldTimer is an urbanite with a classic soul.
Buying a watch for a modern globetrotter today can be a chore infused with indecision as we're spoilt for choice with three basic categories to choose our travel timepiece from. There is the GMT, which comes with an extra hand that indicates the home time. Then there is the Dual Time Zone with two dials, one for the central time zone and one for the home time.
And then there is the World Timer which has 12 hours on the main dial for the local time, as well as a 24-hour rotating chapter ring with a city indicated by each of the 24 hours time zone markers. This helps you to read the precise time of the city you desire to know around the world. So if you are a man (or woman) of the world with interests in every city and every time zone, needless to say, the classic and practical World Timer ought to be your choice.
This year, Bvlgari introduced the beautiful Octo Roma WorldTimer, which comes with two variants - a stainless steel version and one in DLC stainless steel. It's surprising because one rarely gets to see the classic WorldTimer complication married to the rather chic and urbane aesthetics of the Octo Roma collection. The contemporary spirit of the Octo Roma gives the old world charm of the WorldTimer a touch of modernity.
The treatment of the dial is given a monochromatic modern aesthetic, with sunburst blue for the stainless steel version and matte black for the DLC version, giving the complete package of harmony and congruity that is often not seen when details are overdone and miss the purity of the aesthetics. Here, the pure lines and simplicity are all beautifully executed, further enhanced by the now familiar and iconic Arabic numerals and fonts used by Bvlgari. The skeleton hands for the stainless steel version and the Super-LumiNova-filled hands on the DLC version also display how a touch of detail makes all the difference.
What lies beneath the beautiful and yet subtly modern dials is the superbly finished automatic Calibre BVL 257 with 42-hour power reserve developed and manufactured in-house, seen via the crystal caseback. Housed in 41mm cases, the Bvlgari Octo Roma WorldTimer is your perfect everyday companion, whether you're here in Malaysia or any other part of the world.
You may have narrowed your choice down to these two for now, but which one would you choose between them? Perhaps both. One for the boardroom and the other for the weekend.
