Bulgari Octo Tourbillon Sapphire: Malaysia Price and Review

Bulgari leaves nothing to the imagination.

One of the most distinctive pieces from this year’s Octo collection, the Bulgari Octo Tourbillon Sapphire is unique in that the watch’s design and build takes centrestage instead of the tourbillon on the dial which, in the case of most tourbillons, is the norm. That’s not to say this is a bad thing; in fact, it’s quite refreshing for Bulgari to craft such a modern-looking watch that’s futuristic with a space edge appeal.

In an interesting twist, Bulgari has sandwiched the sapphire crystal between the titanium-coated black Diamond Like Carbon (D.L.C.) bezel and caseback. This actually works to complement the manual-winding flying tourbillon movement, the Calibre BVL 206, which appears as the heart of the watch, dancing along to 11 luminescent bars made from green Super-LumiNova combined with ITR2, a composite made from carbon nanotubes that form the hour markers.

To highlight its Roman heritage, Bulgari debuted a new case inspired by the motifs in the famous Basilica of Maxentius. Set apart by its modern proportions, the case gives a different interpretation to the classic octagonal shape this collection is known for, making it more contemporary and innovative.

With a skeleton dial (above), what you see is what you get, save the movement and the hands, which have highly visible lume-tipped arrows. In addition, the watch incorporates a simple yet clever time-setting indicator where one simply presses the crown to display a red dot in a tiny aperture at 3 o’clock. That signals the time may be set by simply turning the crown. Once completed, another press causes the dot to vanish and locks the time-setting mechanism.

All in all, this exceptional timepiece emits a non-traditional vibe that is rather unexpected from Bulgari. From the sandwiched case to the colour combo and skeletonised dial, the Octo Tourbillon Sapphire is definitely a welcome innovation in watch design and build. Great to look at in the day and even cooler to rock at night, this watch is indeed quite a sight to behold.