Bulgari unveils six new high-jewellery timepieces, each one as original as the next with an array of shapes, colours, and sparkles that will quite literally take your breath away. Each year, the Roman Maison releases a small number of these high-jewellery pieces and they always cause a sensation, but this year, I think we can safely say that they have truly outdone themselves. Named the “Aeterna” High-Jewellery Collection 2024, it is difficult to know whether they should be classified as watches, jewellery, or sculptures as they really are all three of these things.
Mechanical Through and Through
Starting with the watchmaking side, each creation features a manufacture mechanical movement. Five of the six timepieces are powered by Bulgari’s insanely small Piccolissimo movement (the smallest round mechanical movement on the market), while the sixth is an ultra-thin skeletonized movement with a flying tourbillon, so the horology box gets a definite tick.
Cuts and Colours
On the jewellery side, the vast choice of different coloured gemstones (rubies; blue, purple and yellow sapphires; aquamarines; mandarin garnets; tanzanites; pink and green tourmalines; topazes; iolites, rubellites; peridots; amethysts; Paraiba; onyx; and diamonds), along with a large array of cuts, (pear-shaped, baguette-cut, oval, and round) all come together in technicolour to offer a feast for the eyes.
Inspirations
The first two secret watches are called Fuochi d’Artificio High Jewellery Manchette and Fuochi d’Artificio High Jewellery Petite Watch and have been inspired by fireworks with their radiating designs that emanate outwards from tiny dials. A mix of rose gold, titanium, and platinum creates a sense of movement with the finished piece taking over 1,450 hours to complete.
Then there is the Fenice High-Jewellery Watch that is modelled on the mythical Phoenix. This symbol of renewal and immortality comes to life with 160 carats of coloured gemstones, which are set in a graded way, adding even more texture to the feathers of the bird. The whole piece takes more than 3,000 hours to complete. A second Fenice Octo Roma Secret Watch also features a Phoenix, this time on the dial of a 44mm platinum timepiece that can be opened to reveal the skeleton flying tourbillon movement within.
Completing the set is a Serpenti Misteriosi Dragone in white and yellow gold that is a new interpretation of the snake/dragon-shaped timepiece created for Elizabeth Taylor when she played Cleopatra in 1962. The second Serpenti piece is the Serpenti Misteriosi Chimera in white gold that features both a snake and a lion’s head. Both models are sublimely set with an array of diamonds and marquise-cut emeralds, and are powered by the Piccolissimo micro-mechanical movement hidden in the serpent’s head.
This year Bulgari is celebrating its 140th anniversary and this selection of high-jewellery timepieces expertly showcases the Maison’s incredible savoir-faire in design, jewellery, and watchmaking. We can only imagine that, after all the thousands of hours of hard work, it must be a bittersweet moment for Bulgari’s artisans to see these pieces leave their ateliers. But then again, there is surely enough creativity in-house to keep them busy for at least another 140 years.
