Exclusive Interview with Fabrizio Buonamassa Stigliani, Director of the Bulgari Watches Design Center
fiogf49gjkf0d How important are shapes and sizes for Bulgari watches?
We love shapes; it is part of our heritage to play with these unique proportions and shapes, and it is part of my job to manage our archives. Last year, with the Lvcea, Finissimo, and the Diva collection that won the jewellery watch award at the Grand Prix de l’Horlogerie de Genève, and this year with the Bvlgari Roma -- one of the most iconic watches in the industry -- Bulgari uses strong shapes, pure and clean, with unique geometry. To celebrate Bvlgari Roma’s 40th anniversary this year, we played with the shape, used contemporary lugs, and put the Finissimo movement inside it! «
Is there a particular line you prefer to design?
Lvcea is one of my favourites, because it is so difficult. When you talk to men, you talk about Finissimo, something very unique in terms of performance, finishings, and techniques; when you talk to ladies you talk about emotions, about the essence of the brand.
A designer should be able to design cars, airplanes, watches and furniture. It is important to have the right approach, to know the technology and the language behind each category. It would not make sense to make a watch that looks like the Coliseum, but it is important to know Rome and its architecture. You have to know the inspiration behind these elements to get the proportions, the aesthetic sense. If you are able to do this, you are able to get the right signs and the right language.
I studied industrial design, and designed cars where you have 5 meters to work with.
For me, the Maserati Granturismo or the Fiat Panda is exactly the same thing, not in terms of language and dreams, but in terms of project – it’s a car, it’s an object, and I have to be able to design it. »
It must be a big change to design watches?
Only the proportions and size are different. Technically, the challenges are there. Imagine that to develop the Finissimo watch, we spent 5 years, the same time you need to put a new car in the market. We need prototypes of dials; of cases…it is so difficult to make watches, and especially these kinds of watches. I stayed for 4 years with cars; I have been at Bulgari for 14 years. »
Which comes first: the movement or the design?
90% of Bulgari movements are in-house. This kind of watch design comes from the movement. All mechanical watch designs come from the movement. When we want one of the thinnest watches in the world, I have to make a thin case. So my work is not just to make shapes. It is to find the right execution each time.
For example, the Serpenti, one of our iconic watches, has now changed, so that the head and the tail close on your wrist. It is a watch with a completely different execution – becoming a 100% bracelet with 100% jeweller skills. The case is produced in Switzerland and the bracelet in Italy – the perfect marriage of our 2 worlds. For all our jewellery watches, the bracelets, and sometimes the cases, are made in Italy. «
People are talking about your new ‘Magnesium’ watch…
For men, this is the year of ‘Magnesium’, from our Diagono range that was first launched in 1998 with an aluminium case and rubber strap. Now, we are using magnesium for the 41mm case, and ceramic for the bezel. And we reinforced the sides of the case with PEEK - the latest evolution of high-tech polymer, rigid and light at the same time, used in aircraft and high performance cars. A special finishing, also from the auto industry, brings the unique colours to the case and dial, and rubber strap.
We have also produced a concept watch with this new ‘Magnesium’. This is the year of the smart watch. An electronic device becomes old in 1 year. The smart watch is something that will become old in 6 months, whereas a luxury product is timeless. So we decided to put a chip inside our 100% Swiss-made 100% mechanical watch, to manage information through the electronic device by downloading a Bulgari app and connecting your mobile with your watch after entering the number and code. You can save all your passwords, ID, bank account numbers… – it is a vault, inside a mechanical watch. Our partner is WISeKey, one of the best known and safest in the world to manage private information. If you lose either your phone or your mobile, it cannot work, so there is no risk.
And your watch will always be a self-winding luxury Bulgari watch. »
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