The New Bulgari Octo Roma Grande Sonnerie Tourbillon, And Some More Chiming Beauties

The grande sonnerie is one of the most intricate mechanisms in watchmaking. Its creation requires the utmost technical expertise as hundreds of components are required to interact simultaneously and strike time indications perfectly. Bulgari has a rich tradition of crafting striking watches, having already produced grande and petite sonnerie watches. This expertise first originated from the acquisition of Gérald Genta and Daniel Roth in 2000. But Bulgari is committed to keeping this craft alive and evolving as demonstrated by the new Octo Roma Grande Sonnerie Tourbillon with its modernised design, chime and movement.

The Exclusive Grande Sonnerie Club

If Gérald Genta’s Grande Sonnerie was presented in 1994, the credit for creating the first Grande Sonnerie wristwatch goes to Philippe Dufour, who introduced his in 1992. Among the few other prestigious names who have produced Grande Sonnerie wristwatches are Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, Audemars Piguet, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Greubel Forsey, F.P. Journe and Frank Muller. Bulgari has long been known for its chiming watches, including grande sonnerie models as well as an array of minute repeaters, including the world’s thinnest repeater as part of the impressive Octo Finissimo collection.

The new Octo Roma Grande Sonnerie Tourbillon

The new Octo Roma Grande Sonnerie Tourbillon brings several fresh elements to the brand, and isn’t just about encasing an existing movement into a refreshed case. The design now aligns more closely with Bulgari’s current aesthetic, featuring the updated Roma case and a grid pattern on the movement. The project’s guiding principle was to modernize all aspects of the watch that also debut a new movement. The Calibre BVV 800 has kept some of the basic principles of the brand’s previous grande sonnerie mechanism but has been profoundly reworked.

First, the timing mechanism has been entirely reworked with a more powerful barrel, a new gear train and a flying tourbillon. It beats at a 3Hz frequency and the movement boasts a generous 72-hour power reserve. The strike works are derived from the previous Bulgari Grande Sonnerie too, but these have been seriously modified. First, we get a new, modern regulator to provide more linear power while minimizing any background noise.

The way the user interacts with the watch has also been redefined. The Bulgari Octo Roma Grande Sonnerie features 2 selectors: Grande Sonnerie or Petite Sonnerie (2 o’clock pusher, P or G indication), Chime or Silence (4 o’clock pusher, C or S indication). These are no longer operated by slides but by more practical and more secure pushers. As a reminder, both the grande and petite sonnerie chime the hours and quarters in passing, but only the grande sonnerie repeats the hours with each quarter. The watch is also a minute repeater, capable of chiming the time on demand at the press of a pusher.

Another interesting feature of this exceptional watch is its creative and disruptive take on the tonal scale, which is the result of the collaboration between Bulgari and conductor Lorenzo Viotti. Its quarter-hour chimes are executed by four unfamiliar notes, breaking with the classical consensus of horological musicality and the sacrosanct Westminster tones. The theme for this new register is the tritone. A tritone is a musical interval of 3 whole steps. A tritone divides the octave in half and brings dissonance and tension. If it is a bit puzzling at first, I find it really interesting. From a technical perspective, it required in particular to redefine the toothing of the racks triggering the hammers.

The movement features two barrels (fitted with a new ratchet click system), one is wound clockwise to power the time indication and the other is wound anticlockwise to power the strikework with a 16-hour power reserve in grande sonnerie mode. The two power reserve indicators (at 2 and 4 o’clock) allow visualizing the autonomy left for each barrel, with red sectors moving under the grid.

A request from the brand designer Fabrizio Buonamassa, the front of the watch shows the tourbillon and the hammers (something seen in some of Genta’s Grande Sonnerie). The back of the watch shows the intricate striking mechanism with the mesmerizing play of its racks, cams and snails – and makes it easy to understand why its 754-part movement requires 600 hours to be assembled.

The case and overall design have been modernized by Buonamassa and his team, reinterpreting the watch in tune with the brand’s current Roma collection. The movement is covered by a grid and housed in a modernized titanium Octo case, 45mm in diameter and 15mm thick. The understated elegance of the anthracite grid dial is enhanced by refined baton-type hour markers and skeletonized hands. The Bulgari Octo Roma Grande Sonnerie Tourbillon is worn on an alligator leather strap fitted with a titanium folding buckle. It is released in a limited edition of 5 pieces and it retails for EUR 1,000,000.

More Chiming Watches from Bulgari

Bulgari also presented during Geneva Watch Days two other quite remarkable chiming watches. First up, we have a new version of the Octo Finissimo Minute Repeater crafted in multi-layered CPT. This stunning watch still holds the title of the thinnest minute repeater in the world. It chimes the hours and minutes on two tones on demand, with a record-setting movement thickness of just 3.12 mm. Its price is set at EUR 255,000.

The last model is the Octo Roma Carillon Tourbillon in rose gold. This 42mm watch chimes the hours, quarters, and minutes, striking the quarters on three gongs thanks to the modified BVL428 calibre. Just like for the Grande Sonnerie, its chime adopts the creative “Tritone” melody defined by Viotti. The watch also features an updated design in particular with its dial or its case that has been modernized in line with the new Octo Roma codes. Its price is set at EUR 380,000.

The Bulgari Octo Roma Grande Sonnerie

For more information, please visit www.bulgari.com.