The Bulgari Tubogas Manchette and Octo Finissimo Tribute to Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera
Bulgari celebrates two icons of 20th-century Mexican art with two in-house icons.

Some of the most passionate love affairs of the 20th century have had their stories written in Bulgari jewels. One of the most conspicuous affairs consecrated with Bulgari gemstones was Liz Taylor and Richard Burton’s passionate romance, sparked on set while filming Cleopatra in Rome. As any upscale luxury brand knows, there is nothing like a good story to give your product wings, and if it is a love story, even better. A few months ago, Bulgari released two limited-edition watches celebrating Mexican artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. Two of the most prominent artists of the 20th century, their stormy love affair was closely reflected in their art. Working with the artists’ representatives for the past three years, the watch designed to celebrate Frida Kahlo’s life and career is a new yellow gold Tubogas Manchette; for Diego Rivera, Bulgari has selected an elegant Octo Finissimo.
Diego Rivera was already a consolidated artist and muralist when he met Frida Kahlo at a Mexican Communist Party meeting in the late 1920s. Twenty years her senior, Rivera and Kahlo were united in a passionate, turbulent relationship that lasted until Kahlo’s death in 1954. During her lifetime, Kahlo created more than 150 works of art, 55 of these were self-portraits, often depicting traumatic events in her life. A cult figure today, exhibitions dedicated to Frida Kahlo are held in all the world’s major museums.
Frida Kahlo Tubogas Manchette
The watch selected to celebrate Kahlo’s indomitable spirit and her ability to transform adversity into art is a new Tubogas Manchette. Marking a world premiere, the Tubogas cuff watch is crafted in solid yellow gold and takes its design inspiration from a 1970s model. Coiling artistically around the wrist with its slinky, tapering links, the new cuff references an iconic Bulgari design: the Tubogas. Created in 1948, the Tubogas, named after and inspired by the woven metal coils of a mundane gas pipe, was a flexible, spiralling bracelet used by Bulgari for its Serpenti bracelet watch.
The 135mm yellow gold single-wrap Tubogas bracelet is composed of geometric links, each inscribed with text selected from Kahlo’s biographer Beatriz Alvarado’s novel Diarios de un accidente, describing “more than a thousand ways to kiss”.
The dainty 19mm yellow gold case frames a mother-of-pearl dial with diamond hour indices and is powered by Bulgari’s small Lady Solotempo mechanical movement. Introduced at the beginning of 2025, the round BVS100 Solotempo automatic, measuring 19mm x 3.9mm, is designed to fit inside the small heads of the Serpenti family. While its dimensions are small and it weighs just 5 grams, the Lady Solotempo delivers a robust 50-hour power reserve.
Diego Rivera Octo Finissimo
A pivotal figure in Mexican art, Diego Rivera is renowned for his monumental murals representing Mexican culture and history. Inspired by Marxist philosophy, his murals vindicated indigenous history, class struggle and social revolution after years of colonial rule.
The piece dedicated to Diego Rivera is Bulgari’s ultra-thin 40mm Octo Finissimo in yellow gold. Standing out from regular production models, it is the first to feature Roman numerals, including the numerals VII and VIII, which are usually not represented on the dial due to the position of the small seconds counter. Another quirky feature is the deliberate mistake of repeating the Roman numeral XI twice on the dial (at 9 and 11 o’clock). While there is no evidence that Rivera ever painted a clock with this mistake, it is a detail that will appeal to collectors.
Introduced in 2017 as the world’s thinnest automatic watch, the case displays the complex stacked octagonal architecture of the family. The sapphire caseback, laser-engraved with Diego Rivera’s signature and a silhouette of his profile, reveals the manufacture BVL 138 automatic calibre with its platinum micro-rotor and ultra-slim height of just 2.23mm. A modern movement, it operates at 21,600vph and delivers a robust 60-hour power reserve.
Both models are limited editions of 25 pieces. The Tubogas Manchette Frida Kahlo retails for CHF 64,000 / EUR 75,000 while the Octo Finissimo Diego Rivera has a price of CHF 49,200 / EUR 56,000.
More information at bulgari.com.