The Dazzling Bulgari Tubogas Manchette

Celebrating its original vocation as a Roman goldsmith and creator of fabulous high jewellery pieces glowing with brightly coloured gemstones, Bulgari kicks off LVMH Watch Week with a dazzling Tubogas Manchette in yellow gold. Fitted with Bulgari’s recently unveiled Lady Solotempo BVS 100 automatic movement, the gorgeous cuff marries the brand’s iconic Tubogas design to its watchmaking prowess in ultra-thin movements.

Coiling artistically around the wrist with its slinky, tapering links, the new cuff references a signature Bulgari design of 1948. Named after and inspired by the woven metal coils of a mundane gas pipe, the Tubogas was a flexible, spiralling bracelet used by Bulgari for its Serpenti bracelet watch. The latest Tubogas Manchette cuff watch draws inspiration from an archival model from 1974, and its tapering and rounded links wrap sensually around the wrist like a gold ribbon.

To ensure the bracelet’s suppleness, Bulgari has employed a new technique in which each link is moulded and polished before being assembled onto a flexible titanium blade. Last year, Bulgari presented a similar Tubogas Manchette model dedicated to Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, but without gemstones or diamonds.

The 135mm-long yellow gold Tubogas bracelet is fitted with a small round dial and set with a vibrant palette of gemstones and diamonds. Radiating from the pavé diamond dial are a series of pavé sunbeams engraved into the gold cuff. In true Bulgari style, the mouthwatering colours of the cuff are provided by an assortment of coloured gemstones. Using citrines, rubellites, peridots, amethysts, topazes, and spessartites, the richly coloured gemstones feature different cuts, including Bulgari’s classic smooth cabochon cuts, as well as pear- and round-cut stones.

The dial is housed in a 16mm yellow gold case that slots into the first link of the Tubogas bracelet. With its yellow gold crown and gold-plated hour and minute hands, the transparent window on the caseback of the watch reveals Bulgari’s automatic Lady Solotempo BVS 100 calibre, presented last year inside the small heads of the Serpenti family. Drawing on Bulgari’s experience developing the Solotempo BVL 191 automatic, the wafer-thin Finissimo calibres, and the ultra-compact BVL 150 Tourbillon, the time-only movement took three years to develop and produce at Bulgari’s state-of-the-art manufacture in Le Sentier, Switzerland.

With a diameter of 19mm, a thickness of 3.9mm, and 102 components, the Lady Solotempo calibre weighs a mere 5 grams. While its dimensions are small, it packs an impressive 50-hour power reserve. The Bulgari Tubogas Manchette retails for EUR 194,000. More information at bulgari.com.