At the mention of the Bulgari brand, your thoughts are likely to shoot in different directions. These might range from images of Elizabeth Taylor and Sophia Loren in vintage pieces of iconic Bulgari jewellery, to stellar watches such as the Serpenti and Octo Finissimo, to a perfume from the brand that you may have picked up at Duty Free on your last visit to an airport or even a Bulgari resort that you checked in to recently. Bulgari’s brand recognition is as global, as it is diversified. “We will be 140 years old next year and are therefore a well-established luxury brand. We are 100 per cent Italian, although our watches are made in Switzerland in order for them to be officially classified as Swiss-made. The watches are made in Switzerland, but they are developed and designed in Italy. Jewellery, however, is our core business and will always remain our core business. We also have the fashion accessories, hospitality, and fragrance divisions. Essentially, we’re five companies in one,” says Jean-Christophe Babin, the CEO of Bulgari.
Bulgari employs 6,000 people across its watches, jewellery, perfumes and fashion accessories divisions, and another 2,500 people in its hotels taking the total count to around 8,500 employees worldwide.
The brand is on the cusp of celebrating its 140th anniversary next year, and it is jewellery that has been its enduring legacy. “The major division for Bulgari is its jewellery – that division is much bigger than the others,” says Babin. “We are now recognised as a high jeweller which also makes jewellery pieces. When I came to the brand we were probably known as a jeweller making some high jewellery pieces. We’ve now reversed that perception. That has in turn allowed us to achieve a brand image that has helped to overall pull up not only the price of our jewellery, but also everything else as well.”
Its expertise in jewellery was also the starting point for what has since become a major focus for Bulgari – its watches. “For over a century now, we’ve been a watchmaker. Logically, we began with jewellery watches back in 1919. Our first watch was born out of jewellery and until today our watches are shaped by jewellery. The Serpenti is the best example. Our watches are growing double digits – we’re increasing our market share among the watches exported by Switzerland, and this is primarily thanks to Serpenti which is gaining a critical mass and entering into the top ten ladies’ watches in the world, if not the top five,” says Babin of the Serpenti which is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year.
The Serpenti has over several decades evolved with many iterations that have always reflected the zeitgeist. At the Geneva Watch Days 2023 event, Bulgari released a stunning Serpenti Misteriosi in white gold that is set with more than 33 carats of diamonds, and also the Serpenti Misteriosi in rose gold with navette-cut diamonds and black lacquer. These high jewellery Serpentis are aesthetically spectacular pieces to behold, but they’re made all the more impressive when you consider that they are fitted with the Piccolissimo BVL 100 mechanical movement. Piccolissimo, translated from Italian as ‘extra small’, is a movement that debuted last year and shows just how mature Bulgari is as a watchmaker. At 12.3mm wide and 2.5mm thick, it holds the title for being the tiniest movement created in the 21st century (Jaeger-LeCoultre’s 101 Calibre launched in 1929 remains the world’s smallest mechanical calibre though).
Bulgari’s penchant for pushing hard against the pre-defined limits of watchmaking is also evident in the Octo Finissimo collection that has smashed through several world records over the last decade. The Octo Finissimo Tourbillon from 2014 featured the thinnest movement with a flying tourbillon, the Octo Finissimo Minute Repeater was the world’s thinnest minute repeater in production when it broke cover in 2016, while the Bulgari Octo Finissimo Ultra-Thin Automatique from 2017 held the record for the world’s thinnest automatic movement with its BVL 138 calibre.
The Octo Finissimo Tourbillon Automatic from 2018 secured three world records including the thinnest automatic watch, the thinnest automatic tourbillon, and the thinnest tourbillon thanks to its BVL 288 calibre. By 2019, Bulgari showcased the Octo Finissimo Chronograph GMT Automatic which became the thinnest automatic chronograph ever. The pandemic didn’t slow down Bulgari’s watchmaking dominance as it unveiled the Octo Finissimo Tourbillon Chronograph Skeleton Automatic which Bulgari said at the time was the flattest tourbillon chronograph wristwatch ever produced. The Octo Finissimo Perpetual Calendar from 2021 was crowned as the world’s thinnest perpetual calendar at 5.80mm thick, and last year the Octo Finissimo Ultra went on to become the world’s thinnest watch at just 1.80mm.
While not breaking any records, though as much attention-grabbing as any of the pieces from the previous years, Bulgari recently introduced two new stunning Octo Finissimo pieces this year – the Octo Finissimo Carbongold Automatic and Octo Finissimo Carbongold Perpetual Calendar – both of which feature 40mm carbon cases, with a rose gold crown, hands and indices. The Carbongold Perpetual Calendar features the BVL 305 that we saw in the record-breaking perpetual calendar watch from Bulgari in 2021.
Bulgari at the forefront
Beyond its core of jewellery and watches, Bulgari has smartly diversified into the hospitality industry. It currently has nine operational properties around the world in locations including London, Rome, Shanghai and Dubai, with three more in the pipeline including Miami Beach and Ranfushi, both of which will open in 2025, and Los Angeles which will open the following year. As Babin sees it, the hospitality division could be a feeder to grow the other divisions of the Bulgari empire. “Our hospitality division brings to our brand wealthy clients who pay anywhere between €3,000-€50,000 per night for a suite, and these are the same people who are also perhaps interested in buying high jewellery pieces and watches. It’s not easy for a luxury brand to find new clients every year. People don’t go and buy a watch or a piece of jewellery as often as they would a handbag. Fashion accessories, by definition, adhere to a trend and people love to follow current trends so it’s not unusual for a lady to buy four handbags in a year. But with watches and jewellery, the demand for them is less because it’s more of a timeless object that never goes out of fashion.”
Bulgari’s association with key countries in the GCC, specifically the UAE, runs deep. In 2017, a Bulgari resort opened on a manmade island in Dubai. Two of its restaurants are currently Michelin-starred entities – Il Ristorante-Niko Romito has two Stars and Hōseki has one Star. In the UAE, Bulgari has its own boutiques in Dubai Mall and Mall of the Emirates in Dubai as well as in The Galleria in Abu Dhabi. “Just before the start of the pandemic, we collaborated with Her Highness Sheikha Fatima bint Hazza Bin Zayed Al Nahyan from Abu Dhabi for the Jannah jewellery collection which is a testimony to the respect we have for the Arab world and the Arab culture. We’ve also collaborated with local artists for Art Dubai. During the Expo 2020 in Dubai, we were one of the main partners of the Italian pavilion and also took part in the catering of that pavilion [with Il Ristorante – Niko Romito of Bulgari Resort Dubai],” notes Babin.
Another long-standing collaboration has been between Bulgari and Emirates. In August, the airline revealed its updated Bulgari amenity kits for first and business class passengers. A total of eight collectable bags were introduced in the new collection, with colours ranging from a silver with lilac vegan leather pouch to a tan and black fabric toiletry bag. “It’s been around 15 years since we’ve been partnering with Emirates in the UAE. We are the only luxury amenities supplier of Emirates which is a great honour for us. You can imagine other brands would love to have such a chance, but against all odds, we’ve managed to deserve the ability to remain with Emirates and find creative solutions for their amenity kits. It’s a collaboration that we’re very proud of,” says Babin.
Babin adds that beyond the UAE, Bulgari also has subsidiaries in all the GCC markets. The youngest one, he says, is in Saudi Arabia where Bulgari started a direct subsidiary two years ago. “We have two stores in Saudi right now and a third will open soon. By 2024, we will have five stores in Saudi Arabia which I think is the right number for it. As projects such as NEOM and The Red Sea develop, that number will go up.” He adds that Bulgari’s subsidiary in Qatar meanwhile is much older and was started ten years ago. “In Qatar, we are one of the leading jewellery brands in that market. We are at Place Vendome, which is the talk of the town there. The proportion of consumption among tourists in Qatar is less than that of the UAE. Qatar is more of a domestic market,” observes Babin.
As Bulgari capitalises on its centuries-old legacy, Babin says that the brand will be active at auctions and secure pieces that allow it to better explain its history. “For Bulgari, the dream is to acquire creative expressions of each decade when it comes to our jewellery. One hundred per cent of what we buy at auctions is not for resale. It’s for exhibiting so that clients can see the pieces of the past and better understand the evolution of the brand and where we are today. We closely cooperate with the likes of Christie’s, Sotheby’s, Bacs and Russo, etc. Before proposing [our] masterpieces at an auction, they often want Bulgari to certify it. We’ve digitalised all our archives so that we can quickly retrieve information about a specific piece,” says Babin.
The 21st-century brand ‘Bulgari’ is in many ways as coveted as the 19th-century version of it – and the same can only be said for a handful
of global luxury brands.
