Geneva Watch Days has officially kicked off! As we sound off on the festivities, what better way to do so than with a pair of brand-new minute repeaters?
2024 marks the fifth year that Geneva Watch Days is set to take place. Despite the added stress of an additional workload here at WatchAdvice, it’s far outweighed by the opportunity to check out some of the newest timepieces from the staggering 52 brands that will be a part of the celebration. Unfortunately, I couldn’t be there with the rest of the Watch Advice team, but I am there in spirit!
If you’re reading this, guys, I promise I won’t set the website on fire! Probably…
Getting back on track, one of the key founding members of Geneva Watch Days is Bvlgari. The jewellery brand turned record-breaking watchmaker has unsurprisingly rung in the new releases with a duo of Octo Roma minute repeater timepieces! While upon first glance, the Octo Roma Grande Sonnerie and the Carillon Tourbillon may seem similar, but trust me: They are – pun not intended – strikingly different.
Minute repeaters, sometimes referred to as the ‘Queen of Complications,’ are among the most delicate and respected additions to the traditional wristwatch. It’s one of few, after all, that interacts with a sense other than sight, permitting its wielder to command horolgical artistry through the use of sound. If you want a full breakdown of the significance of the minute repeater, Sam has written an excellent article describing its history and functions. I won’t be going into a full-on explanation, but I’ll define all the jargon as I go.
RELATED READING: The Art Of Complications – The Minute Repeater
Constructed in collaboration with reputable Swiss-Italian conductor Lorenzo Viotti, these Octo Roma models are built with speciality components that set them far apart from traditional minute repeaters. Starting with the Grande Sonnerie, the watch comes with an additional feature atop the minute repeater courtesy of the in-house BVV800 tourbillon movement.
The grande sonnerie, French for ‘great strike’ and the first Octo Roma’s namesake, enables the watch to strike automatically. Using its four gongs to chime the hours and quarters in synchronicity at every quarter, it basically reminds you what time it is every fifteen minutes, correct to the closest quarter (15, 30, 45 minutes). If you want a more exact time, don’t worry, as it can still chime on demand.
It also has another feature – the petite sonnerie, or ‘small strike,’ which automatically chimes the hours and quarters separately from one another. For example: The grande sonnerie will remind you when it’s 6:15, 6:30 or 6:45 (6 chimes, followed by 1–3 chimes depending on the quarter), whilst the petite sonnerie will only remind you that it’s 15/30/45 minutes past the current hour, only informing you of what hour it is every 60 minutes. Still with me? Good!
The second watch, the Bvlgari Octo Roma Carillon Tourbillon, similarly has a minute repeater but is mercifully easier to understand. Traditional minute repeaters often have two gongs, but the Carillon Tourbillon’s BVL428 tourbillon movement comes outfitted with three for an enhanced level of tonality. Bvlgari takes significant pride in being one of the few brands that can consistently produce any kind of minute repeater to a dizzyingly high degree, so working alongside Lorenzo Viotti is less of a novelty and more of a necessity in the context of sonic engineering and artistry. Who better to know how to elicit the highest qualities of tonality and sound than an acclaimed conductor?
Both the Grande Sonnerie and Carillon Tourbillon are contained in the typically elegant Octo Roma case. A 45mm titanium case is provided for the former, whilst 44mm worth of 18k 5N rose gold encases the latter. Both showcase their tourbillon movements by way of a delicately open-worked dial, and also come with power reserve indicators for their respective manual-wind movements.
Final Thoughts
Not everyone can create a haute horlogerie timepiece, but haute horlogerie can come from anywhere. If you’re Bvlgari, however, the insane quality standards that both these Octo Chiming watches express represent just another day in the office for the talented jewellers and watchmakers under the brand’s charge.
The Octo Roma Grande Sonnerie and Carillon Tourbillon are a testament to the dizzying heights of watchmaking that Bvlgari has consistently reached. Guided by their vast experience in the jewellery world – as well as the finest in Swiss watchmaking techniques and Italian aesthetic – Bvlgari demonstrate yet again why they deserve to be recognised as a hallmark of this new modern era of watchmaking. They have no doubt established themselves as a force to be reckoned with in this field, and now the name Bvlgari is sure to ring a few more bells in the industry.
References: Grande Sonnerie – 103962 / Carillon Tourbillon: 103933
- Dimensions: 45mm case diameter x 11.85mm thickness (Grande Sonnerie), 44mm case diameter x 12.60mm thickness (Carillon)
- Case Material: Titanium (Grande Sonnerie), 18k rose gold (Carillon)
- Dial: Openworked/Skeleton
- Movement: In-House manual wind BVV800 movement with Grande/Petite Sonnerie, minute repeater, & tourbillon (Grande Sonnerie), In-House manual wind BVL428 movement with carillon minute repeater & tourbillon (Carillon)
- Beat Rate: 3Hz (21,600VpH)
- Power Reserve: 72h (Grande Sonnerie), 75 (Carillon)
- Water Resistance: 30m (3bar)
- Strap: Black alligator leather strap with polished titanium/18k rose gold buckle
