Bvlgari

After over a decade at the helm of TAG Heuer, Jean-Christophe Babin is moving on to Bvlgari. Both TAG Heuer and Bvlgari are part of the world’s largest luxury group, LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy) which also owns Louis Vuitton, Zenith and Hublot.

Bulgari recently introduced an all new Octo timepiece before a group of international journalists in Rome, Italy.

It was an important event, as the new Octo represents the pillar of Bulgari timepieces, and a new direction for the brand whose majority stake was acquired from the Bulgari family last March by the world's largest luxury group LVMH.

The redesigned Octo collection is sleeker and arguably classier than previous models. A new in-house manufactured case measures 41.5 mm x 10.55 mm. The case and bezel comprise a total of 110 facets, all hand-finished with alternating polished and satin-brushed surfaces. The new dial is simple and elegant, featuring a black face, with black lacquered, pink gold or rhodium facetted applied hour-markers. Hours, minutes and seconds are display with central hands (the hour and minute hands are skeletonized). A date aperture displays the date semi-instantaneously at 3 o'clock.

The new Octo is powered by the BVL 193 self-winding mechanical caliber which beats at 28,800 vph (4Hz), has 28 jewels and boasts a 50-hour power reserve (thanks to double mainspring barrels). The movement is finely finished with: snailed bridges and Côtes de Genève motif, chamfered and polished bridge edges, circular-grained mainplate, satin-brushed wheels, polished pivots. The jewel surround features tone-on-tone diamond polish.

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Bulgari Diagono Professional Chronograph GMT X-Pro

Bvlgari recently unveiled the Diagno GMT, at Baselworld 2009. The key feature of the new Diagno GMT is a hack mechanism that makes it very easy to change between different time zones. For most dual time watches, you need to set the second time zone via the crown. For this one, instead of a crown, it uses pushers at 2 and 4 o'clock to advance or reverse the second time zone hour hand. The date automatically changes when the second time zone hour-hand is moved forward or backwards. If the watch is left still for too long, a pusher at 8 o'clock can independently adjust the date. Read the full specifications below:

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Bulgari recently introduced a new collection of timepieces, named after their founder, Sotirio Bvlgari. The new collection comes in three versions; an annual calendar, perpetual calendar and tourbillon. Traditional and modern design elements blend together for a very classy look. A good match for an Italian suit or a nice dress shirt.

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