Bulgari

Brand history

Founded 1884 in Rome by Greek silversmith Sotirios Voulgaris as a jewellery atelier. The watch division opened in the 1970s; Bulgari acquired the Gérald Genta and Daniel Roth ateliers in 2000, bringing genuine movement expertise. The Le Sentier manufacture (Vallee de Joux) was built and opened in 2021 as a fully integrated movement and watch manufacture. LVMH acquired Bulgari in 2011. The Octo Finissimo programme holds multiple ultra-thin records (automatic, tourbillon, chronograph, perpetual calendar) using in-house BVL calibers engineered in Le Sentier.

Founded 1884 in Rome by Greek silversmith Sotirios Boulgaris, the family jewelry house that grew to become one of the largest luxury brands in the world, acquired by LVMH in 2011. Bulgari entered watchmaking seriously in the 1970s and established a horological reputation in the 2000s through two directions: the Diagono sport line and, most importantly, the Octo Finissimo ultra-thin series, which has set multiple world records for the thinnest mechanical watch in each complication category (tourbillon, perpetual calendar, minute repeater, flying tourbillon), all achieved by an in-house caliber program run from the Bulgari manufacture in Le Sentier, Vallée de Joux. The Octo Finissimo Automatic set the record at 2.23mm total case thickness in 2017; subsequent updates pushed it further. Bulgari is now legitimately in the manufacture haute-horlogerie conversation on the strength of this program, which is a significant reframing from the 1990s jewelry-brand-with-watches positioning.