Bvlgari

Sotirio Bulgari was a silversmith from a village in Epirus who arrived in Rome and opened a shop on Via Sistina in 1884, later moving to the Via Condotti address the company still occupies. The Latinised V in the logo is a deliberate reference to classical Rome, and the house has drawn on Roman architecture and coinage ever since.

Two designs define it. The Serpenti, a coiled snake bracelet watch that first appeared in the 1940s, is the piece most associated with the name. The Bvlgari Bvlgari of 1975, with the brand name doubled around the bezel in the manner of a Roman coin inscription, began as a limited run for clients and became a permanent line.

Watchmaking became serious in 2000, when Bvlgari bought Gérald Genta and Daniel Roth and with them a genuine complications capability. Since 2014 the Octo Finissimo has set a series of world records for thinness across different complications — tourbillon, minute repeater, automatic, chronograph — which is not the sort of thing a jeweller was expected to be doing.

Bvlgari holds 5 models, from £3,630 to £8,650. Half cost less than £3,970, and a quarter less than £3,630. 4 of 5 are automatic. Prices are checked nightly against the retailers’ own feeds.

1884

Sotirio Bulgari opens his first shop in Rome

1975

The Bvlgari Bvlgari, with the name doubled around the bezel

2000

Acquisition of Gérald Genta and Daniel Roth brings complications in house

2014

The Octo Finissimo begins a run of world records for thinness