Back in 2022, Bulgari released the “Sketch” version of the Octo Finissimo to equal shares of acclaim and, well, the opposite. Those watches celebrated the Octo’s tenth anniversary, and this year they’re doubling down with new sketches that take the idea to the next logical step on the occasion of Bulgari’s 140th anniversary. We like to poke fun at the anniversaries here as a somewhat craven excuse for brands to sell us new stuff that we certainly don’t need, but in the case of the Octo it’s really worth celebrating. This watch has a profoundly unusual design within a subset of watches that grew in esteem by orders of magnitude over the last several years, while existing in a larger context within an industry that put more value on classic, vintage inspired designs than bold, contemporary ones during the same time period. For the Octo to rise during this period was somewhat unpredictable, and speaks to the enduring quality of the design and of the watch itself. The follow up to the original Sketch watches is sure to garner plenty of attention, and would seem to put most of it on the caliber that makes the Octo possible.
Like the first Sketch LEs, the watches seen here are likely to be somewhat divisive. The original watches, both a chronograph and time-only version, had dials that appeared to be sketched by hand. They took the familiar layout of the Octo but presented it in an illustrated format. These new references (time only models in steel and rose gold, and a Chronograph GMT version in steel) have dials in the same “illustrated” format, but show us the movement rather than the typical dial surface. The balance and micro rotor are highlighted, at 7:00 and 3:00 respectively, on the time only versions, while the Chrono GMT is a bit more complex, with sketched subdials with the movement underneath. The level of detail is impressive in both cases, with the front of the movement being presented rather than the back, as if you were looking at an openworked version of Octo.
I’m of two minds when it comes to the Sketch concept. On the one hand, I think the aesthetic of the pencil line drawings is nice looking, and has an aesthetic appeal all on its own. Bulgari also notes that the drawings themselves are taken from designer Buonamassa Stigliani’s original sketches for the Octo Finissimo, so this feels like a genuine tribute to origins of a watch that has become something of an icon in a short time.
On the other hand, a standard Octo Finissimo dial is a pretty beautiful thing, and these sketched dials bury or eliminate the color, depth, texture, or finishing you’ll find in any number of other Octo variants. That just kind of feels like a shame to me, but I can imagine if you’re a collector of Octo Finissimos and have more than one (perhaps many more than one) owning one of these variants alongside a core model could be quite satisfying.
The new time only versions of the Sketch are limited to 280 pieces in steel, and 70 in rose gold. Pricing for these models is set at EUR 17,800 EUR 51,000 for the steel and gold versions respectively. The manually wound Chronograph GMT Sketch is priced at EUR 20,800 and limited to 140 pieces. Bulgari
