Bvlgari Sotirio in rose gold
The Bvlgari Sotirio‘s main point of attraction is the flip-over case-back that serves two purposes providing extra protection to the sapphire crystal and making the automatic wrist watch look (and feel) even more exclusive.
Celebrating its 125th anniversary, the Italian luxury stuff maker has just revealed its new Bvlgari Sotirio watch.
Just like one may have expected, the watch, is named after the company’s founding father of Greek origin Sotirio Bulgari who is also known by his real name of Sotirios Voulgaris.
The famous Greek founded the luxury brand in 1884, when he finally settled in Rome, Italy and opened there his second shop (the first one was established in his home village Paramythia, where it still successfully operates.)
Well, I think you can get acquainted with the company’s glorious history in a Wikipedia article or on their corporate website, so let’s get down to business.
The watch comes powered by an in-house Caliber BVL 250 automatic movement, which is made of exactly 250 moving parts and is just 3.73 millimetrs (0.146in) thick.
Well, it is still twice thicker than the JLC Caliber 849 powering the gorgeous Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Control 1833 Ultra Thin model, but it’s still quite thin for a movement that features a seconds hand and a calendar complication.
The Sotirio’s silvered dial is nicely decorated with a vertical Cotes de Geneve pattern and is also partly skeletonized on the 3 o’clock to reveal about 10 percent of the calendar’s rotating wheel.
To somehow balance the things, Bulgari’s designers counterweighted the calendar cut-out with vertical guilloche decoration on the 9 o’clock.
The resulting X pattern on the dial makes the watch quite similar to the Bvlgari Diagono Retrograde Moonphase that was unveiled last Summer.
This is, as far as I know, the first wrist-watch that doesn’t bear a larger than life BVLGARI logo on its bezel and this is really a good thing.
The timepiece will start selling in September of 2009 at a recommended price of 29,000 CHF.
Production is limited to 125 units.
Photos: Bvlgari
Bvlgari Sotirio automatic wrist watch specification
Price range: 29,000 CHF (around 25,000 USD or 19,500 EUR)
Movement: Caliber BVL 250, automatic
Complications: Calendar
Power reserve: 55 hours
Case material: Gold
Case diameter: N/A
Case height: N/A
Dial: Silver with golden numerals and indices
Water resistance: N/A
Strap: Brown alligator leather
Crystal: Sapphire
Evgueni Matoussevitch in Fashion watchesTags: Automatic, Bvlgari, Caliber BVL 250, Italian watches, rose gold, Sotirio
