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 watch look (and feel) even more exclusive.

Bvlgari Sotirio watch

Celebrating its 125th anniversary, the Italian luxury stuff maker Bvlgary revealed its new Bvlgari Sotirio watch. Just like one may have expected, the watch, which is available in yellow, pink or white gold, is named after the company’s founding father of Greek origin Sotirio Bulgari also known by his real name of Sotirios Voulgaris. 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, right, exactly 250 parts and is just 3.73mm (0.146in) thick. Well, it is still twice thicker than the caliber 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.

Bvlgari Sotirio (face detail)

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 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.

Bvlgari Sotirio (flip-over caseback)