Bulgari Divas Dream Peacock
The Bulgari Divas Dream Peacock collection is comprised of three models, each rich in artistic crafts and all infused with a high quotient of watchmaking know-how.
A subsidiary of luxury giant LVMH, Bulgari is a fascinating company. Based in Rome, the firm sells jewellery, watches, ‘bags and accessories’, a selection of affordable gifts and a number of fragrances. In addition, Bulgari owns hotels, resorts and restaurants. To say the Italian marque offers an extensive and diverse array of goods and services seems somewhat of an understatement.
The argument against operating in numerous sectors is that it may suggest an accepted degree of competence, but possibly a lack of expertise in any one discipline. However, based on my own observations of the company’s watchmaking division, nothing could be further from the truth. Bulgari is not merely an établisseur, encasing third party movements within its own designs, it is a Manufacture, making many of its own in-house movements. Furthermore, the Maison’s talents extend to making dials, cases and bracelets, components most firms source externally.
In recent years, the firm has aggressively targeted the ultra-thin watch segment. Its creations have set new world records and even the addition of high complications hasn’t prevented the brand from making watches with super-svelte torsos.
However, the talents of Bulgari’s Swiss watchmaking arm extend beyond the making of its ultra-thin Octo models. The prestigious firm makes sublime Haute Horlogerie creations, including tourbillons and chiming watches. Moreover, Bulgari has vast expertise in the esoteric world of artistic crafts and Haute Joaillerie. Recently, the Manufacture unveiled three additions to the Divas’ Dream Peacock collection.
Bulgari Divas Dream Peacock Dischi
This model, limited to just 50 pieces, is endowed with a ‘natural peacock marquetry dial’. In the first instance, peacock feathers are painstakingly selected with only the best examples passing muster. The appearance of the feathers is enhanced using an antique brass steam engine. Thereafter, the feathers are trimmed, glued, cut and united to form a marquetry dial.
The time is imparted using two rotating discs, each fitted with a brilliant-cut diamond, articulating the hours and minutes. The self-winding Calibre BVL 308 movement is an in-house creation, reaffirming the brand’s horological virtuosity. The watch is festooned with 440 diamonds (～3.78 carats) and 25 sapphires (～0.98 carats), further heightening the overall sense of glamour.
Bulgari Divas Dream Peacock Diamonds
Bulgari has employed a different means of portraying the majestic appearance of the peacock. The watch dial is enriched with mother-of-pearl and champlevé. This latter technique involves engraving the dial plate with cells or troughs by hand. Subsequently, these recesses are filled with vitreous enamel and, lastly, the dial is fired in an oven. Needless to say, champlevé is incredibly time-consuming and requires the talents of a consummate artisan.
At the heart of this timepiece is the tried and trusted in-house Calibre BVL 191, sometimes referred to as the ‘Solotempo’ movement. It has been used in many of the brand’s popular Octo models for several years. I can safely say that since its introduction, I have never heard of any problems with this in-house movement.
The Divas’ Dream Peacock Diamonds features an 18-carat rose gold bracelet with fan-shaped sections and enlivened with 1452 (～7.56 carats) round brilliant cut diamonds. The bezel, dial and case are, once again, adorned with a variety of precious stones.
Bulgari Divas Dream Peacock Tourbillon Lumière
Personally, the watch that appeals to me the most is the Divas’ Dream Peacock Tourbillon Lumière. This sublime creation, limited to just 10 pieces, is housed in a rose gold case and equipped with a tourbillon, positioned at 6 o’clock. The watch eschews a conventional dial in favour of a skeletonised movement, revealing many components often hidden from view.
The mainplate is cut in order to imbue the horological vista with a near-diaphanous appearance. Small recesses are formed by cutting into the mainplate in order to accommodate small pockets of real peacock feathers. Diamonds abound, adorning the dial, bezel, case and lugs. However, one element of this watch that appeals to me the most is the finissage.
Bulgari has openworked the BVL 208 calibre and employed Haute Gamme hand-finishing. With some so-called high-end watches, the anglage, the bevelled edge between the surface and flank, is performed using machines e.g. diamond-cut bevels. However, the traditional approach of using files, wooden pegs and diamond paste is the pinnacle of hand-finishing, much admired by aficionados. This may be costly, but showcases the Manufacture’s fastidious approach to finishing and further demonstrates Bulgari’s no-compromise mindset in terms of making feminine timepieces, brimming with artistic crafts and horological virtue.
Bulgari Divas Dream Peacock Dischi – the brand’s press release
Bvlgari introduces three new Divas’ Dream watches for 2021: Divas’ Dream Peacock Dischi, the Divas’ Dream Peacock Diamonds and the Divas’ Dream Peacock Tourbillon Lumière, thereby enriching the Divas’ Dream collection with its latest passion for exquisite, ebullient colour — and representing the evolution of the Colour Treasures theme that was first introduced with the Serpenti Rainbow collection. Bvlgari has long been known as the Master of Coloured Gemstones, artfully combining brilliant gems in daring ways. Colour is in the Maison’s DNA, and one of the most recognisable and iconic features of every Bvlgari creation. Now, the extravaganza of colour continues with the launch of the new Divas’ Dream styles that celebrate the beauty of colour in the purest, most saturated hues yet.
Crafted using some of the world’s most prestigious decorative arts, the new Divas’ Dream watches are a glorious synthesis of haute joaillerie and haute horlogerie, uniting irresistible style and jewellery-making know-how with rare Swiss watchmaking precision and expertise. Drawing on Bvlgari’s enduring fascination with natural world, the three new models represent a continuation of the Maison’s Divas’ Dream Peacock collection. This magical theme is brought to life on the dial through such ancient, intricate techniques such as marquetry, miniature painting and champlevé that Bvlgari has employed for over 130 years.
The Divas’ Dream watch collection tells a tale of beauty, of the remarkable elegance of Divas throughout history – women who have the power to captivate with their exquisite style and charm. Inspired by the divas of Dolce Vita – those stars of Cinecittà that have become iconic through the years – the watches define modern glamour with unapologetically feminine and distinctly Italian flair. A nod to Bvlgari’s Roman heritage, the peacock series of Divas’ Dream watches pays homage to their charms, channelling the preening spirit of nature’s most diva-like figure: the peacock. This is an entirely natural choice, since this sensual watch with its highly distinctive character draws inspiration from the fan-shaped mosaics of the Caracalla thermal baths, which also portray peacocks. This bird, conveying a wealth of symbolism, has been repeatedly represented in countless guises for more than four thousand years. In Medieval times, it was thought to be immortal. A symbol of fertility and permanence in India, the peacock is also featured on either side of the tree of life in the Middle East. Also known as the favourite creature of Juno, the wife of Jupiter in Roman mythology, its colourful depiction appears on a number of ancient mosaics.
Regal beauty, extraordinary craftsmanship
Precious and brilliant, the new Divas’ Dream watches are exuberant with colour, using unexpected materials and metiers d’art to create wearable masterpieces.
Crafted in a limited edition of 50 pieces, the Divas’ Dream Peacock Dischi features a natural peacock feather marquetry dial. Using this inlay technique that dates back to antiquity and was a popular technique in Renaissance Italy, before being revived by Bvlgari in the 1970s, the dial is set with 24 natural hand-cut feather elements with a central circle fully depicting the “eye” of the peacock feather. The feathers are the result of a careful selection process that involves sorting through nearly 500 to find the greatest colour, texture and harmony. Once selected, each feather is passed over an antique brass steam engine to reveal its natural brilliance. They are then trimmed, glued, cut and pieced together to create the watch’s silky and reflective mosaic finish. The elegance of the feather marquetry dial meets watchmaking expertise in the in-house BVL 308 “dischi” automatic movement, an exquisite technical solution based on the rotation of two discs indicating hours and minutes respectively through a round and a pear brilliant-cut diamond. The case is embraced at either end by two fan-shaped motifs that connect to a deep blue alligator bracelet.
Next in the magnificent series, the Divas’ Dream Peacock Diamonds features a peacock motif set against a mother-of-pearl backdrop. The bird appears in all its glorious majesty, delicately hand-painted with meticulous partitions evoking the precious Roman mosaics in blue and green shades. This refined and precise work requires 20 hours to apply the 14 colours needed to complete the decoration. To create the peacock outline that adorns the dial, Bvlgari used a goldsmithing technique called champlevé. Dating back to the Middle Ages, this method allows material to be engraved so that miniature painting, enamel and marquetry can be applied. It leaves the outline of the design slightly raised, creating delicate contours which can then be filled in. In this iteration, the dial’s rich hues are crowned with diamonds for a spectacular effect and enhanced by a supple bracelet featuring the Diva signature fan-shaped motif, entirely set with diamonds. The mechanical self-winding movement, Calibre BVL 191, powers the watch.
A masterpiece of haute joaillerie and haute horlogerie in a 10-piece limited edition, the Divas’ Dream Peacock Tourbillon Lumière features a 37mm rose gold case, bezel and lugs set with brilliant-cut diamonds and a skeletonized dial decorated with natural peacock feather marquetry and snow-set diamonds. The eye is naturally directed down to the sophisticated skeletonized tourbillon movement, that is the BVL 208 calibre. Exquisite in every way and decorated with real peacock feathers, each dial is created by a single artisan in a process that takes some six weeks to complete. A truly meticulous process, the gold dial must first be laser cut using a cloisonné technique to make room for the peacock feathers. Only the iridescent part is used, and it is a rare challenge to find the perfect form — 80% of the dials proposed are rejected in order to find 10 perfect ones. The small feather elements are cut one by one and glued to the dial to create a work of unparalleled brilliance and beauty. The haute gamme hand-finishing of the movement brings further luminosity and brilliance to its precious metal, evoking the radiant hours of romance from the magical Dolce Vita of Rome.
With the introduction of these three new Divas Dream Peacock styles, Bvlgari casts a spell of sheer beauty, painstakingly rendered using the world’s most delicate art forms — and paves the way for a new definition of unapologetic feminine glamour.