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Bulgari Octo Finissimo In Yellow Gold

When I develop an obsession with a watch that I don't (yet) own, I exhibit a few very distinct behaviors – involuntary, maybe a little embarrassing, almost as if I've got an unrequited crush. All the usual early infatuation stages are the same: I talk about it non-stop, I snap selfies with it, I stare longingly at it as if this new object has the power to fundamentally change how I feel about the world and improve who I am as a person (well, in this case how I look more than who I am – but you catch my drift).

There's no better feeling (and there's equally no worse feeling) than borrowing a watch and immediately feeling like it's yours. I'm not talking about wearing it around town, masquerading as a person who can afford a $45,000 watch. I mean genuinely sensing, deep in your core, that this watch is spiritually yours. Staring at yourself in the mirror wearing it, building all your outfits around it, smugly waving your arm around at restaurants – why yes, waiter, I will have another round of martinis.

A snapback to the rude reality where I no longer own (or even "own") a solid 18-karat yellow gold Bulgari Octo Finissimo. Yes, this behavior is a little over the top. But it's not as though I fall in love every day. So when I do catch myself feeling weak at the knees, I know it's worth taking note. Listen, you gotta take your serotonin where you can get it.

Yellow Gold Only...The yellow gold Bulgari Octo Finissimo automatic hit hard for reasons beyond physical attraction. It had a more personal meaning to me. Rewind back to 2019, when I was just getting into the watch space. As I began to find my way around, I noticed that almost all precious metal novelties were produced in rose, pink, and red gold. But no yellow.

As somebody working in fashion with a pretty decent knowledge of what fashionable consumers want, I couldn't understand the disconnect. Everybody I knew coveted yellow gold. What was happening over in Switzerland? Why was everybody back in the motherland drunk on rose gold?

I went on a bit of a crusade, which has lasted unwaveringly for the past four years. In Vol. X of Hodinkee Magazine, I wrote an essay – more like a rant, or maybe a prayer to the watch gods – begging the industry to release more yellow-gold watches. And I very specifically asked for a yellow gold Octo Finissimo.

I get it, the ultrathin design has a distinct architecture that benefits from industrial-looking materials: Titanium and steel logically make the most sense. But if Bulgari can make the Octo Finissimo in rose gold, well, why not make it in yellow gold too? Why not play on a history the brand already has? The jewelry house was all about yellow gold back in its mid-century glory days.

Now here we are, and here it is. A golden Octo Finissimo. Rub the genie bottle enough times and you too might get what you wish for. It only comes in a limited run of 50 pieces and is available in the U.S. only – but that's better than nothing. And I recently got to spend a week with one on my wrist. Here are my besotted impressions.

Living La Dolce Vita...Before I fell into watches, I knew Bulgari as one of the world's most esteemed jewelry houses. If I thought of the name Bulgari then I automatically pictured Elizabeth Taylor on the set of Cleopatra in her Serpenti, or decked out in the giant diamond and emerald suite gifted to her by Richard Burton. I imagined Sophia Loren oozing glamor in colorful gemstones during Bulgari's 1960s dolce vita heyday or Sharon Stone bathed in cabochon rubies and yellow gold Monete on the set of Casino. A Technicolor Hollywood fantasy.

And to be honest with you, that's still how I look at Bulgari – though now I also consider the brand's serious technical watchmaking achievements. And its equally impressive fine watchmaking designs.

The designer Fabrizio Buonamassa Stigliani, who has been with the brand for 20 years – and who is the man responsible for melding together the Tubogas and Serpenti (up until 2009, the Tubogas had been made with Bulgari Bulgari dials) – clearly understands what it takes to design a beautiful standalone object that can also function as a timepiece.

The Octo Finissimo, like the Tubogas Serpenti, is a sculptural marvel. But unlike its curvaceous feminine counterpart, its lines are purely geometric. The ultrathin execution rests on the shoulders of Gérald Genta's Bi-Retro design and has built a deserved reputation of its own as a 21st-century icon. And yes, I know I'm guilty of throwing around the word "iconic" as part of my Millennial lexicon, but calling an actual product iconic in the literal sense is a totally different thing. Credit where credit is due.

Buonamassa Stigliani has managed to play on the quintessential Bulgari design language of manipulating shapes and geometrical elements. On the one hand, it's a very bold, at times aggressive-looking watch. But the magic lies in the ultrathin profile, in its ultra-sleek lines, and in its ultra-elegant Italian aura.

If you take a closer look at the watch, pretty much every component is ultrathin. Ok so it's 40mm in diameter, but it's a mere 6.40mm in height. From the hour markers and skeleton hands, all the way through to the bracelet links. Every element conveys the same message of thinness.

Unlike many of its monochromatic Octo Finissimo predecessors, this particular model has a different colored dial to its case and bracelet. Initially, I was put off by the brown; why would they do this to my yellow gold dream watch? After all, they left the rose gold alone to exist as a fluid wash of color. But this brown hits differently in person. The sunray-finished, brown-lacquered dial which I'm calling "metallic chocolate cigar" is deep and warm and – I hesitate to use this word but it's annoyingly appropriate – yummy.

Mechanical Movement Meets Avant-Garde Design...Naturally, an ultra-thin watch calls for an ultra-thin movement and super slim movements have become something of a Bulgari specialty. The brand has broken the record in various "thinnest mechanical watch" categories multiple times since 2014. From flying tourbillons to minute repeaters and self-winding movements, the Octo Finissimo is a huge part of the watch industry's drive for the "skinny legend" aesthetic.

The Octo Finissimo Automatic in yellow gold comes equipped with Caliber BVL 138, an automatic winding movement that features a platinum micro-rotor and a small seconds display. It measures a mere 2.23mm thick and 36.60 mm in diameter with a healthy power reserve of 60 hours.

Women who enjoy and purchase watches are often left to choose between good looks or mechanical credibility. Here's a watch that hits both notes equally as hard. And that's the really clever thing about Buonamassa Stigliani's design in yellow gold. It sits somewhere at the intersection between the glamorous and sexy sinuous form of the Serpenti and the serious watchmaking prowess achieved by the Octo Finissimo.

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