Bulgari’s Brinbaum shows his feminine side

In his welcoming remarks at last week’s gala dinner concluding LVMH Watch Week in Milan, Jean-Christophe Babin, CEO of LVMH Watches, emphasized the huge potential for ladies watches, particularly at Bulgari. 

“Watchmaking is a bit too masculine, and we are fighting at Bulgari to be a bit more feminine,” he said.

This ethos was echoed by Jonathan Brinbaum, managing director of Bulgari Watches, as he presented the new models in the Bulgari boutique on Milan’s famous luxury shopping promenade, Via Montenapoleone.

“We start this Watch Week going back to who we are at Bulgari, which is ladies,” says Brinbaum. “Let’s go back to who we are as a brand, which is a jeweler.”

The new rose gold Maglia Milanese Monete (€157,000) embodies the fusion of jewelry and mechanical watchmaking with a new expression of the brand’s popular Monete collection, featuring authentic Roman coins.

Nicola Bulgari, vice chairman of the brand and grandson of founder Sotirios Bulgari, was an avid coin collector who introduced his passion for numismatics into jewelry in the mid-1960s.

“At that time, Bulgari brought Italian heritage from the empire into the designs,” Brinbaum says. “This is a collection that we brought back two, three years ago in jewelry. We had a very good reaction from clients on revisiting patrimony and buying actual pieces of art, because each of those coins is unique and has an interesting value.”

Bulgari sources the 2,000-year-old coins from Zurich-based Numismatica Ars Classica, the premier dealer specializing in Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Italian coins. “It’s a big process because each coin has to go through the ministry of heritage in Italy because they are used as commercial items,” says Brinbaum. “But it creates value because each one of them comes with a certificate.”

The first series features a coin bearing the visage of Caracalla, who ruled the Roman empire from 198 to 217 AD. Bulgari acquired a batch of 20 Caracalla coins, so the launch is limited to 20 pieces. Any future models will feature different coins with different emperors.

Perhaps the most noteworthy aspect of the Maglia Milanese Monete is evident in the name, its Milanese mesh bracelet made by employing a specialized technique of interlacing fine gold threads developed by Milanese goldsmiths during the Renaissance.

This use of a Milanese bracelet is a first for the brand. “We looked in our archives for anything with this very iconic technique in watchmaking, but we have never tried it,” says Brinbaum, noting that the bracelets are produced outside of the house through a collaboration. 

“We had to do it with care because this kind of bracelet was often used in entry-level watches, even Apple did it,” he says. “It was a lot of work to find the right flexibility and, at the same time, the intensity of the high-end.”

The quality is evident in the suppleness and fluidity of the bracelet, which achieves flexibility with thickness, a challenging balance to get just right. Bulgari also opted for a pin buckle closure, further distinguishing the design.

“We wanted a classical buckle, which for me brings a bit more classicism and elevation in the creation,” says Brinbaum. “It’s an aesthetic choice—and also not to fall into the trap that I mentioned, which is that Milanese may look a bit entry level.”

Another elevating characteristic is the movement, the Piccolissimo BVP 100, a manufacture manual-winding mechanical micro-movement (2.5 mm thick), built off the BVL 100 Piccolissimo introduced in 2022 for high-end Serpentis, but with a new winding system.

“The most interesting, for me, is that all the work we’ve been doing over the last decade about mastering thinness—and of course, we keep applying it to Finissimo—and now we’re also exploring miniaturization for women,” says Brinbaum.

Also making its debut in Milan is the Tubogas Manchette, revisiting an archival piece from 1974, with a striking coiled yellow gold bracelet set with many carats of diamonds and an array of Bulgari’s signature colored gems. The engine inside is the Lady Solotempo BVS 100 manufacture self-winding mechanical movement, which debuted last year, decorated with the Bvlgari logo and sunray motif.

But are women actually purchasing mechanical watches for themselves? “You still have men offering mechanical watches to ladies, but also more and more ladies are buying mechanical watches for themselves,” Brinbaum confirms.

He adds that in the Serpenti Seduttori line, which introduced two new automatic models in Milan, more men purchase the automatic version over the quartz. However, more women are also buying automatics for themselves. The price difference is about €2,000 to €3,000, which is basically the cost of the movement.

“Starting the year with women for us is important, because it’s still more than two-thirds of our business,” Brinbaum says. “That’s where we were born from, and it’s very interesting to see many more ladies interested in true watchmaking.”