Baselworld 2019: Bulgari debuts the world’s thinnest mechanical chronograph

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Baselworld 2019: Bulgari debuts the world's thinnest mechanical chronograph

Here'southward the skinny on the Octo Finissimo Chronograph GMT Automatic, which at half-dozen.9mm is as gaunt as stopwatches come.

23 Mar 2022 06:30AM (Updated: 04 Jul 2022 03:58PM)

Blame it on Bulgari's kinship with the manner and moving picture worlds. The Italian jeweller and watchmaker is obsessed with developing timepieces that are borderline anorexic. Fatty-shaming? At that place'due south none of that here; please directly your guilt trips towards other watchmakers.

It all started in 2022 with the Octo Finissimo Tourbillon, which smashed records to become the world'south thinnest tourbillon. Then came 2016's Octo Finissimo Minute Repeater, also a tape-buster. In 2017, the Octo Finissimo Automatic briefly snagged the title of thinnest automatic watch, merely to be pipped by Piaget's 910P just a few months later on.

The Octo Finissimo Chronograph GMT Automatic. (Photo: Bulgari)

But Bulgari fired a salvo in 2022 with the Octo Finissimo Automatic Tourbillon, reclaiming the medal for thinnest automated watch and swiping the crown for thinnest tourbillon watch in one fell swoop.

This time, a new record is being ready by the Octo Finissimo Chronograph GMT Automatic. As you tin probably gauge, it's the world's skinniest mechanical chronograph. With a case just 6.9mm in height, the model is a truthful waif.

The platinum peripheral rotor is visible through the sapphire case dorsum. (Photo: Bulgari)

Powering this wisp of a sentinel is a wafer-like movement, BVL 318, which is a mere 3.3mm in height – the thinnest automatic chronograph calibre ever manufactured. To achieve this level of skinny, Bulgari's watchmakers used a solid platinum peripheral rotor instead of a typical oscillating mass to drive the engine. You lot can witness the rotor in motion through the see-through case dorsum.

For travellers, at that place's also a useful GMT (or second timezone) function, indicated by the 24-hour counter at 3 o'clock. This is adjusted via the pusher at 9 o'clock. Cased in titanium, the Octo Finissimo Chronograph GMT Automated gives off a cool, urban, technical vibe thanks to the sandblasted finishing on the dial and bracelet.

Myers Baged1956

Baselworld 2019: Bulgari debuts the world’s thinnest mechanical chronograph

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