Bulgari: the luxury jewelry watch, a priority for the Serpenti

Bulgari watches are buzzing, as Serpenti jewelry celebrates its 75th anniversary this year. All traditional watch and jewelry houses must find the right balance between their history and reinvention. Antoine Pin, CEO of Bulgari’s watch division since September 2019, spoke to the New York Times about how he sees the future of Bulgari luxury watches. And thanks to an innovation in the manufacture of Tubogas, a new era is dawning for Serpenti watches.

Gently reinventing the Bulgari watch

“ My job is to surprise people, but not too much. I play a balancing act, ” Pin said. “ We have to constantly question our reason for being to develop products that make sense, but that remain true to who we are. ”

During the interview, Mr. Pin discussed the brand’s new focus on women’s mechanical watches, the biggest challenges facing the industry and the big topic of 2023: the 75th anniversary of the Serpenti design , a hallmark of Bulgari jewelry.

For the ^75th anniversary of Bulgari Serpenti, Infinity reinvents the Tubogas with Infinity

How do you intend to renew the concept of the Serpenti watch?

We have always considered Serpenti Tubogas as a jewelry watch. As such, we can set the case or dial with diamonds . However, for technical reasons we could not do the same with the bracelet of a Serpenti . We were so close to a complete jewelry watch, but so far at the same time.

Fabrizio Buonamassa Stigliani, the executive director of product creation, however, refused to give up. According to him, we must not persist in the technique of the past. On the contrary, we must find an innovative way to combine technology and design. The result? A new technique for making Tubogas thanks to individual rings of thicker gold.

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Thanks to this, the rings of the Serpenti bracelet can be set with diamonds or precious stones, can be engraved. That is why we named it Serpenti Infinity , because the new design possibilities are endless. Now we can take a real jeweler's approach, which is what we are. The creative future of Serpenti watches is secured for another 75 years.

Jewelry watches, the priority of Bulgari watches

Bulgari has had success with the Octo line of watches for men. Is this now a strategic product?

Octo is our largest collection of luxury men’s watches. This timepiece is in high demand. However, the theme of LVMH Watch Week was “ Time is a Jewel ,” as we unveil the new Serpenti Infinity watches , Diva’s Dream jewelry, and other women’s watches. This will be a focal point.

We want to find solutions to combine the techniques of jewelry and watchmaking in high jewelry watches. It is a narrow territory at the moment. Only a few brands have the expertise to venture there. We want to be part of it. Having high watchmaking calibers for high jewelry watches sets us apart.

This is a return to jewelry watches . We believe this is an added value for the watch industry. Our Italian heritage combined with our watchmaking and jewelry expertise makes us stand out from all other brands. By miniaturizing our movements and creating mini-tourbillons and other complicated watches, we can offer very high-level watches inspired by our Italian roots.

Luxury watches: shortage looms due to lack of skilled craftsmen, and not just at Bulgari

What is the biggest challenge facing Bulgari, and luxury watchmaking in general?

The real challenge is the ability to meet demand . The truth is that we are behind in production. Most of our products require a lot of know-how and labor to create. And there is a real labor shortage right now.

For years, we have not invested enough in watchmaking training. We have actually lost some schools. So it is difficult to find talent. There is interest in the profession. But we have to train candidates , and that takes time. Finding trainers to help us meet the demand for training is also difficult, for us and for other houses.

We have built our own Bulgari school. It remains modest, but we are developing the concept. We have identified 3 areas of action:

• School education for young people aged 16 and over
• Continuing education for people who want to improve their level or even change their skills
• Making our most experienced, knowledgeable craftsmen into teachers

As teachers, they are masters of their techniques, but now they can pass on this know-how , and that is vital. Teaching and coaching are a way for these people to be proud of their journey.