If you are a fan of both the column wheel and the steering wheel, you’d probably already loved seeing all the amazing watchmaking-automobile partnerships happening this year. Adding yet another option for the elegant petrolhead is Bulgari, with their latest Octo Maserati GranSport and GranLusso watches.
Given Bulgari’s proud stance on their strong Italian heritage, to look anywhere else for a motorcar partnership would be sacrilege; and so, in 2012 Bulgari and Maserati unveiled the first collection of collaboration watches with the Octo Quadri-Retro and the Octo Velocissimo Chronograph.
Five years on, they have renewed this partnership once again with two new watches. And what I really like about this new update is that these watches look like nothing else in the Bulgari lineup adding even more weight to its collector’s status. Both the Octo Maserati GranSport and GranLusso watches may not be limited editions, but they are reserved specifically for owners of Maserati cars.
The look of the watch is something quite unique as it plays on mimicking the way cars display their speedometer and tachometer. To achieve this, Bulgari used a vertical retrograde indication for the minutes while the jumping hours can be read through an aperture at the 3 o’clock position. The watch is powered by the in-house Retro BVL 262 calibre movement that is beautifully decorated with Côtes de Genève, chamfering and bevelling techniques and offers a 42 hour power reserve.
Both the GranSport and GranLusso watches offer the same movement but the former comes with a steel case treated with black DLC while the latter has an 18kt pink gold case, both in a 41.5mm size.
