Now Live: Bulgari Octo Finissimo Tadao Ando Limited Edition, Ref. 103245, Sandblasted Titanium

Now live: a Bulgari Octo Finissimo Tadao Ando Limited Edition, ref. 103245, in sandblasted titanium. Created with the celebrated Japanese architect and made in just 200 pieces for the Japanese market, it takes the record-breaking Octo Finissimo and reduces it to a single engraved spiral: no markers, no logo, nothing else. It was the first of the Bulgari and Ando collaborations, and it remains the essential one.

Why It Matters

Bulgari’s watchmaking credibility was built quietly through the acquisitions of Gérald Genta and Daniel Roth’s workshops in 2000. The Octo Finissimo, launched in 2014, is where that expertise became impossible to ignore, and in 2017 the Octo Finissimo Automatic arrived: a 40mm sandblasted titanium watch just 5.15mm thick, powered by the 2.23mm BVL 138 with a platinum micro-rotor, at the time the thinnest automatic watch in the world.

Two years later, Bulgari handed its dial to Tadao Ando. A self-taught architect from Osaka, Ando built his reputation on raw concrete, pure geometry and light, in works such as the Church of Light in Osaka and 21_21 Design Sight in Tokyo. On the Octo he removed the hour markers and the Bulgari name entirely and engraved a single spiral radiating outward from the small seconds, like ripples spreading across still water. Bulgari described the motif as a symbol of the black hole from which time is born.

The material completes the idea. In sandblasted titanium, the faceted Octo case takes on the matte grey of Ando’s concrete, and the watch is remarkably light on the wrist. Ando and Bulgari have since returned to the spiral in later editions, including a 160-piece black ceramic version with a blue lacquered dial, but ref. 103245 is the original, and the one that defined the series.

This Example

Ref. 103245 in sandblasted titanium on its integrated titanium bracelet, with Ando’s spiral dial and a sapphire caseback bearing his signature and the Tadao Ando Limited Edition inscription.

Specifications

Model

Octo Finissimo Automatic, Tadao Ando Edition

Reference

103245

Edition

Limited to 200 pieces, Japanese market

Case

40mm x 5.15mm sandblasted titanium, faceted octagonal, sapphire caseback signed by Tadao Ando

Dial

Grey, no markers or logo, engraved spiral from the small seconds

Movement

BVL 138, ultra-thin automatic, 2.23mm, platinum micro-rotor, 60 hours

Bracelet

Integrated sandblasted titanium, folding clasp

Price

$28,888

View the listing