HOROLOGICAL HIDE-AND-SEEK
This secret watch created by the Roman house is the perfect embodiment of the best of two worlds, watchmaking and goldsmithing, and is topped with an ancient silver denarius. While the case is spectacular, the bracelet, as supple as fabric, attracts all eyes.
It was in Milan, in its imposing boutique on Via Monte Napoleone, during the annual LVMH Watch Week, that the Roman house chose to surprise with its new secret watch. True to the tradition established in the 1960s, which contributed to the international growth of its reputation, Bvlgari transforms ancient coins, often 2,000 years old or more, into unique, timeless, and breathtaking objects, such as the Maglia Milanese Monete, which introduces centuries-old craftsmanship previously absent from the Italian jeweler’s collections.
As fluid as fabric and as sinuous as a snake, Bvlgari‘s emblematic animal, Milanese mesh is a technique dating back to the Renaissance that involves creating tightly intertwined links to form a kind of metal weave. Finished with a pin buckle, this silky bracelet is attached to a case, both in rose gold, whose octagonal cover edged with diamonds features a silver denarius coin bearing the profile of Emperor Caracalla (188-217).
Once this small cover is lifted, a white mother-of-pearl dial appears, encircled by radiating engravings. The iridescent disc features twelve diamond hour markers pointed by a pair of sword-shaped gold hands for displaying the central hours and minutes. The indications provided by the Maglia Milanese Monete are powered by the Piccolissimo BVP 100 hand-wound mechanical movement. This micro-caliber, which is 2.5 mm thick and vibrates at a gentle frequency of 21,600 vibrations per hour, provides a power reserve of approximately one and a half days.
