Bvlgari’s Jonathan Brinbaum Wants Luxury Watchmakers To Stop Recycling The Past

At Jaipur’s City Palace, 4,500 hand-sculpted terracotta elements came together to illuminate Passing the Light, Bvlgari’s first global Diwali campaign. Conceived by Indian artist Doyel Joshi, the installation drew on the familiar form of the diya, reimagined through the Serpenti’s unmistakable scales and brought to life in collaboration with Rajasthan’s traditional potter community and local craftswomen. For a house whose identity is so deeply rooted in Rome, the project offered an interesting point of intersection: two cultures, their respective craft traditions, and a shared understanding of how objects can carry meaning across generations.

For Jonathan Brinbaum, Managing Director of Bvlgari’s Watch Business Unit, such collaborations are part of a larger question of relevance. India has long understood the emotional and cultural significance of jewellery, but its growing appetite for mechanical watchmaking presents a different opportunity for the house. The challenge is to build on that interest without treating the country as a passing commercial opportunity.

There is a similar tension at the heart of Bvlgari’s approach to watchmaking. The house has spent the past decade establishing its horological credentials through the Octo Finissimo and its record-breaking ultra-thin movements, moving beyond its historic association with jewellery. Brinbaum believes the next chapter depends on pushing further. He is candid about what he considers a broader problem in the industry: established watchmakers that have spent too long revisiting familiar designs and calibres instead of innovating. In a tête-à-tête with Esquire India, he discusses the importance of heritage without stagnation, India's evolving relationship with luxury watches, and what it takes for a Roman house to make its mark in a business shaped by Swiss watchmaking.

Let's start with the easy question. What is on your wrist today?

This is the Octo-Finissimo 37mm in satin-polished titanium. It's the one going to the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) in the Time Only category.

You've been the head MD of the watch department for two years now. What has it been like till now?

Wonderful. I've been with Bvlgari for more than 10 years now. This brand is fascinating because it's so rich in its Roman heritage. The richness of Rome… you can feel it in many different areas of this company.

Before this, I was the head of travel retail for a brand in Europe. Watchmaking is another adventure because it is very emotional. The Octo-Finissimo is very deeply rooted in Switzerland, not just because it’s crafted in the Vallée de Joux, Jura or even Châtelain. It's a larger environment around us, which makes the journey very personal and very emotional. 

Many people, especially in India, associate Bvlgari with jewellery. How do you plan to make people associate the brand with watchmaking?

We started making watches almost 100 years ago. But they were, from the beginning, very inspired by jewellery. For years, we designed watches and bought calibres from outside because Bvlgari was not making calibres.

Take, for instance, the start of the Serpenti collection, which started in 1948. Those first watches in the 1950s and 1960s were designed by Bvlgari but incorporated Audemars Piguet, Vacheron Constantin, and other movements. We were a jewellery brand making watches. 

The real story of Bvlgari watchmaking started, I would say, in the mid-1970s. The mid-1970s was the launch of the Bvlgari watch. This very iconic bezel with 'Bvlgari' written twice was designed by Jean Bvlgari, with some help from Gérald Genta. This was an important step, because this was Bvlgari projecting itself into modern watchmaking.

Until the early 2000s, this was all very design-led. We designed watches, but we were not calibre manufacturers. The third moment of Bvlgari watchmaking came in this era, when Bvlgari decided to buy Gérald Genta and manufacturers to add to the calibre savoir-faire.

This opens to the last era of Bvlgari watchmaking, which we're in right now. It is based on the idea of designing and engineering our watch from start to finish, from the design to industrialisation. This is the stage where we decided to have thinness as our defining factor.

In 2014, after about 10 years of research, we arrived at the Finissimo, which was still a design-led idea, because the watch had to be thin to fit under the shirt and also linked with Italian elegance and so on. However, the technical aspect was also crucial, because no calibre on the market could fit the thickness we wanted. So we engineered them ourselves. What happened afterwards was a story of world records, with each complication chasing the next to prove that Bvlgari was legitimate.

Now, I think, we don't need to prove it in the industry anymore, because we have this set of records. Now, what is interesting is that we are legitimate. We are starting to be known in the industry, but I think many clients don't know us yet. And that's the challenge that we have. Now is the time for us to be more vocal about Bvlgari watchmaking. 

Bvlgari is a house with a rich history and heritage. How do you maintain the line between honouring that heritage and bringing in innovation?

It's a difficult exercise; we cannot forget the DNA of what we are, the brand and the icons that we have. Serpenti is a good example. Finissimo is a more recent but still very valid example. 

Each time we're developing a new product, we need to go back to our archives. I've always asked my teams to go back to who we are, go back to what the brand is, because otherwise, we will be gone. That's the first step. Launching a product that isn't linked to who we are would be a mistake.

But only having that heritage will not protect us in the future. And no offence to big brands— some of the big brands in watchmaking have forgotten to innovate over the last 20 years, recycling a lot of the old designs and old calibres that they had. I think this is a mistake.

Obviously, you need to nurture the icons. And I have a lot of respect for all the icons in the watch industry. But it's also our duty to keep innovating, to bring new technologies, challenges, and a new approach.

You see this with the rise of independent watchmaking lately; I think it's also an answer to those brands that forgot to innovate. Clients and collectors want new things. They want innovation. They want things happening like in any industry; they're passionate people. And this is why we've never stepped back. We've never slowed down. We've always brought technical innovations. That's the fine line that we need to have as a brand, which is always going back to our roots and who we are, but at the same time challenging ourselves in bringing something new.

Lately, India is being touted as the next big market for luxury. What makes it so different, and why now?

I like to say that I don't see India as a short-term commercial opportunity. I'd rather see it as a long-term growth engine. 

India has a very long-lasting history in jewellery. It's 3,000 years of history, like what you see in Egypt, China, and in some European countries—a very strong link with gold, jewellery, and ornaments can be seen in these countries. For the future, this shows that jewellery brands have a lot to say because there is this inner emotion and love for jewellery linked to the culture of India that makes it relevant.

The thing that is interesting now is that watchmaking is becoming a new field. Because younger generations and new clientele are willing to discover more about technical watchmaking, which maybe was not the case a few years back. So, is it the right moment? I don't know.

It's just that there's traction, there's a curiosity, and there's this will to discover more about watchmaking, like jewellery, over the last decades. Combined with the economic growth that India is generating, it makes the region very interesting. But where we need to be careful is that we at Bvlgari want to create a long-term growth story. We are making sure that we are intentionally but also wisely approaching the markets and making sure that we are relevant with what clients are expecting.

If you had three words to introduce Bvlgari and its watchmaking to Indian clients, what would they be?

I would say Roman design. It’s two words, but you get the idea. I would also say innovation, in the sense of world records, that we have always been pushing the boundaries of what technical watchmaking is about. 

And last, I would say generosity, because I also believe that more and more luxury brands are offering products, but we are also offering experiences; we are offering emotions.

And I think when a woman, for instance, buys a Tubogas watch, she's not only buying a watch; she's buying something that resonates with her. 

This generosity is important for us at Bvlgari because without this connection that we have managed to create, the icon would not be what it is. So that's who we are, which is very true to, again, this Italian movement.

And finally, would we expect more India-inspired watches, or more collabs, in the next few years?

Yes, I think what is important is to try to stay relevant to our clients. I don't know if it will be a product or if it will be a collaboration. We just celebrated Diwali in Jaipur with an artistic collaboration with a local artist through the Passing the Light exhibition.

For me, this is a good example of trying to come as who we are. This exhibition had 4,500 lights that is customary to Diwalis, but at the same time the scale of this exhibition also alluded to a Serpentine. I like it a lot because it was very true to who we are and bringing something that is very Bvlgari, but at the same time resonating with the Indian culture.

And this is what I'm willing to do more and more. Not, you know, a design meant to be an Indian design or a collaboration meant to be just talking about Bvlgari. I think what is crucial is making something that is relevant.

And this requires hard work. This requires going back to our archive, looking at who we are as a brand. Passing the Light is a good example of when there's a field where the brand can resonate with what the local culture can have.

This obviously will keep happening more in the future.