At Watches and Wonders 2026, Bvlgari design chief Fabrizio Buonamassa Stigliani unveils the Octo Finissimo 37mm, a miniaturised yet upgraded evolution of the 2014 icon. Weighing just 65g with a new 2.35mm self-winding calibre and 72-hour power reserve, it answers demand for smaller watches while preserving the Octo’s sharp geometry and enhancing comfort, finishing and daily-wear versatility.
When we sit down for a chat at the Bvlgari booth at Watches and Wonders 2026, Fabrizio Buonamassa Stigliani, the brand’s product creation executive director, has a display tray with the newest Octo Finissimo in front of us. One look at the Octo Finissimo 37mm watch and you understand why it is highly regarded among wearers.
The Octo Finissimo changed the world of watchmaking when it was first launched in 2014. Twelve years on, the watch has adopted a smaller profile. Lighter on the wrist, at just 65g, the watch has a new self-winding calibre that measures just 2.35 mm in height, with a diameter of only 31 mm. With a 72-hour power reserve, that is three full days, it remains a daily wear watch of the highest order.
Stigliani explains what it took to make Bvlgari’s flagship watch smaller, developing a brand-new movement and heeding to what customers wanted without changing the Octo’s aesthetic.
It was a watch we had in mind for almost five years. Because today, the biggest trend in the watchmaking industry is smaller watches. We started receiving requests about a smaller Octo.
The Octo is not a common round shape watch. Even if it's just 40 millimeters, the design of the Octo is more or less a square watch. It always looks bigger than its actual size. To make the watch smaller, we had to develop a brand-new movement.
We started to imagine this evolution five years ago. We produced the most strategic movement in our manufacturing site in recent years. You have to find space when you have to produce a new movement. We were already in production with other movements, like the Piccolissimo. Three years ago, we decided to develop the new movement for the Octo Finissimo 37.
In the past, we had discussions about different sizes: the 36, 37, 38 and 39. From a performance and technical point of view of the movement, the watchmaster immediately said the 36-mm case would be too small for what we had in mind: screwing crown, improving the power reserve, different kind of features.
We immediately started developing the 37. Sizes 38 and 39 were so close to the 40, that it was very difficult to see the difference. From the first moment, the 37 was the right choice.
The Octo Finissimo arrived on the market almost 15 years ago. We had a long list of needs from collectors, from clients, but even ourselves around the watch: we wanted to have a push button on the buckle, improve the power reserve, change the finishing, have a different bracelet and improve the thickness of the dial.
All these things, at the end, created the 37 Octo Finissimo. It's not just the miniaturisation but improvement in every single area. It's the best Octo Finissimo we were able to produce in our facilities. The movement is the cherry on the cake. It's art.
When we presented a new Octo, we didn't present a new aesthetic. The idea was to be consistent with the 37. If you change the aesthetic, the 40 becomes older. It's not right to create something just for change or because you need a new line. The Octo Finissimo is still a young watch.
It's a very complex shape with a lot of different layers. The idea from the beginning was not to have an ultra-thin watch. We already broke a lot of records on the 40 and the Ultra. So, the 37 had to be more versatile with different kinds of execution, compared to the 40.
It's very easy to make a mistake on this watch. It's very easy to make a small watch for gentlemen, but it could still be a big watch for ladies. The idea was to have a wider crowd around the Octo Finissimo and find an interesting compromise between the watch's iconic design and the requests we received from the market.
Titanium was the aesthetic of the Octo Finissimo. The first Octo Finissimo was a tourbillon, manual winding in gold case, with a common finishing, polished and brushed. But the real milestones in terms of the aesthetic on the Octo family arrived with the minute repeater. It was the first watch with sunblasted case, bracelet and dial.
From that moment, the sunblasted titanium became an aesthetic of the Octo Finissimo. The idea was to play with common materials in watchmaking industry, but in an unconventional way.
After the sunblasted titanium, we arrived at the sunblasted rose gold. That was something very cool, and even today, there are collectors that are looking for (the) sunblasted rose gold (variant), because it was on the market for a very short time at the beginning.
We moved to double finishing on the gold version, but we still receive requests about the sunblasted gold. We can create a very Bvlgari, one-of-a-kind metal alloy, but at the end, the result will be always the same in terms of colour.
The platinum is a noble execution for us. We put the blue bridges on the movement and the platinum bracelet. The watch is very heavy, but it's still interesting because this is an ultra-thin watch. So you don't expect all this weight.
The idea is to address a challenge. The main plate of the movement on the platinum, for instance, is still in tungsten carbide. But the case and bracelet are made in platinum.
It's very difficult to make the Ultra. That's why, for the platinum (variant), we make just 10 pieces per year.
It's a watch for someone who is familiar with these kinds of watches: exotic watches, crazy solutions. It's for the pinnacle of watch collectors.
Even today, I'm impressed when I see a Finissimo Ultra on the wrist of some clients. For us, the Octo Finissimo Ultra is still a dream today. It's a very three-dimensional watch from the top view. But when you turn the watch, you see how insane it is.