Jean-Cristophe Babin, CEO of Bulgari, is a busy man. He has travelled quite a distance with the brand this year, with launches at the LVMH Watch Week Singapore in January and Watches and Wonders in March. He is set to announce more novelties at the Geneva Watch Days (GWD) in April 2024.
We caught up with him to know more about Bulgari’s new launches, plans for the year and the upcoming boutique launch in Mumbai.
Edited excerpts from an interview.
Tell us about the Geneva Watch Days novelties.
We wanted to focus on the end of the year, which is the key consumption period with the Golden Week — Deepavali in India, Thanksgiving in the US, then Christmas and New Year over the world, followed by the Chinese New Year.
For men, we decided to come back with a concept of CarbonGold, which was invented 20 years ago in the Bulgari Bulgari line, but with a totally different carbon and plated gold. We applied it with forged carbon. To add contrast, we decided to go for gold for the hands and the indexes. It is probably one of the easiest to read perpetual calendars in the market today.
We also decorated the case back, which is also in gold except the rotor, which is in platinum. Despite all that gold, this piece is much lighter than the titanium version, which was the first minute repeater within Finissimo and a record-holder within the genre. As an extension, we also decided to develop an hour minute second movement with the same material — carbon and gold — offering the same enhanced readability. A very similar look, but obviously at a price point which appeals to different clientele. So those two pieces are really probably the front-runners of further extension of Finissimo.
You have got eight world records since 2014 on thinness for Finissimo. What can we expect in the future? Do we see a lot of play with materials? Where do you want to take it?
Well, I think that on the thickness, we’re probably reaching the limit of what a watch versus a concept watch is and as we want to do watches, not concept watches. Finissimo Ultra weighed only 43 grams. It is very time-consuming to craft, but it will never be a daily watch. This is a daily watch. So the idea really is to further push Finissimo with different materials and to position it as a mainstream contemporary elegant watch.
Slim fit has been the revolution in ready-to-wear and the watches have to follow because watches being an accessory, you need to fit it with your dressing style. And this is the future of Octo Finissimo. We might even have some Octo Finissimo versions a bit thicker if we feel that the aesthetic balance is better. It won’t be a world record, but I think the real record which matters is the emotional connection.
You are also opening a boutique in Mumbai. So, how do you see India shaping up and what are your plans for the India market?
It is coming to Mumbai because basically we are very driven by luxury malls. This is why luxury scores in China. The Chinese have been investing heavily in luxury malls everywhere. And so it has been quite a no-brainer for luxury brands to sell in China because there is infrastructure. In India it is taking more time.
We have already signed Priyanka Chopra as a frontrunner of our Indian conquest. She’s also advising us on jewellery. The Bulgari mangalsutra was her idea and we executed it. We are coming soon with other initiatives from her, which is a twist of more jewel resonating more with Indians. But yes, India definitely is very high on the radar, and has a huge development opportunity together with countries like Vietnam, which also has big potential. So I think the next decade could be India’s; the last belonged to China.
