Bvlgari x MB&F Serpenti Watch
The Bvlgari x MB&F Serpenti Watch represents a unique creation, born from an inspired encounter and a shared vision, where calibre and design seamlessly enhance one another.
MB&F and Bvlgari are worlds apart, and yet share an unexpected connection that gives birth to one-of-a-kind creations that challenge horological conventions. After the success of the LM FlyingT Allegra, both brands are proud to introduce the Bvlgari x MB&F Serpenti – an emblem of eternal rebirth and bold metamorphosis.
In 2021, sparked by a chance encounter a few years earlier between Fabrizio Buonamassa Stigliani, director of watchmaking creation at Bvlgari, and Maximilian Büsser, founder and creative director of MB&F, the two brands released a first collaboration bringing the exuberant, colourful world of Bvlgari jewellery into MB&F’s Legacy Machines. After the success of that collaboration, the two friends naturally wondered, what next?
Like an automobile, the view is radically different depending on whether you admire it from the front, the side, the top the back and all those views are as equally satisfying. Like a carefully-balanced equation with multiple variables, any adjustment to a particular angle or curve, although improving a certain view, can potentially destroy another.
Once perfected atheistically, the design then needed to be engineered and manufactured – and this generated a number of further challenges. The Bvlgari x MB&F Serpenti Watch case is all about curves, combined together to create a machining nightmare. The complex curves extend beyond the metal of the case to the sapphire crystals, including the snake’s eyes and the multi-faceted rear section – all treated with anti-reflective coating on both sides providing large openings on the movement.
Inside the complex was, an equally complex movement that breaks all traditional watchmaking conventions, conceived and developed in-house. The mechanical reptile’s brain is symbolized by the technically challenging, oversized 14mm flying balance wheel with four traditional regulating screws, beating at the traditional rate of 2.5Hz (18,000bph). It is firmly held in place thanks to a three-dimensional balance bridge bearing the two partners’ names. Separate crowns are actuated for winding and time-setting, incorporated in the rear lugs of the Bvlgari x MB&F Serpenti Watch.
