The Diagono Tourbillon is another strong showcase of BVLGARI's in-house watchmaking capabilities
from design to manufacturing of the key components -Dial, Case, Buckle & Bracelet and Movement.
2 pieces of the Diagono Tourbillon SHH with pink-gold case and maroon dial were
commissioned for Sincere Haute Horlogerie (SHH) 2008 series after the 2007 unique piece.
The actual BVLGARI version of the Diagono Tourbillon is of platinum case
with a dark grey (near black) dial and limited to 30 pieces.
They are all assembled by the same Master Watchmaker.
Starting with all the building blocks/parts in the BVLGARI plant ...
The specially machined pink-gold case with soldered lugs and see-through caseback,
movement-holder, dial, uncovered movement, tourbillon carriage
with polished screws and the signed SHH crown.
The only '2" pieces in the world
Gold-plated hands assembled and testing for alignment...
Securing the movement onto the case.
Placing the Power Reserve Indicator hand before fastening the see-through caseback.
One of the '2' completed.
A closer look at the actual piece starting with the dial work...
First impression, the actual piece looks better than many printed pictures and I hope the following pictures
(with my beginner skill) could bring out the beauty of this Diagono Tourbillon.
The dial just pops out at a certain angle to the lighting. The combination of pink-gold case
with the maroon dial is well-matched and gives a warm feeling.
The captivating
dial gives an impression of depth due to a top clear coating, as if a layer of sapphire
was placed on top (note the reflective surface of the above picture).
It seemed that the lines were covered with Urushi lacquer, reminding me of exquisite fountain pens.
Checked with BVLGARI, it is the galvanic treatment (done at
Cadrans Designs, one of the Bulgari
subsidiaries specializes in dial-making) over the radial and sunburst guilloche patterns
that gives the impression that there is a transparent coating.
The standout BVLGARI cartouche.
All four edges chamfered and brush-finished.
The hands were designed by BVLGARI designer centre. Notice that all the pink gold-plated hands
do not have counter-weights, as they are made in an “ajouré” (skeletonised) form.
I always wonder if it is difficult to polish the edges of the hollow sword-hands.
The minute and seconds tracks with circular brush-finished (as on the bezel) with chamfered and polished edges.
The tracks and the indices were hand applied.
Next the Case work by H. Finger SA. It is one of the most complicated cases I ever seen,extremely challenging to assemble.
As some may know the 'BVLGARI - BVLGARI' on the bezel was the work of designer Gerald Genta and was launched
since 1980. Though some may find the BVLGARI - BVLGARI logo on the bezel flamboyant, some just love it!
Regardless of preference, 2 points are interesting to note.
Bulgari could be the first to use logo as an intrinsic part of the watch design. I could remember Louis Vuitton as another.
The other point, the bezel with the logo required a lot of work. The logos were not engraved or laser-marked.
Referring to the diagram below, the deep and vertical (perpendicular to the surface) edges of the each
alphabets are achieved by multiple stamping-steps!
A total of
7 different stampings were done for each bezel to ensure the high definition of the alphabets.
After stampings, additional manual finishing steps continued :
(1) sandblasting (note the above picture, the inside of the alphabet is textured, giving a non-shine look, that provide a
contrast with a lustrous or brush-finished surface),
(2) “lapidage” (to flatten the bezel after the stampings) and
(3) the final polishing. For this Diagono Tourbillon, it is brush-finished while the Calibro is glossy-finished
on the top surface. Both models, the bezel were chamfered at 45 degree and gloss-finished.
Next is the 42mm case-band.
The casebands were milled out from a solid block of pink-gold.
After all the parts were individually polishing, the 2-part lugs have to be hand-soldered together first.
You may observe the joining seam of the 2-part lugs has a bit of solder remaining. It is due to the limitation of the process.
Next the caseband and bezel were welded to the lugs.
A close look at of the completed work...
Side view with the LE number engraved...
A view from the crown side...
The play of the shiny surface and alternate brushed surface provided interesting contrasting layering effect.
A closer look at the beautiful profile of the case with the SHH signed crown.
The Movement by Daniel Roth and Gerald Genta ...
Notice the black gold finishing on the movement?
High contrast with pink gold case.
This in-house manual winding movement was specially developed for BVLGARI by Daniel Roth and Gerald Genta
code-named Caliber BVL 200 which was also used in the
Bvlgari BB40 Tourbillon, Piece Unique in 2007.
Initially it seems to look similar to the movement of the Daniel Roth's Tourbillon Lumiere.
However, reply from Bulgari stated, " Following our policy all movements developed and
produced for BVLGARI are only used in BVLGARI watches.
The same policy applies for DR & GG too."
Caliber BVL200, consists of 200 parts and each manually finished and polished.
20 jewels and beating at 21,600 vph (3Hz) with a power reserve of 64 hours (the indicator is on the back).
The caliber diameter is 28mm and 4.38mm thick, weighing 15.9gm.
Black gold finishing is considered to be contemporary.
For this model, Bulgari decided to merge the best of traditional Haut de Gamme finishings with a
contemporary approach, thus Black Gold Galvanic process is adopted.
The picture below listed the 9 process steps :
A view of before and after black gold finishing.
Note the following areas with traditional finishings applied :
(1) Surface of the plate was “Traits-tirés” which was done entirely by hand, instead of Cote de Genève which is by a machine.
The difficulty was to ensure that all the lines were parallel and of the same depth to each others.
All these were determined by the skill of the craftsman.
(2) Satiné soleil (sunburst pattern) on the wheels
(3) Hand-applied power reserve applique with Clous de Paris guilloche
(4) Hand Chamfered tourbillon bridges
(5) All screw-heads were polished.
The level of finishing is top-notch and comparable to the top manufacturers!
The double anti-reflective coating on caseback gave impression that the back of the movement was exposed
as if the sapphire was not present.
The “see through” tourbillon movement ... several pics of the tourbillon in various position ....
The tourbillon bridge is completely manual chamfered.
It takes a craftsman with a file, at least 8 hours to complete one.
A closer view of the tourbillon ...
The carriage consists of 56 parts and weighs about 0.280 grams (only about 1.8% of the total weight of the whole caliber)!
A pic with the balance static ..
A stunning close up from the front ...
And zooming out .......
2 blades folding or
deployant buckle by
Prestige D'OR SA.
The pink gold buckle cover is a new design and with 2 different finishing -
brushed on the top surface and gloss on the sides.
The back of the clasp
I mentioned the Caliber BVL200 is also used in the Sincere's Edition 2007 BB40,
some pictures for the curious minds
Some pictures of the 2007 Bvlgari BB40 Tourbillon, Piece Unique 
The signed crown with the issued year ...
Cotes de Genève instead of "Traits-tirés" on the plate surface.
The BVLGARI subsidiaries which fabricated the key parts :
Wristshots to give a perspective how the pieces sat on the wrist ...
So which edition do you prefer after seeing both?
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Just watched the Iron Man DVD,and saw the Diagono Phases de Lune on the wrist of Robert Downey Jr .
In the show, the Iron Man exo-skeleton-armour went through 3 revisions.... and the last version, named MARK 3
reminded me of the hot rod colour scheme of the
Diagono Tourbillon SHH.
MARK 3
Thank you for reading.
Kong
