Bulgari Daniel Roth Tourbillon Chrono Rattrapante Watch

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed)
May 1st 2010 at 12:01PM

I am not sure exactly what is happening to the Daniel Roth visual aesthetic now that Bulgari has officially sunken its teeth into the each watch by having Bulgari branding. A small "Daniel Roth" label lives at the bottom next to the name of the movement. Looks like the branding message going forward is Bulgari design and character, with Daniel Roth movements - or something like that. This watch takes the (presumably new or newer) Calibre 8300 manually wound tourbillon movement with rattrapante (split second) chronograph and fumbles with a design to stick it in. From an academic standpoint the Calbire 8300 is an interesting a well laid out movement. The dial has a subsidiary watch face, with an emphasis on the 30 minute chronograph mechanism. It also has an exposed tourbillon window, and a power reserve indicator for the movement. All necessary things, and laid out well, in a logical, user friendly way. Though. when it comes down to it, this is a watch almost exclusively for collectors. The pool of people that need a very expensive watch that gives most of the dial real estate to a split second chronograph is minimal.

While the indicators on the dial are laid out logically with a good eye for symmetry, the style of the dial and the colors used just don't do it for me. The dial has an excessive amount of little hash marks. So many that they feel visually distracting. That and the many vertical lines of the texturing on the darker, brushed segment of the dial (done in blackened gold), feel overwhelming. The split personality of the dial (to compliment the split second chronograph?) is an interesting ideal in theory artistically, but I am not buy it here. There are just too many colors on the dial that want to be dominant, but aren't. Gold, white, various shades of black, and blue. It doesn't feel cohesive - I feel like I am looking at two watches mushed together. Reminds me of Two Face from Batman. In a sense it is. The design of the watch is a mixture of Bulgari and Daniel Roth. This new exercise in blending the two is feeling contrived. Neither is winning, and results feel a bit forced.

The Bulgari Daniel Roth Tourbillon Chrono Rattrapante comes in a big size of 46mm wide for this case style. It is in 18k rose gold, with pretty large pushers and a crown. There is also a pusher built into the crown (probably for the rattrapante complication). Overall, an interesting movement is hampered down by a less than satisfying design. The watch tries to be both Bulgari and Daniel Roth at the same time, and in the end it is neither. It isn't a bad piece, and if the design speaks to you, then by all means you should consider it. Though from my point of view Bulgari should go back to the drawing board and build a better case and dial for this movement.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: bulgari, bvlgari, chrono, chronograph, daniel roth, rattrapante, tourbillon, watch