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Bulgari Gerald Genta Octo Bi-Retro Steel Ceramic review
Bulgari Gerald Genta Octo Bi-Retro
Steel Ceramic Watch
An "On-The-Wrist" Review
By Ed Woo - 'ED-209'
An "On-The-Wrist" Review
By Ed Woo - 'ED-209'
The Bulgari Gerald Genta Octo
Bi-Retro Steel Ceramic debuted at the Baselworld 2010 World Watch and
Jewelry Show and quickly earned accolades by winning the 2010 Watch of
the Year Prize awarded by the Swiss watch magazine Montres
Passion. My first exposure to this watch occurred in the last
quarter of 2010 while visiting the Bulgari Boutique at City Center in
Las Vegas. I was impressed with the overall aesthetics of the
watch and admired the integration of the angular rubberized
strap. When the opportunity came to select my first Bulgari
watch for review, the Octo Bi-Retro Steel Ceramic was a clear
choice for me.
I received the watch just one day before a vacation to Hawaii so I thought that it would be a good travel companion. The first test was made during the 5 hour directly flight into Honolulu and luckily the check-in process was uneventful. The watch was placed on my carry-on bag in an Oakley travel case and made it through fine. Setting the watch 3 hours behind was easy to do by simply pulling out the crown to the first position and setting the jumping hour.
The Bulgari Octo Bi-Retro Steel Ceramic performed well with casual outings at the beach. Even with abrasive sand the ceramic bezel was still in perfect condition with no signs of scratches or marks.
The sportiness of the watch complimented the casual dress code in Hawaii. Even in an upscale restaurant I was able to coordinate my brightly colored Hawaiian Aloha shirt with the Bulgari watch. We had a long conversation with the master chef at a new Kaiseki restaurant in the Ala Moana area just west of Waikiki and he mentioned that most of his diners took pics of food (which I naturally did as well) but this was the first time he has ever seen anyone take a picture of a watch. The chef said that also have never seen this before but really like the strong lines and angles of the Bulgari watch.
A week later after I returned from my vacation I had more time to really examine the watch and look at the details and overall design of the Bulgari Octo Bi-Retro Steel Ceramic. So let's start with an overview of the watch. Here's a video rotating at various angles including the caseback and the clasp.
Next, let's take a look at the dial. The Gerald Genta Collection is well known for the jumping hour and retrograde display and the Octo Bi-Retro Steel Ceramic showcases this complication legibly on the dial. The jumping hour is framed with a polished silver colored window at the 12 o’clock position with the retrograde minutes on the upper half of the dial. I was impressed to see that a closeup of this window shows evenly bright polishing around this area.
Here's a closeup of the hour window:
The minute hand sweeps across a 210 degree arc with a scale that has 10 minute graduations and finer seconds on the inner scale. The large 10 minute markers are easy to read in broad daylight but nothing on the dial is luminous. I wish at least the markers or the jumping hour would have had lume so that it would be easier to read in dim lighting.
If you look closely you can see these individual seconds markings through the skeletonized minute hand.
To enhance readability the ceramic bezel itself has 6 polished steel studs that are integrated and line up to each of the 10 minute graduations.
The bezel is made of a ceramic material and provides a visually striking contrast with the alternating polished and matte stainless steel case. You can see the attention to detail that the Bulgari watch designers have made with the thin flange or lip around the bezel. The mixture of a round bezel with a matching octagon shaped flange adds a complete and harmonious design element to the overall watch. When I had the photo session with the watch on Waikiki beach the bezel did pick up a few tiny pebbles of sand wedged in between the flange but it was easily brushed off.
The inner bezel is octagon shaped and matte polished which is a fitting design element that compliments the angles of the watch. It frames the dial and makes it look like the outer case angles continues into the dial itself.
The BVLGARI logo is printed slightly above center in small font that doesn’t distract from the overall dial and neither does the Gerald Genta logo in the 6 o’clock position below the retrograde date.
One of the things I found interesting during the review was the actual movement of the retrograde minutes and the jumping hour. To the naked eye it seemed almost instantaneous during the transition of the hour. Bulgari made a wise decision to use the skeletonized minutes hand because if you watch really carefully in the the video below you can see through the hand and watch the minute track. Once it positions perfectly in the middle and frames the 60 minute marker the movement flicks the retrograde minute hand back over to beginning of minute scale and starts over.
Another point that I tested was how the retrograde date works in relation to the retrograde minutes and jumping hour. I reset the watch to 11:59pm. I wanted to see if everything was synchronized to reset over to the next day exactly at 12:00am. I took a longer video which was nearly 6 minutes and found that the jumping hour and minute hand switch over precisely at 12:00am. However the retrograde date started slowing transitioning from the 20th to the 21st of the month. It took approx. 8 minutes past midnight for the date to switch over. The video is under 2 minutes long, but you can skip to the 00:43 sec timeframe to see the jump to 12:00am midnight.
I don’t have any real concerns about this, it was just an observation that I thought would be interesting to find out.
Regards,
ED-209
This message has been edited by ED209 on 2011-12-01 23:11:47 This message has been edited by ED209 on 2011-12-08 20:35:09
Bulgari Gerald Genta Octo Bi-Retro Steel Ceramic review
Bulgari Gerald Genta Octo Bi-Retro Steel Ceramic Watch An "On-The-Wrist" Review By Ed Woo - 'ED-209' The Bulgari Gerald Genta Octo Bi-Retro Steel Ceramic debuted at the Baselworld 2010 World Watch and Jewelry Show and quickly earned accolades by winning t...
Bulgari Gerald Genta Octo Bi-Retro Steel Ceramic review PART 2
One of the intriguing details on the Octo Bi-Retro Steel Ceramic is the deployant buckle. The rubberized strap is connected to a solid stainless steel butterfly deployant clasp. I actually prefer a deployant over a standard tang buckle as I find it easier...
Thanks DRMW, what do you think of this version versus the original?
Hi DRMW, I know you're a fan of the GG Octo Retro watches and wanted to get your thoughts on this watch. What do you think of this new version versus the original? I personally like this new version better than the old because the dial looks better with t...
IMO...
The prefer the new dial and agree on the pints that you and horogasm mentioned about the newer version. -MW
Can't wait for part 3...
Lots of design features that you pointed out in this watch that I overlooked when I first viewed the watch. Very interesting and well thought out design. Thanks!
Thanks for the comments
Hi Patrick, Thanks for reading the review! I'm preparing part 3 and will have it up tomorrow evening. Regards, ED-209
Bulgari Gerald Genta Octo Bi-Retro Steel Ceramic review Part 3
The Bulgari Gerald Genta Octo and Gefica collections both share a common design element which is the studded crown. For the Octo Bi-Retro Steel Ceramic the watch is fitted with a polished stainless steel studded crown with an onyx cabochon. This crown was...
One of the things I like about this model
is the contrast between the black ceramic bezel and the steel case. Having a different color and/or material for the bezel often looks better and makes the case more interesting. I would like to see a rose gold case with a black ceramic bezel. The rapidit...
Thoughts on the Octo Bi-Retro Steel Ceramic
Hi Stewart, Cool, I didn't know that you tried on the rose gold bi-retro and quad-retro in LV. Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts! Regards, ED-209
Came back...
Thank you for the review Ed! In agreement about the movement, wished they had some sort of different decoration. Also wished they performed chamfering on the edges of the rotor. Thanks again for the wonderful pictures and review!
This is a much improved design over the original GG, IMHO.
Cleaner, more legible, and more "sculptured" then before. The way time is displayed is so instinctive to read. The date window is slightly fan shaped, and can accommodate two digit dates without "cramping" them. And the skeleton minute hands has a suffici...
The current version of the Octo Bi-Retro over the original
Hi Horo, Agreed on all point about the dial details and crown. And thanks again for sharing your thoughts on this watch! Regards, ED-209
Ed, what a thorough review.
First off, thank you for the wonderfully detailed examination of this watch. There is a lot to like about it. It sure is a masculine design. Several times in the past I flirted with the Bi Retro white gold / tantalum piece. I have always been intrigued by...
It sure is a masculine design
Thanks Michael for your thoughts on the Bulgari watch and for reading the review. I recall handling the GG Bi-Retro white gold and tantalum piece at a PuristS Gerald Genta event a few years ago and remember that it was a pretty hefty piece and the 45mm di...
An excellent review Ed
I think you gave a great depiction of what it would be like to own and wear the Octo Bi-Retro along with superb close-up pictures. I always liked Bulgari's version of this watch because of its modernization of the piece and the cleaner lines. Thank you fo...
Thanks for reading the review and the compliments
Still learning how to use the settings on my little point and shoot Canon Powershot SD970IS, aperture: f/9, ISO speed: 80, exposure: 1/60 sec, focal length: 7mm Regards, ED-209...
Thanks for the thorough review Ed
I really like this Octo and even my brother was impressed with this watch when he finally saw one in flesh at my local Bulgari Boutique. The Bulgari Octo Bi-Retro Steel Ceramic is definitely a piece which looks even more impressive in person than in photo...
There's been a few around
Thanks Anthony, glad to hear you enjoyed the review. I've seen a few of these around the boutiques and AD's in Hawaii, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas. How do you like the Octo versus the X-Pro P10? Did you ever receive a short strap for your watch? Regards, E...
I like the Bulgari Diagono X-Pro P10 very much
more so than the Octo because the Octo is more dressy than sporty IMO, and my lifestyle is a lot of casual than formal. Hence, I'd wear the P10 much more often than an Octo. I haven't had the chance to wear an Octo for an extended period of time, so my op...
