Named after a mix of the Italian and Latin phrases for mild (luce and lux, respectively), Lucea fashions made their debut in 2014, positioned to develop into Bulgari‘s flagship ladies’s watch assortment. Though technically a jewellery watch given the steadfast inclusion of diamonds, the Lucea is the extra informal, on a regular basis choice inside Bulgari’s assortment of girls’s bejeweled timepieces — notably when in comparison with the Serpenti, Diva’s Dream, or any of the model’s high-jewelry watches. To have a good time the tenth anniversary of the Lucea assortment, Bulgari has unveiled a crop of contemporary fashions as a part of its novelties for LVMH Watch Week 2024. Out there in varied sizes, supplies, dials, and actions, there are a complete of seven new Bulgari Lucea watches, all of which profit from redesigned circumstances and bracelets.
Two of the defining traits of the Lucea watch have all the time been its spherical case and dramatic v-shaped crown shrouded with a crimson-colored cabochon-cut stone and set with a diamond — these signature particulars stay on the brand new iterations. Bulgari affords the new-generation Lucea watches in two sizes: 33mm and 28mm, each accessible in full chrome steel or a mix of metal and rose gold. The 33mm Lucea watches are 9.16mm thick (slimmer than its 10.7mm-thick predecessors), whereas the 28mm fashions are 7.72mm thick. The kind of motion contained in the time-only watch performs a task within the total thickness of the case. The 33mm Lucea watches run on self-winding actions with 42 hours of energy reserve, whereas the 28mm Lucea fashions are quartz-powered and accordingly cast off the seconds hand.
Probably the most vital replace to the Lucea is the bracelet redesign, which isn’t solely curvier than previous variations however now additionally contains polished middle hyperlinks operating via somewhat than the earlier straight-across building. Commenting on the replace, Fabrizio Buonamassa Stigliani, Product Creation Govt Director, states, “Our wealthy heritage in jewellery craftsmanship and design has been our compass in re-envisioning the Lucea bracelet. It’s infused with a lightness harking back to Bulgari’s traditional jewels, a sensuality akin to that exuded by our iconic Serpenti assortment, and a flexibility evoking the fluid hyperlinks of Octo Finissimo.”
The choice to go for curvier V-links and add middle hyperlinks lends a extra laid-back contact to the watch because the straight-across hyperlinks had been notably extra formal. Basically, as I see it, the new-gen Lucea appears extra like a watch that’s knowledgeable by jewelry-making methods whereas the previous-gen variations had been extra jewelry-first in structure. The Lucea watches are secured to the wrist by way of a folding clasp.
Nonetheless, this being Bulgari — probably the most famed jewellery homes in fashionable historical past — there’s definitely no lack of jewelry-inspired particulars. As an example, customers can go for a 33mm case with a gem-set bezel, set with over 40 sensible round-cut diamonds. Then there are the ornate winding crowns, enveloped with a cabochon-cut artificial sapphire in a wealthy magenta hue and set with a single diamond. Moreover, all variations include dials which can be set with 12 claw-set brilliant-cut diamonds for hour markers.
The vast majority of the dials inside this launch are mother-of-pearl Intarsio (Italian for inlay), long-established from ray-shaped segments of finely minimize mother-of-pearl assembled in a sunburst sample with three-dimensional pleating. The result’s extra visually attention-grabbing than a standard flat mother-of-pearl dial. Relying on the mannequin, the mother-of-pearl Intarsio dial is both traditional white or a shade that Bulgari calls inexperienced MOP however appears extra aqua/turquoise to my eye.
The hero of the brand new Bulgari Lucea assortment, nevertheless, is the two-tone metal and rose gold 33mm variant with a malachite marquetry dial. Whereas wealthy inexperienced malachite dials aren’t new to watches, Bulgari’s method is completely different in that it makes use of leftover items (presumably from its jewellery workshops) of malachite, that are then minimize and hand-assembled right into a cohesive mosaic-style dial.
The model has but to make the costs of the brand new 2024 Lucea watches accessible on the time of publishing. Nonetheless, the costs of earlier variations ranged from 4,750 USD for metal quartz variations to 19,000 USD for two-tone variants with diamonds, which provides you an thought of the place these will possible be on the value spectrum. For extra info, please go to the model’s web site.
