Bulgari BVLGARI BVLGARI Women's Watch Review

Pingtsai's 2012 article, "Bulgari Women’s Watch Choices Today – Part I: The BVLGARI BVLGARI," offers a foundational look at Bulgari's signature timepiece for women. Her insightful analysis frames the BVLGARI BVLGARI as a blend of luxury, sophistication, and fashion-forward design, catering to a clientele that values distinctive style over technical complications. This piece revisits her original exploration of this iconic watch and the community's perspectives on its enduring appeal.

Bulgari Women’s Watch Choices Today – Part I: 

The BVLGARI BVLGARI

By Ping Tsai

For women who want to feel luxurious and somewhat exotic yet still sophisticated, Bulgari can be considered the ultimate women’s brand. There isn’t anything that they carry that can’t instantly elevate a female’s sense of status, sensuality and opulence. From the stylish shades and alluring scents to the colored gem necklaces and sultry snake watches, there’s little doubt that Bulgari knows what women want and what it takes to get them noticed.  The Italian mega brand can always be counted on when you want to make a statement but not deviate too drastically from mainstream acceptance of what’s considered fashionable.

The Bulgari Ladies Watch Collection

Bulgari’s designs are feminine, distinctive and always evoke sentiments of high luxury. This is especially true for their collection of ladies watches which are predominantly fashion driven in terms of design but offer a range of styles for varying tastes, preferences and occasions. This is okay because it caters to Bulgari’s female clientele. Most of the brand’s lady clients want either a functional watch or a fashion watch. Few are interested in technicality. Regardless, the line has a diverse offering for customers whether they are interested in classic, sporty, unique or fashion forward looks.

The BVLGARI BVLGARI

The BVLGARI BVLGARI watch is the company’s signature timepiece and likely to make up a bulk of its watch sales. It anchors the entire watch collection from a historical and design perspective. The very first one that was produced in 1977 consisted of a black enamel dial and gold case and bezel with a double inscription of the “BVLGARI” logo. The case was a flat disc shape, 5mm in height. The watch was an instant success and became very popular among men and women. 

The ladies BVLGARI BVLGARI and all its different variants serve to satisfy the desires of those women who are looking for a simple and basic everyday watch to wear. Depending on the type of metal and detailing, the watch is appropriate for a wide variety of situations including work, day and evening. It consists of the same simple design with a circular engraved bezel which bears the engraved double “BVLGARI” logo.

Capital letters arranged in a circular fashion around a metal flat ring, the logo is a mainstay on many of the watches as well as on perfume bottles, rings, earrings, bags and more. It is especially fitting for Bulgari’s current women’s jewelry and watches because of the contemporary detailing that it allows. For the modern woman, it provides just the right amount to escape conventionality without getting lost in the realm of trying too hard. 

The ladies BVLGARI BVLGARI is available in three sizes – 26mm in quartz and 33mm and 37mm for the automatic version. You can get it in various metals and dial color combinations with either the signature dial with baton markers and 12/6 numerals or diamond hour markers. For the most part Bulgari has kept the color variants pretty neutral and standard, utilizing only black, white, and mother of pearl for the dial and stainless steel, yellow or pink gold for the metal choices.

It is slightly surprising that Bulgari hasn’t expanded the line more in terms of color and offer the BVLGARI BVLGARI in a rainbow of different colored dials and straps as is done by many big watch brands that have female watch lines. Despite the freedom that the brand takes with color in their jewelry, they are more reserved with their color use in their watches. Personally, I prefer and commend them for this but from a sales and business standpoint, I believe that offering the BVLGARI BVLGARI in a wider range of colors would appeal to many women, if the right colors were chosen.

It seems that Bulgari reserved the color treatment for the B-Zero watches which tend to be smaller and more dainty. The watches are more relative to jewelry and thus lend themselves well to color washing. However, more and more women are wearing larger watches these days and color is a major means of self expression. Also some women may prefer the traditional look of having the double lugs on the BVLGARI BVLGARI as opposed to the single lug on the B-Zero. Therefore having a wider array of choices for hues and materials can draw the attention of new female customers as well as multiple purchases from existing ones. 

BVLGARI BVLGARI – Quartz 26mm

The smaller BVLGARI BVLGARI watch in the line and the least expensive for a standard base model in stainless steel is one of those pieces that would make a great gift for a woman with a petite wrist. At 26mm in case width, at today’s watch standards and trends, it almost seems too small for the up and coming young elite. The larger size BVLGARI BVLGARIs have automatic movements and carry higher price tags. It would be nice if the brand had more choices of larger sized women’s watches at the lower price point. This would make it more affordable for successful but not yet fully established young men to get their girlfriends an impressive, hip and desirable watch. 

According to Bulgari’s website, they divide the female BVLGARI BVLGARI watches into “BVLGARI BVLGARI” and “BVLGARI BVLGARI LADY”. In general, it appears that the latter designates the watches with a flat bezel which are in tune with the original from the 1970s. The simple “BVLGARI BVLGARI” watches appear to have an updated look nearly identical to the original but with a slanted bezel instead of a flat one. There is more depth and shadow in the way the bezel reflects the light making it more dynamic looking. Also the larger sizes have a thinner bezel. Overall the updated version looks more refined and elegant.

BVLGARI BVLGARI – Automatic 33mm and 37mm

The available automatic models come in the 33mm and 37mm sizes. The BVLGARI BVLGARI automatic is available in 33mm whereas the BVLGARI BVLGARI Lady automatic comes in both 33mm and 37mm. The larger sizes offer a more current option for women who want a watch that is closer to a men’s sized watch. For most women, wearing a watch that is 37mm in diameter is just big enough to be considered big without looking ridiculously oversized. The BVLGARI BVLGARI allows women a larger watch that still has feminine styling.

I had the pleasure of reviewing the 37mm automatic version of the BVLGARI BVLGARI LADY watch earlier this year. I found the watch to be a perfect compromise between having a larger contemporary design and a case size that isn’t overly big for a female to wear. I always felt that 37mm cases were ideal in terms of sizing for women who want to still retain some of the feminine and delicate features of traditional female watches but who also like to be up to date with trends and fashion. For those who prefer a smaller sized watch, there is also the 33mm version available. 

The coin/disc shape of the case also gives a more contemporary look to the watch. Its appearance resembles the cross-section of a cylinder. The top surface of the watch is completely flat with straight sides. It’s a simple shape but the craftsmanship is quite refined because of the smooth finishing of the metal and edges and the curved construction of the lugs which allows for a closer fit on the wrist. It has a mechanical movement with automatic winding, 42 hour power reserve and hours, minutes, seconds and date function.

Nearly half of the ladies BVLGARI BVLGARI watches offered by the luxury brand have automatic movements, a tribute to quality and appreciation not only in fashion styling but technical workmanship as well. It’s an attempt to match the quality in the fashion styling of the watch with quality in mechanics as well. Owning a quartz timepiece that has exceptional design is taken to a whole new level with the addition of a mechanical watch movement. Most people will not know the difference but for the few that do, it will make a huge difference in pride in ownership of the watch.  

The ladies BVLGARI BVLGARI starts at $3750 for a stainless steel quartz version with time, date and leather strap, and ranges up to $25,500 for an 18 kt yellow gold model with bracelet and possibly more with the addition of diamonds. Not much has changed about the BVLGARI BVLGARI watch since its launch in the 1970s. Bulgari has introduced a thinner bezel and incorporated modernized lettering in the logo. They’ve also experimented with different combinations of metals, dials and bands. The watch remains a staple for one of the top luxury brands in the world and for countless women worldwide.