Bulgari

Do we really care ??

It makes it better to have some technical improvements than just design aesthetics improvements. Moreover, from an R&D standpoint, maybe they develop things along the way that could change watchmaking for others that could permeate the industry as a whole. But - agree that most of these are for pure bragging rights than anything else.

...and enables other watches to be thinner. For instance, if a 'thick' chronograph at 14mm can be reduced to 11 or 12mm, that's good with me...

Imagine a watch as thin as a leaf of paper.
Bulgari shows off where they capable of, and if you see a lot of complications make watches thicker, it is good to know Bulgari do not want thick unpleasant watches.
But if you look at Moser, they have that amazing vertical balance spring, and than you right, it looks better than a Bulgari.
It is apples and peers from my side, albeit i like Mosers way better.

But you also have to realize that this watch has other technology that may trickle down to other watches. Bugatti was a technical exercise, but some of its technologies actually did transfer down to normal cars. Especially some of its cooling map technology which made normal cars run a little more efficiently.

But I’d be worried it would get snapped in half! 

I think everyone can appreciate the skill required to produce a watch like this and of course from Bulgari's point of view it is bragging rights over Piaget who were the original thin movement manufacturer and king. I think if you had this watch a really great insurance policy against loss or damage would be a necessity as the risk of breaking or damaging it must be high. It is beautiful but not for me but I can still admire all it offers.

Just like that hyper-thin RM for Ferrari....