Bvlgari. I’ve been saying bull-gar-ee, but I’ve since learned – thanks to a customer – that the correct pronunciation is “bool-ga-ree”. The same customer told me that the founder was a Greek silversmith that set up shop in Italy in the late 19th century, with three subsequent generations growing the family business into a world famous jewelry house. Elizabeth Taylor was a big customer!
The Italian style is evident in the 1990’s Gold Scuba and steel women’s Diagono pictured. These watches are so distinctively a product of Italian design, of the Bvlgari DNA. Besides the Roman coin bezel of the Diagono, the Florentine finish on the 18k Scuba, the watches are somehow evocative of Greco-Roman architecture. The half column contours on the Scuba bezel, the symmetry of the Arabic 12 and 6, the Roman “v” ….balanced, but not austere. Bvlgari watches are too charismatic to be mistaken for a Rolex or Lange or Patek. If you favor Armani over Brooks Brothers, the Bvlgari is for you!