Japanese architect Tadao Ando and Bulgari have unveiled the results of their collaboration of the popular Octo Finissimo Automatic watch introduced in 2017. Working with Bulgari's Director of Watch Design, Fabrizio Bonamassa Stigliani, its architectural case and bracelet has now been melded with a dial resulting the Octo Finissimo Tadao Ando Edition.

Ando imagined a watch that could pull inspiration from concrete, a material that "has given buildings a unique personality."
The Tadao Ando × Bulgari Octo Finissimo Automatic collection utilizes titanium to compose terraced geometries, meant to capture the structural essence of architecture. Of Ando, Bonamassa said in a statement, "I went to see the church of light he worked on. The approach was the same as Octo: simple, with light and shadow, precise details. And I used titanium. We had a common language."

In the Octo Finissimo Automatic, he relies on simple geometry to create an unusually dial, with a spiral motif that emanates from the seconds hand, creating the effect of a wave rippling across the dial.

The pattern is remarkably simple – it is printed in black lacquer on the dial – minimalist style, the dial is entirely devoid of indices, numerals and logo.

Limited to 200 pieces, the watch is in titanium and measures 40mm wide and just 5.15mm high, making it one of the slimmest automatic watches on the market. It is powered by the automatic BVL 138 that is equipped with a platinum micro-rotor.
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Label
Brand
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Bulgari. Octo Finissimo Tadao Ando Edition. Ref. 103245
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Label
Measures
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Case diameter.- 40mm
Height.- 5.15mm
Material.- Titanium
Water resistance.- 30m
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Key facts and price
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Movement.- Calibre BVL 138
Functions.- Hours, minutes, small seconds
Frequency.- 21,600bph (3Hz)
Winding.- Automatic
Power reserve.- 60 hours

Strap.- Titanium bracelet.

Limited edition.- 200 pieces
Availability.- Only in Japan, from December 2019 onwards
Price.- 1,800,000 Japanese yen, which is about €15,000
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Tadao Ando was born in Osaka, Japan, in 1941. Ando briefly worked as a professional boxer in his youth. At 17, he obtained a featherweight boxing license and participated in professional bouts in Japan. At the same time, he worked as a truck driver and carpenter, a trade in which he gained firsthand experience in constructing furniture and wooden structures.

Tadao Ando did not attend formal architecture school for economic and personal reasons. He came from a modest family in Osaka, and financial constraints prevented him from attending university. During this time, he began reading architectural books on his own, by Mies van der Rohe and other modern architects, including treatises by Le Corbusier, particularly the book Vers une architecture, which was decisive for his vocation. His alternative training consisted of reading, attending lectures, and learning from direct observation.

A self-taught architect, he spent time in Kyoto and Nara, where he studied firsthand the great monuments of traditional Japanese architecture. Between 1962 and 1969, he travelled to the United States, Europe, and Africa to learn about Western architecture, its history, and techniques. His studies of traditional and modern Japanese architecture profoundly influenced his work and resulted in a unique blend of these rich traditions.

In 1969, he founded Tadao Ando Architect and Associates in Osaka. He is an honorary member of the architecture academies in six countries; he has been a visiting professor at Yale, Columbia, and Harvard University; and in 1997, he became a professor of architecture at the University of Tokyo.

His notable works include the Water Church (1988) and the Light Church (1989) in Japan; the Naoshima Museum of Contemporary Art (1992); the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth in Texas (2002); and the UNESCO Conference Center in Paris (1995).

In 1991, he completed Rokko Housing II, the second phase of a residential complex begun in 1983 in Kobe, which was expanded in a third phase in 1998.

Ando has received numerous architectural awards, including the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1995. Tadao Ando was appointed to the Berlin Academy of Arts in 1995. In 1995, he was made a Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government. He was subsequently promoted to Officer in 1997 and to Commander in 2013.

In 1996, he received the Praemium Imperiale for Architecture from the Japan Art Association, and in 1997, he was awarded the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Gold Medal, the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal in 2002, and the Kyoto Prize for his outstanding career in the arts and philosophy in 2002.

His works have been exhibited at institutions such as the Centre Pompidou in Paris, MoMA in New York, and the Venice Architecture Biennale, where he has participated in multiple editions since 1985. His buildings can be seen in Japan, Europe, the United States, and India.

In the fall of 2001, as a follow-up to the comprehensive master plan commissioned by Cooper, Robertson & Partners in the 1990s and completed in 2001, Tadao Ando was selected to develop a new architectural master plan for the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, to expand its buildings and enhance its 140-acre campus. The project included the construction of the new Stone Hill Center exhibition building (2008) and the expansion of the Clark Museum, which reopened in 2014.

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Published on: February 2, 2020
Cite:
metalocus, ANA DIOSDADO
"Bulgari Introduces the Octo Finissimo Tadao Ando Edition " METALOCUS. Accessed
<https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/bulgari-introduces-octo-finissimo-tadao-ando-edition> ISSN 1139-6415
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