Wednesday 13 January 2010

Is the Bulgari Aluminum/Aluminium becoming a collectors piece?



Today I would like to write about the Bulgari Diagono Aluminium, this watch offers a highly appealing combination of a stylish design and go-anywhere, rugged sports luxury presence. With its high-tech combination of aluminum and titanium, this exceptionally strong yet lightweight watch makes a fine choice for watch that can needs to be worn often, and needs to be low profile, comfortable and rugged.

One of the keys to the great comfort and stylish appearance of the watch is its extensive use of rubber elements, which ensures all-weather durability; rubber straps, such as the kind found on these watches, help ensure great comfort all year, being lighter in weight than metal bands, yet much more resistant to environmental degradation than leather ones; with this watch, the rubber strap is fused with aluminum elements for maximum strength, and its strong, secure clasp is made from titanium.

The watch is powered by an excellent and well-proven Swiss self winding movement, which features a sweeping central seconds hand, a date display and a power-reserve of approximately 42 hours, when fully wound. Bvlgari offers the Diagono Aluminium in two sizes---a more classical 38mm, as well as an expressive 44mm, for those who prefer timepieces of bold dimensions; the watch is also available in 18K yellow or white gold for those who admire the casual elegance of the Diagono Aluminium watch but prefer the satisfying heft and lustre of precious metal, and finally is available with diamonds for the gentleman or lady who wants something a little more glamorous.

The watch is complemented by either an elegant rhodium-plated, or a very sporty carbon-fiber dial, both being accented with luminous hour markers for visibility in low-light conditions.

Unfortunately this elegant and versatile timepiece has been discontinued, I discovered this some months ago when I popped into a Bulgari boutique for some other reason, I was very surprised and disappointed to be given this information, as I felt this watch was essentially a timeless classic which would never go out of fashion or be removed from their line.

Indeed my sentiment was echoed by the Bulgari shop assistant who told me that it had been the most popular watch amongst their customers also, and that many customers who owned high end timepiece's from brands as diverse as Rolex, Audemars, Patek and various others used the Aluminium as a 'go to' wrist-watch.

Apparently some customers had expressed that the lightness of the watch - possibly one of its greatest features - made it feel toy like, although its more likely that the anniversary of Bulgari was a motivating factor for a re-issue, as the Assistant said so many people are so happy to keep it, so releasing a new version would encourage people to upgrade and therefore spend more money. In any case the new version is based around the same movement as the aluminium, however the rubber strap features a strip down the middle as a design feature, and is constructed from steel rather than the aluminum titanium combination.

The new version is priced slightly higher than the older one, additionally it is no longer called the aluminum being made purely of steel.

The purpose of this post was not to be an advertisement for the discontinued Aluminium model, nor the newer 'Diagono Sport', rather to discuss a phenomenon I noticed, after I heard that the new one had been released I thought for some time about upgrading, but eventually decided I preffered my older one, recently I have been looking again to upgrade, and have noticed that there are no versions available online for less than £900 $1465 €1000, even second hand, this would suggest to me, that the discontinued Aluminum is becoming very popular, aside from making me quite pleased at my decision to keep my one.

Further study is required on this to confirm if it is truly the case, after all there are not many Bulgari pieces that become 'Vintage" and certainly not so quickly.

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