Bvlgari Magnifica High Jewellery Showcase
First debuting online and in Milan as usual, the Bvlgari Magnifica High Jewellery collection came to Singapore, along with a slew of intriguing watches and jewellery. We present a small slice of the action.
Italian jeweller and watchmaker Bvlgari revealed its Bvlgari Magnifica high jewellery collection to the world via a live broadcast last month, and we got to see the amazing collection in person in Singapore recently. There was a lot more to experience than just the new Bvlgari Magnifica high jewellery collection, but we will turn to some other highlights, primarily in watches, momentarily.
First off, when observers say Bvlgari jewellery is unmistakable and inimitable, this is far from unearned praise. The brand is blessed with an aesthetic code that easily sets it apart, while also staying true to its roots in Italian high culture. One can readily picture Imperial Roman nobility parading a creation such as the Bvlgari Magnifica Imperial Spinel necklace, even though the brand does not trace its history quite that far back.
Certainly, the massive central spinel, at an eye-watering 131.21 carats, is enough to evoke imperial ambitions, whatever the historical setting. Bvlgari could very well have been the jeweller of the Roman imperial dynasties, the Achaemaenids of Persia and the Mughals of India. What makes the Imperial Spinel necklace a Bvlgari, through-and-through is the way volume enters the picture, including in the surrounding diamonds and emeralds. Having seen it up close — closer than your screen is to you now — we can confirm that the thickness of the spinel is perhaps three-quarters its height, to put it in vernacular terms. While this is an especially notable piece, all the high jewellery pieces share the same codes.
Image: Bvlgari 
Image: Bvlgari
The Mediterranean Queen necklace showcases this, not only in its five outstanding Paraiba-type tourmalines, but in every millimetre of its delicate construction. We are informed that it took 2,400 hours in total to create this shimmering masterpiece, which is further distinguished by emerald beads and diamonds, just like the Imperial Spinel piece.
For those who care about such things, Bvlgari confirms that these tourmalines are of the Mozambique variety rather than the Paraiba ones from Brazil. Moving to a deeper shade of green that also has African roots, the Emerald Ellipse necklace creates a dazzling stage of emeralds and diamonds for its 62.04 pear-shaped Zambian emerald centrepiece to shine.
There are matching watches for some of the necklaces, all of which exhibit the same baroque spirit. For our part, we want to pay special tribute here to the watches that accompanied the Magnifica pieces, the Octo Roma Naturalia. Each of these three watches feature very special case middle structures, ranging from onyx to lapis lazuli. Staying green for this article, the lapis lazuli piece conveys all that is special about this series; dial-side here, the green elements are all in lapis lazuli.
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