You’ve got your Ducati, your sleek helmet, gloves, boots and other motorcycling gear. Sweet. But the bright red cherry on top? That’d be a chronograph watch like the Bulgari Aluminum Ducati Special Edition.
With a dial matching the brand’s signature crimson logo, a collab watch from the two brands feels as natural as can be. Both have an exceedingly sleek, sporty style with edgy Italian flare, and it’s on full display in this model from Bulgari’s Aluminum collection.
In addition to that eye-catching red dial, you’ll find other touches to mark the collaboration. The caseback, of course, has Ducati‘s guitar-pick-like logo and wordmark, but the dial is further distinguished by its stylized numerals: whereas other Bulgari Aluminum watches feature stick indices and a “12” at the top of the dial, here you’ve got “10,” “11” and “12” lending and an asymmetric aesthetic and executed in Ducati’s italicized font that seems to suggest speed.
With a 40mm-wide case, aluminum is an unconventional material in watches, but it’s been seen before from Bulgari as well as other brands such as Hamilton. Although not as premium-sounding as, say, titanium (used for the crown and pushers), aluminum’s benefits are lightness and corrosion resistance — and simply its novelty in watchmaking.
Want more edgy material use? While rubber is common for straps, as you’ll find here, its “BVLGARI BVLGARI” bezel is also rubber — not usually considered a luxury material, but sometimes found on high-end watches and perhaps particularly appropriate for a motoring theme. The dial is protected by a sapphire crystal, and the watch is powered by an ETA 2894-2 automatic movement inside.
Limited to 1,000 examples at $5,000 each and incorporating some controversial elements from material use to asymmetric design, this isn’t a watch for everybody. But if you can handle a Ducati, you can probably pull one of these off.
