This former car designer is behind the world’s thinnest watches

Fabrizio Buonamassa Stigliani has been breaking records in the world of high watchmaking for over a decade now. The product creation executive director of Bvlgari’s watch division is responsible for the brand’s defining eight-sided Octo watch series, which launched in 2014 with the sculptural Octo Finissimo Tourbillon, the first watch to win Bvlgari the title of the world’s thinnest tourbillon movement. Since then, Bvlgari has released the original Octo Finissimo Automatic, sized at 40 mm, a version that set the template for the series and has since been made available in numerous iterations: sandblasted titanium, stainless steel, 18-carat gold, ceramic, and more. Over the years the brand has clocked 10 world records for ultra-thin watchmaking, including two for the thinnest mechanical watch, an ongoing competition that’s drawn in everyone from Piaget and Richard Mille to Audemars Piguet.

I’m at Kapoor Watch Co’s flagship store in New Delhi to talk about the battle for the skinniest timepiece with Stigliani himself. The Neapolitan cuts a sharp figure in a business suit and breaks the ice with a friendly smile. With so much buzz around the OF, I couldn’t help but ask him at what point he recognised that the timepiece would become such an icon. “I’m still not sure if it’s iconic, even though a lot of people say it is. Perhaps the market can tell you in the next 10 years if it’s a real iconic watch or not. It’s too young now,” he says demurely.

The buzz around the OF series reached another peak this year when Bvlgari launched a new version at Watches & Wonders 2026. The latest launch was skinnier than ever with a refined 37 mm diameter, an ultra-small, ultra-thin self-winding movement, and a 72-hour power reserve for a total weigh-in at a measly 65 gm on the wrist. For reference, that’s lighter than your Apple watch with a regular silicone strap. Alongside, Bvlgari also unveiled the extraordinary Octo Finissimo Ultra Tourbillon Platinum, the world’s thinnest platinum tourbillon at just 1.85 mm, with an improved power reserve and an easier-to-use clasp on the integrated bracelet.

A disruptive design force

Stigliani has brought more than an obsession with weight to Bvlgari. Under his aegis, the brand has gone from being perceived purely as a fine jewellery brand to one that holds its own in the watchmaking industry. A former car designer at Fiat, Stigliani joined the Roman house in 2001 and at first focussed on strengthening the brand’s in-house competencies—improving their own movement, dial, even bracelet-making capabilities. Stigliani says this was a critical step. “As a creator if I’m able to say, ‘Look at it, I’m able to create the thinnest watch in the world with a movement built in-house, including the dials,’ the buyer’s response is likely to be, ‘Oh, wow, you are strong. I want to buy this one.’” This was a critical step.

Stigliani adds that he has never felt burdened by Bvlgari’s mammoth legacy. This approach is reflected in the spirit of his designs, which are rooted in play, functionality, and timelessness. Rather than treating heritage through a rigid or traditionally reverential lens, he has allowed the past to converse with the present on new terms. “If you respect all the rules, it’s quite difficult to imagine something different. So, you have to play this game in a careful way. I love the DNA that we have—the archive and the heritage—and it’s something that has to be assimilated. If you are not able to process it, you copy the archive and you are unable to evolve.”

While he enjoys revisiting the archive in Rome, he likes to erase it from his mind after a few minutes of viewing. “It’s something that is part of my heritage, but I don’t want to spend every moment of my life with the old sketches lurking in front of me. Otherwise, I won’t be able to introduce novelties.”

Once he receives a brief, he switches off the screen. “I ask the marketing team to convey in their own words what they’d like me to create,” he says, adding that he avoids seeing reference images to prevent those visuals getting stamped onto his brain. “The words have a different impact, because something that holds meaning for you could have another interpretation for me and could open new doors. On the contrary, if I see an image it’s your point of view and not mine. That’s why my creative process is quite unpredictable.”

Storytelling with Serpenti

You can also see Stigliani’s hand in his reimagining of the house’s epochal Serpenti line. Here the designer integrated mechanical movements into jewellery watches (such as the Serpenti Misteriosi, a double-headed hydra with a hidden dial); lead recent collections, like Serpenti Aeterna, a delicate bangle watch; and co-created the delightfully geeky Bvlgari x MB&F Serpenti collaboration with Maximilian Büsser in 2021.

Over the years, he’s managed to evolve Serpenti while preserving the symbolism and emotional appeal that have made the original such a cult collectible. “We don’t need another Serpenti, but we always find a way to tell you a different story with it. This is not a watch for everybody. When I joined the company, I started travelling all over the world talking about the Serpenti, I remember sometimes the reaction would be, ‘No. I’m scared of Serpenti. It’s not my culture. From a religious point of view, it’s not; I cannot touch the snake.’ Now we talk about it like it’s the most common thing in the world.”

Of all the watches he’s created, the Serpenti and the Octo remain his favourite babies. “They were both designed by me and impacted the overall perception of the brand. There were other watches, like the Grandes Complication timepieces and high-jewellery pieces that we sold for millions, but honestly these two timepieces are the most important.”