Bvlgari Hora Domvs: the globe-trotter equation

Bvlgari’s Hora Domvs offers frequent flyers a way to come back to the center of today’s global village.

Bvlgari Hora Domvs

Time zones and time difference

It is an issue that dates back to the time of Sotirio Bulgari, founder of the eponymous brand. Indeed, the increase in travelling led to the decision during the Washington conference in 1884 to divide the globe in 24 equal parts, each with a separation of 15°. And while these time zones are today completely official, they are still shifting, as seen in the case of Moscow, which has recently shifted to UTC+3 local time after having used UTC+4 for a long time. Of course, there’s also the practice that was adopted some 50 years ago to change time during the year to adapt to winter and summer times.

Constant modifications and alternative season-changing functions took their toll on time-zone traditional watches. Indeed, most of them are today ineffective. 

Bvlgari Hora Domvs

Punctuality for frequent flyers

To accurately meet real-time requirements of frequent flyers and executives who work abroad, Bvlgari recently introduced the Hora Domvs, a multiple time zone watch. The innovative piece features a sober and streamlined dial that allows for perfect readability. It displays time in two different time zones of choice, with the names of their cities acting as a reference appearing in two large apertures at 12 and 6 o'clock respectively.

Bvlgari Hora Domvs

While travelling, one needs first to choose the destination city (or the corresponding time zone) by pressing the pusher at 4 o'clock on the middle. Globe-trotters will be able to see the name of the city where they have landed through the aperture indicated by an arrow placed in a small round aperture. In this configuration, the local time of the city the traveler is in is indicated by an un-skeletonized hand while the home time, which corresponds to the time zone whose city name appears through the second aperture that is not indicated by an arrow, can be read at any time thanks to the skeletonized hand.

Bvlgari Hora Domvs

More features, improved efficiency

Bvlgari could have left the display at that. However, its penchant for excellence meant the layout of the multiple time zones needed even more functionalities in order to make the Hora Domvs a reference “universal time” watch. To achieve this, the brand's watchmakers have developed an in-house mechanism that is equipped with two disks. Each of them displays twelve cities’ names and thus – thanks to the interaction of cams and star wheels – they enable the dial to take into account the summer or winter time difference of a country's legal time (an “S” for Summer and a “W” for Winter are indicated through the aperture at 9 o'clock).

Setting time to summer and winter is very easily done. Depending on the season, the wearer only needs to activate one of the two "solstice" selectors on the middle – one at 10 o'clock for the winter solstice and one at 8 o'clock for summer – with the small tool provided. In addition, and in an attempt to enhance readability, the dial of the Hora Domvs features a small aperture at 3 o'clock and serves as the day/night indicator as per the reference time (and if travelling, that of the departure point). To top it off, the watchmakers have also added an AM/PM indication for local time in a subtle aperture at 12 o'clock on the dial.

Bvlgari Hora Domvs

Automatizing time display

Available in 5N red gold with a double-ellipse dial design, the 28.30 x 8.55-mm piece is driven by the self-winding BVL191 caliber that beats to the frequency of 21,600 vibrations per hour. The latter was developed and produced by the Haute Horlogerie Manufacture of Bulgari in Le Sentier, Switzerland. The piece has an additional advantage – an in-house module which is very simple to use despite being highly complex by definition. As it is, the first time it is set up, the wearer only has to press on the selector at 4 o'clock until the city name corresponding to their local time zone appears through one of the large apertures that is indicated by the arrow placed inside the small round aperture at 6 o'clock.

Bvlgari Hora Domvs

Once the solstice is modified (if need be), the wearer only has to pull the crown to display the local time at the tip of the hands bearing in mind that there is a day/night indicator at 3 o'clock. Once this is done, a simple rotation of the crown placed on the intermediary position (second notch) enables the local and reference time hands to overlap.

As soon as the crown is pushed back, setting the travel time zone is as easy as pie. It suffices to press the selector to choose the corresponding city according to the destination (the one indicated by the arrow) and let the watch do the rest. That is, the piece will automatically display the right time and will alter the information relating to the reference time.

Bvlgari Hora Domvs

In short, the specialty of the Hora Domvs is that it can be whatever its owner wants it to be. A simple touch of the pusher activates and synchronizes all the information related to local and travel time. And, when back from roaming around the world, the watch can make its hands overlap in a simple yet mysterious fashion so that the rare functionality remains a little secret between it and its wearer. Now, that's luxury!