Description
Bulgari has given its Aluminium sports watch two new summer-ready dials for 2026: an Ice Blue sunray and a crisp White opaline. It is a seasonal colour drop rather than a new architecture, but the Aluminium remains one of the more genuinely distinctive sports watches on the market — and, crucially, one of the few at this price to run a proper in-house movement.
The Aluminium's identity is its mixed-material construction: a sandblasted aluminium case, a titanium caseback and crown, and a rubber bezel engraved with the Bulgari Bulgari double logo. That recipe dates back to the original 1998 Aluminium and keeps the watch light on the wrist and unmistakably Bulgari. At €3,700, these two additions land squarely in accessible-luxury territory for a maison of this standing.
Design
The 40mm case is a study in contrast finishes — matte, bead-blasted aluminium against the softer sheen of the white rubber bezel. The Ice Blue version pairs a sunray-brushed dial with blue varnished indices, hour and minute hands tipped in Super-LumiNova, and a sandblasted central seconds hand finished with red lacquered tips for a flash of colour. The White model is cooler and more formal: a white opaline dial with rhodium-plated indices and hands, and white lacquered seconds. Both carry a date window at 3 o'clock and ride on a matching rubber strap.
Specifications
- Reference: Bulgari Aluminium (2026 Ice Blue / White) — official reference numbers to be confirmed
- Case diameter: 40mm
- Case thickness: 9.4mm
- Case material: sandblasted aluminium, with titanium caseback and crown
- Bezel: white rubber, engraved "Bulgari Bulgari"
- Water resistance: 100m
- Dial: Ice Blue sunray, or White opaline; date at 3 o'clock
- Movement: Caliber B77, in-house automatic
- Frequency: 28,800 vph (4 Hz)
- Movement thickness: 3.6mm
- Power reserve: approximately 42 hours
- Strap: rubber
- Price: €3,700 (approximately US$4,260)
What's Exciting
The story here is not the colour — it is what sits behind it. A top-tier maison offering a genuine in-house automatic in a sub-€4,000 sports watch is rarer than it should be, and the ultra-thin 3.6mm B77 lets the Aluminium stay slim at 9.4mm. The mixed-material build keeps it light and modern, and the Ice Blue dial in particular is one of the better summer executions of the season — cool, legible, and lifted by those red-tipped seconds. If you want maison-level watchmaking without a five-figure price, this is a compelling entry point.
History
Bulgari launched the original Aluminium in 1998, an unusually bold move for a Roman jeweller: an aluminium-and-rubber sports watch at a time when steel was the default. The line was relaunched in 2020 and has since become a pillar of Bulgari's watch offering alongside the record-setting Octo Finissimo. The 2026 Ice Blue and White dials continue the collection's summer-colour cadence, keeping the 1998 design language alive while broadening its seasonal appeal.
