The Enigma Inside the Enigma

Sometimes you buy a watch knowing exactly what it is. And sometimes you buy one because you like it, and only afterwards discover what you actually bought.

This Gianni Bulgari Enigma belongs firmly in the second category.

I don't usually buy quartz watches. There is nothing wrong with quartz, of course, but as a collector I am naturally more attracted to mechanical movements. This one was different. I loved the design from the moment I saw it: the strange horseshoe-shaped dial, the single minute hand, the jumping-hour window at six and the beautifully integrated bracelet. It looked unlike almost anything else in my collection.

Then I started researching it.

The Gianni Bulgari Story

Gianni Bulgari was a member of the third generation of the Bulgari family and served as chairman and CEO of the family company before leaving during the 1980s. He subsequently established his own business in Switzerland, eventually producing watches under the GB Enigma name.

That alone makes these watches interesting to me. They come from someone intimately connected with one of the great names in Italian jewellery, but working independently and putting his own name and ideas behind the watches.

There is also an interesting historical coincidence. Bulgari would later acquire the Gérald Genta and Daniel Roth brands in 2000, bringing some very serious complicated watchmaking into the Bulgari universe. By then, Gianni had long since gone his own way.

And among his independent creations was a jumping hour.

Finding the Dahl

Identifying my particular watch took some work.

Eventually I found a 1993 Europa Star report showing two Gianni Bulgari designs: the Timeo and, unmistakably, my watch, identified as the “Dahl.”

The contemporary description calls the Dahl a jumping-hour “BITIME” and says that its complex mechanical feature is “piloted by an ETA module.” The wording is rather confusing, especially because the watch is unquestionably quartz.

Fortunately, another piece of original documentation helped. The instruction booklet that came with my watch actually calls it a GB B·I·Time.

So Bi-Time isn't a modern nickname or something invented by sellers. It was GB's own terminology.

Quartz, But Not Quite as Simple as It Sounds

This is where the watch became much more interesting.

The Dahl uses an ETA quartz movement as its base. Based on photographs of a disassembled example, we can safely place it within the ETA 955 series, although I don't yet have enough evidence to claim the exact caliber.

But the jumping-hour mechanism isn't simply a standard ETA function.

A watchmaker and collector known as Crazywatches documented the mechanism while working on one. At first glance, he wrote, it appeared to be “a simple jump module fitted onto a common ETA quartz movement.”

After examining it, his opinion changed considerably.

He described it as an uncommon and surprisingly sophisticated proprietary GB Enigma design, based around a large multilayer actuating star wheel containing a thin spring. Six raised “wings” on the inner edge of the hour disc interact with a semi-rotating dual lever that releases the disc and prevents it from advancing too far.

He later described the system as “pretty overengineered and complex despite the limited number of parts.”

I rather like that description.

So yes, it is a quartz watch. But the quartz movement is effectively the engine driving a rather clever mechanical jumping-hour mechanism developed specifically for the watch.

For someone who normally prefers mechanical watches, that makes the Dahl much easier to love.

Number 800

The original instruction booklet provided another little discovery.

GB explains that every Bi-Time carries an identification number engraved on the side of the case. The first digit is the serial code, followed by the individual serial number.

Mine is engraved:

0.800

That means serial code 0, serial number 800.

Normally that would have been a nice little detail and probably the end of the investigation.

It wasn't.

The Khanjar

On the back of my watch is the crowned Khanjar, the national emblem of Oman, together with “CREATED BY GIANNI BULGARI.”

Omani-signed watches have a fascinating history. During the reign of Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said, watches were commissioned and presented as gifts to officials, military personnel, dignitaries and others. Famous examples exist from Rolex, Omega, Patek Philippe and several other manufacturers.

But an emblem alone isn't enough for me to invent a provenance.

Fortunately, this watch came with something much better.

Inside the original set is a presentation card carrying the same Omani emblem. Translated into English, it reads:

“By Special Order of His Majesty The Sultan Qaboos Bin Said Al Said

With Best Regards

Minister of the Royal Diwan”

You can see the original card in the cover photo, here is an image of a translated card, created by AI:

That changes things considerably.

It's surely not the “Sultan Qaboos's watch.” There is no evidence that he personally owned or wore it, nor do I know who originally received this particular example.

What the surviving documentation does appear to establish is something much more precise: this GB Enigma was specially ordered under Sultan Qaboos and presented through the Royal Diwan.

And unlike an isolated watch that has appeared decades later with a Khanjar engraved on its case, this one still has its original GB documentation, guarantee material, presentation card and box.

There is one more reason this watch matters to me, and it has nothing to do with Oman, provenance or rarity.

I simply think it is beautiful.

I'm normally reluctant to buy quartz watches, but the Dahl works exceptionally well as one. It has the visual theatre of a jumping hour without the worry of wearing a complicated vintage mechanical watch every day. It feels solid, the integrated bracelet is excellent, and that strange horseshoe design gives it a personality of its own.

It has also become one of the most beautiful jumping hours in my collection, in my opinion.

I bought it because I liked the design.

Then I discovered Gianni Bulgari's story. Then the Dahl name. Then the unusual proprietary jumping mechanism. Then serial number 800. And finally the Omani provenance and the original Royal Diwan presentation card.

That's one of the things I enjoy most about collecting old watches.

Sometimes the watch is only the beginning of the story.