Cal. BVL 193 is an automatic movement with central seconds and date from Bulgari. It features double barrel winding for power reserve of 50 hours. Bulgari has sometimes claimed that this is an “in-house” movement, and it does not architecturally resemble the contemporary and similarly-specified single-barrel Cal. BVL 191, but it appears to be based on Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier’s Cal. VMF 3022. Indeed, the architecture is unmistakably the same.
Bulgari launched Cal. BVL 193 in 2012, one year before the similarly-sized and more-common Cal. BVL 191. Although both are 11.5 ligne in diameter, and both are similarly-thick central-rotor automatics, they appear to share very little architecturally. The earlier BVL 193 features double-barrel power and yet just 50 hours power reserve, eight more than the single-barrel BVL 191. The balance on Cal. BVL 193 is at 8:00 (with the stem at 9:00) and uses a clockwise cock, while the balance on Cal. BVL 191 is at 6:00 and uses a bridge. Overall, this movement appears higher in specification and is somewhat more costly, but its younger brother might be more desirable. The differences are easy to spot at a glance due to the balance bridge.
Bulgari uses Cal. BVL 193 in the Octo L’Originale watch line. It was earlier used in the Octo All Blacks and Octo Ultranero Solotempo models. It was introduced in 2012 in the original Octo model, indicating that perhaps it was chosen by Gerald Genta before the company’s acquisition.