Bulgari Diagono Chronograph with cream dial

1990 | Stainless steel | Automatic | 38.0mm

The Diagono was Bulgari's entry into the sport watch conversation — introduced in the 1990s as a deliberate departure from the dress watch identity that the Bvlgari Bvlgari had established. Where the double-name bezel was pure jewellery logic, the Diagono applied that same signature bezel to a sports case architecture: integrated bracelet, chronograph pushers, sapphire crystal, automatic movement. The result was unmistakably Bulgari in identity, and entirely credible as a tool watch in execution.

Reference CH 35 S is the 35mm steel chronograph variant — a size that feels compact by contemporary standards but that wears with a coherence that larger versions occasionally sacrifice. The three-register layout carries 30-minute counter at 9, 60-second counter at 3, and running seconds at 6, with a date aperture integrated below centre. The "Bvlgari Bvlgari" engraved bezel frames the dial with the Roman lettering that has defined the maison's watch identity since 1975.

The cream dial is what makes this example genuinely exceptional. The standard CH 35 S was produced overwhelmingly with a white or silver dial — the cream variant, with its warmer, ivory tone that sits in striking contrast to the brushed steel case and subdials, was produced in far smaller numbers and is today significantly harder to find. It transforms what is already a well-designed chronograph into something with real visual distinction.

A Diagono in this configuration is not something that presents itself often.