Serpenti

A bold and refined formal pursuit of new interpretations for a charismatic figure from the brand’s history   

Bulgari and Woman… An eternal story, a longstanding love affair whose origins go back to the first decades of the 20 th century. It continues today, as intense as ever. The new Serpenti introduced this year at Baselworld is the most perfect illustration of this story of love. It coils around the wrist once, twice, or as many as seven times to become an inseparable whole… This powerful creation plays with the warm tints of golds or polished steel, and pays tribute to the history that unites Bulgari and Woman. Time has passed, but nothing has come to cloud the extreme sensitivity to beauty that both have always favoured in close complicity.   

Serpenti 2011 lies squarely in the tradition of the company’s historic legacy. The reptile figure, the incarnation of eternal youth and immortality in the mythological bestiary, has been an integral part of the Italian jeweller’s world for every long time. The snake archetype, a symbol of earth and water, knowledge and fertility, immortality and rebirth – among its many other attributes -, runs through all of human history, from the Neolithic era to modern times.   

The inexhaustible richness of this representation from the mythological bestiary has inhabited Bulgari’s world since the end of the 40’s. For several decades, it has consistently appeared among the most striking of Bulgari’s creations. In an infinite number of versions wedding polychrome enamels with precious stones, golds and coloured gems, the snake is a figure used by jewellery and watch goldsmiths that recurs in the company’s catalogue of creations and remains an uncompromisingly contemporary icon.   

The new Serpent 2011 watches – made of yellow gold or steel that coils once or twice around the wrist, accentuated with diamonds depending on the version – expresses their charisma as a bold and refined formal pursuit that combines with another distinctive icon specific to the brand, the Tubogas bracelet ; Twining around the wrist, sensual and playful, Tubogas was developed by Bulgari in the 50’s. To this day, it remains unique and testifies to the wealth of expertise that this brand alone now commands.   

Representing a stylistic signature born of patient craftsmanship, the metal bands – whether of steel or gold – can reach 5 metres in length per coil on the wrist. They are the product of a long series of preparatory and shaping operations carried out by hand, and are finally assembled using a process only Bulgari has mastered.   

The body of this extraordinary bracelet is naturally extended by the watch case – a precious formal evocation of a snake set with 38 brilliants around the perimeter (0,29 ct) in some versions – and made more conspicuous by the elegant contrast of the opaline silver-plated dial with sunburst decoration and by the pink rubellite cabochon set on the crown.   

An iconic high point, this sparkling masterpiece jugs the forearm in its last version having 7 coils of pink gold : a bezel set with 38 diamonds (0,29 ct) surrounds a dial paved with 190 diamonds (0,82 ct) in a dazzling nod to the company’s roots as a jeweller whose history is filled with exceptional creations.   

The eternal representation embodied in Serpenti takes on its full iconic significance, and pushes the natural charisma of this masterpiece of the goldsmith’s art to its greatest height. The final result is in proportion to the passion involved in crafting wrist wear that is smoothly flexible and absolutely supple. This distinctive feature, unique in the world, fits like a second skin…   

The origin of wristwatches evoking a snake is associated with the technique used for the Tubogas bracelet. The first examples date back to the late 40’s. At that time, the bracelets were in the form of a very stylised snake and were made using either the Tubogas technique or gold mesh.   

The watchcase, evoking the snake’s head, was usually square or rectangular. This creation was manufactured in numerous versions and variations, all of which explored the full palette of shapes used in watch and dial design : round, square, octagonal, pear-shaped, cushion, etc… with or without diamonds.   

The case was positioned at the end or centre of the Tubogas bracelets coil, which itself ranged through countless variations including steel, blackened steel, and steel in combination with gold. The watch movements were always of the best workmanship, signed by Audemars Piguet, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Movado or Vacheron Constantin.   

The first models that came closer to being a realistic interpretation of a snake appeared in the 60’s. Bulgari was certainly the jeweller that, in the 20th century, reinterpreted the symbolic values associated with the reptile, when for the fist time it offered a wristwatch using the snake as a millennial symbol.   

The body of Bulgari’s snake watch consisted of many element assembled into a whole, simulating the reptile’s body. Making them was a complicated process. Each was handmade from gold leaf and attached to the others by solid-gold pins. In the enamelled versions, they were attached with screws. The secret of the bracelets’ extraordinary flexibility lay in an internal spring made of white gold. The watch itself was hidden in the snake’s head.   

The initial models of the 60’s were made exclusively of yellow gold, set with diamonds on the head and tail representing the reptile. The piece worn by Elizabeth Taylor and immortalised on her wrist in a photo of the filming of Cleopatra in 1962 is the most dazzling example of this. The snake’s head is paved with diamonds, it has emerald eyes and is decorated with a crest of marquise-cut diamonds.   

In subsequent years, many variations were made, sometimes including creations without a watch. Though the body always remained gold, the early models’ small parts and links grew larger and were enhanced with polygonal decorations made of diamonds, multicoloured enamelled motifs or flamboyant combinations of coloured enamels : turquoise and white, red and yellow, green, red, black and pale blue.   

In addition to this wide variety of enamels, different stones were also used to simulate the snake’s eyes – white or yellow diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and pear-cut, marquise or round emeralds. Of course the length of the bracelet varied, and the most spectacular pieces were undoubtedly those that spiralled around the wrist several times.   

The most unusual creations included a gold snake belt with pink, cream and white enamels and sapphire eyes. This special-order piece belonged to Diana Vreeland, who at the time was « the queen of fashion ». Her personal notes reveal that during her years as the head of Vogue (1963-1971), she was particularly fascinated by the snake motif in jewellery. After all, on September 16, 1968, she wrote « Let us not forget the snake… It ought to be on every finger and every wrist, everywhere… In jewellery, the snake is the symbol of Horus. We do not see enough of it… ».       

Developed during the second half of the 19th century and used by many jewellers until the 40’s, the Tubogas (« tube of gas ») technique was revived by Bulgari in the 70’s and used to create watches, bracelets, necklace and rings. The Tubogas became on the jeweller’s trademarks.   

The Tubogas is a flexible band of smooth rounded spirals produced with no soldering. It requires hours of highly specialised work to make, consisting of rolling two long bands or metal around a copper or wood cylinder in such a way that the edges align perfectly to form a single continuous piece without soldering. The cylinder is then removed or dissolved in acid.   

These metal bands are remarkably flexible, which made extraordinary results possible. Among the most spectacular examples are the pieces made of four or five coils (or turns) of Tubogas aligned in succession. The search of chromatic effects led to the development of creations that alternated yellow, pink and white gold. In the 70’s, the combination of steel and yellow gold was introduced. Lengthy technical research was needed to develop this innovation, in order to identify the type of steel that would ensure the flexibility of the Tubogas and to obtain a colour contrast that would set off the contrast with yellow end red gold.   

In addition to the selection of the steel, which was of the type used by the naval, chemical, medical, and aeronautical industries, technical issues related to working the metal bands had to be resolved. These issues pertained specifically to the metal’s high melting temperatures (1300-1500°C) and its low malleability in comparison to 18-kt gold. The term Tubogas was inspired by the very distinctive shape of gas pipes in the 20’s, and by the side exhaust pipes on some of the most prestigious sports cars of the day (Mercedes, Auburn, Cord and Duesenberg).   

Combined with precious stones or ancient coins, or simply contrasted with yellow gold, the technological appearance of the Tubogas – which was especially obvious in the steel versions – was a stylistic element unique to Bulgari that gave rise to unique creations and embodied a unique signature.