Sinuous, exotic, and elegant, with a timeless appeal, the Bulgari Serpenti has endured for over half a decade, constantly evolving and pushing the boundaries of form and function. The Serpenti as part of Bulgari’s design heritage was actually preceded by the Tubogas, drawing inspiration from gas pipelines and constructed with a metal coil surrounded by interlocking precious metal bands. The Tubogas, in various forms, has been in existence since the 1940s. Bulgari took this more functional design and from the 1950s through the 1970s, transformed the humble coils into vividly colored and realistic serpentine bracelet watches.

The miniature watch movements, usually located within the mouth of the snake, were supplied to Bulgari by high-end watch manufactures such as Jaeger-LeCoultre, Audemars Piguet, Vacheron Constantin, Movado, and Omega. The Serpenti of this period always featured a manually-wound movement with the winding crown located at the reverse. The form of the snake was made possible by a inner white gold coil, over which hammered gold scales were riveted together. These scales were decorated with enamel, sometimes engraved or painted to make the scales seem more lifelike, or inlaid with semi-precious and precious stones. The eyes of the snakes were usually large cabochon precious stones, such as diamonds, sapphires, or rubies.

This particular Bulgari Serpenti, case number 723’017, is extremely rare and marvelous in its own right, having never appeared publicly before. The movement and case were produced by Jaeger-LeCoultre and sold to Bulgari in 1957, with the Serpenti being produced circa 1970. The eyes are large faceted diamonds, with rows of scales alternating between beautiful opaque white enamel hexagons outlined in gold and brilliant cut diamonds set in prongs and delicately engraved. Its smaller size was likely a custom order for a smaller wrist or just personal preference, and is rarely seen on the secondary market. In addition, scholarship indicates these smaller models were exclusively offered as special order pieces, further contributing to their rarity and importance. This smaller size was only available after 1968, keeping in line with the circa 1970 production date of this example. The snake’s head lies beautifully below the joints of the wrist, as the tapered body rendered in 18k pink gold winds along the arm. The attention to detail, sumptuous materials, and evocative design make this Serpenti a horological and artistic specimen of the highest order.