Bulgari Serpenti Watch: On-The-Wrist Review

Ping Tsai's 2011 'on-the-wrist' review of the Bulgari Serpenti watch offers a captivating look at this distinctive timepiece, exploring its unique aesthetic and cultural impact. Her personal encounter with the watch in public sparked a deeper appreciation for its blend of elegance and exoticism. This review provides valuable insights into the Serpenti's design, wearability, and its place as a statement piece in luxury watchmaking.

I’ll never forget the first time that I saw a Bulgari Serpenti watch on the wrist of a woman in public.  It was nearly a year and a half ago at South Coast Plaza in Orange County where international fashionistas meet stylish housewives from all over southern California.  She was a Middle Eastern standout beauty with long dark hair, large eyes and strong features.  If it wasn’t for her casual dress and the little ones that tagged along at her side, she would have seemed unrelatable to me.  Her unassuming confidence and sophistication appeared to transcend what one would expect to find at a local mall. 

Bulgari Serpenti Watch

An "On-The-Wrist" Review

By Ping Tsai

© October 2011

I noticed right away the rose gold Serpenti watch that coiled around her left wrist.  It stood out to me foremost because I recognized it, having just taken on the Bulgari moderator post on PuristSPro and familiarized myself with all their latest pieces released at Baselworld 2010.  I felt certain however that I would have noticed it otherwise because of its strikingly unique appearance, especially in pink gold.  It wrapped around her wrist effortlessly displaying a sense of elegance every bit as much as exoticism.  The woman immediately peaked my interest wearing such a distinctive looking watch in the middle of a suburban upscale mall.  It was a bold and extremely current reflection of style and sophistication and I was impressed.

From the onset, the Serpenti watch has intrigued me.  The encounter at the mall only served to push this sentiment along further.  All of a sudden it seemed more real to me.  I have to say that a lot of Bulgari’s pieces have a certain fantastical aura about them.  The jewels with their large colorful gemstones and finely detailed metalwork always seem larger than life; only to be seen on the big screen, in a glossy magazine ad with lions and exotic birds, or through the display case glass.  Now here’s a woman, a mother, albeit a stylish one for that matter, who was wearing the latest female watch in the flesh from one of the top luxury brands in the world.  It was a step closer to experiencing the fantasy aspect of Bulgari.  After much waiting and anticipation, I was able to move even closer.  Alas, thanks to Bulgari, I finally experienced for a short time, what it is like to wear a Serpenti watch.

Form

The new Serpenti Collection of watches was first presented at Baselworld last year and is reflective of Bulgari’s long standing use of the snake as a design theme.  In the form of a stylized snake made up of flexible gold segments the Serpenti watch coils around in a single sinuous curve, beginning with the watch face head and ending with the tapered tail.  In ancient Roman times, people often wore talismans for good luck or to ward off ill-fortune.  One of the most common ancient Roman symbols used in these talismans was the image of the coiled snake. It represented immortality and was particularly common in bracelets.   

The Serpenti watch is available in stainless steel, yellow gold with white face, pink gold with black face, single or double coil and with or without diamond bezel.  The version that I had the pleasure of reviewing consists of a single coil in polished stainless steel with a white face.  With a retail price of $4350, it is the most affordable of the Serpenti choices and the one that I consider to be the most versatile as well. 

At first glance, the watch very much resembles a bangle and in many ways it can even be considered as such.  However this would be severely undermining its versatility, design and construction.  Once the watch is handled, one can see that there is much more substance to it than a simple metal bracelet.  Holding it in the palm of my hand, there is considerable weight to the piece.  It is compact and holds its shape even after turning, twisting, stretching and setting on a surface.  The mirror-like polished surface is remarkably smooth, even with the vertical grooves between each segment that make up the band.  All the edges are perfectly smooth providing a uniform surface finish that bends and moves with ease. 

Wear

This is important since bending and stretching of the band is required in order to put it on.  With some practice I found two reliable ways to put on a single coil Serpenti.  The first is to scrunch up all the fingers, place them through the center of the Serpenti coil and slide the watch onto the wrist.  The second way is to first hook the tail onto the edge of one’s wrist and then wrap the rest of the coil around the wrist until the dial is facing up.  The double coil Serpenti is more difficult to simply “slide on”.  With the extra coil, the watch doesn’t open up as easily as the single coil.  Therefore I found with the double coil, the “hook and wrap” method to be much more reliable.  Conversely, to take the watch off one can slide it off with the other hand or grab the tail end and uncoil it from the wrist.    

One of the first things that I noticed when putting on the Serpenti and taking it off is how incredibly flexible the band is.  In handling the watch, there is almost a constant fear of over-stretching the band, warping the metal or breaking one of the segments.  But no matter how far it is stretched, within reason, the watch always reverts back to its original form, adding to the comfort and confidence of the owner with each time it is worn.  At one point my 4 year old got her hands on the Serpenti watch toying with it more as she would a Slinky rather than a $4000 luxury watch.  I had just about experienced a myocardial infarction before snatching the shiny wristlet from her tiny hands and later feeling rest assured after seeing it conform back to its original shape with little evidence of mishandling.

Initially I put the Serpenti watch on my left wrist, where I normally wear all my watches.  However, I wasn’t completely satisfied with the way it sat on my wrist.  The face of the watch had the appearance that it was sagging a little as the rest of the band wrapped around the upper part of my wrist.  Holding my arm up, I really couldn’t see much of the coil.  I took the watch off and tried it on my right arm and was much happier with the look and feel of the watch.  The face of the watch now sat on the upper, thicker part of my wrist and the rest of the band coiled down towards my hand.  Since the case, which is heavier than the rest of the watch, hugged the thicker part of my wrist, it stayed in place better and didn’t have that sagging look.  Also, since the face sat higher, I could see more of the coil.  Perhaps the double coil would work better on the left wrist since there is more support with the added length but I definitely preferred wearing the single coil on my right wrist.   

In terms of comfort the Serpenti watch is extremely comfortable to wear with the single coil being more comfortable than the double coil and easier to put on.  Ideally it would be best to own two separate Serpenti watches; the single coil in stainless steel for everyday casual wear since it is more comfortable and slightly more understated, and the double coil in pink gold with diamond bezel for more formal occasions to make a bolder statement.  However, the look and form of the Serpenti is so specialized that even the stainless steel version can be dressed up and hold its own for any occasion or event.    

Construction

My past experience with segmented stretchy bands was of the elastic type that sometimes pinched the skin during wear.  The Serpenti’s intricate construction is light years beyond that.  It doesn’t quite conform to the wrist the same way but it certainly hugs it snugly.  This is all made possible by Bulgari’s signature, the Tubogas technique.  Developed during the second half of the 19th century and used by many jewelers until the 1940s, the Tubogas ("tube of gas") technique was revived by Bulgari in the 1970s and used to create watches, bracelets, necklaces and rings. The Tubogas became one of the jeweler's trademarks.

The Tubogas is a flexible band of smooth rounded spirals produced with no soldering.  It requires hours of highly specialized work to make, consisting of rolling two long bands of 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.  The metal bands - whether of steel or gold - can reach 5 meters 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 the Tubogas technique.  The term Tubogas was inspired by the very distinctive shape of gas pipes in the 1920s, and by the side exhaust pipes on some of the most prestigious sports cars of the day (Mercedes, Auburn, Cord and Duesenberg).  Tubogas was a stylistic element to Bulgari that gave rise to unique creations and embodied a unique signature look.

Components

The body of the bracelet is naturally extended by the curved polished triangular watch case, representing the head of the snake.  The diamond versions are set with 38 brilliants around the perimeter (0.29ct), contrasting nicely with the opaline silver plated dial with sunburst decoration and Roman numeral hour markers at 12 and 6 o’clock.  The crown is set with a pink rubellite cabochon, adding a slight accent of color.  The case measures 35mm in length, 9mm in thickness and is equipped with scratch-resistant, glare-proofed sapphire crystal.  The watch has a simple hour and minute function consisting of a Swiss quartz movement customized for Bulgari, Calibre B033 with a frequency of 32,768 vibrations/hour, diameter of 11.00 mm and thickness of 2.65 mm.    

For the most part, the Serpenti is worn more as jewelry than as a timepiece.  The watch is a bonus feature and its functionality does come in handy.  I noticed that the majority of women, especially professionals, prefer watches with bracelets.  Perhaps they equate bracelet watches to a “better quality” watch.  The Serpenti provides a more stylish unique option in this case.  The watch says a lot about the woman that wears it.  It’s sensual and sexy, mysterious yet elegant.  It reflects a confident woman who isn’t afraid to venture beyond the ordinary once in a while even when her surroundings do little to call for it.  

It’s been a while since I’ve worn a quartz watch.  I like to believe that my taste and knowledge of timepieces has grown to a greater level of sophistication where I can truly appreciate mechanical workings of a watch movement.  There comes a time in everyone’s life however when we compromise on what we would normally do for an alternative purpose, whether it be personal or externally motivated – trying something new, having a little fun or experiencing a piece of design history in reform. Whatever the reason may be, it need only be known and understood by the wearer herself. 

Because of the Serpenti’s more fashionable standpoint, it is more justifiable to wear as a quartz watch from a “PuristS” standpoint.  The technical wonder that can be appreciated lies not in the mechanics of the movement but instead in the craftsmanship of the watches’ construction.  Surely there is purity that can be found in that, and also in taking a historical approach in design and technique.  One cannot deny the beauty of the end result.  When what is seen is so impressive, there is little reason to take notice of much else.