The Serpenti over the decades

RICHARD Burton once quipped that the only Italian word Elizabeth Taylor knew was "Bulgari".

The actress was such a fan of the Italian brand, in particular its Serpenti creations, that by 2011 when she died, the jewellery maven had amassed a massive collection that was auctioned off for a total of S$156.8 million.

Taylor was often seen decked in Bulgari jewellery and, as one of the most photographed women of her time, was a walking advertisement for the brand. If there's one single event that contributes to the explosion in Bulgari's fortunes, it's Cleopatra which starred Taylor and Burton.

The 1963 movie made the Serpenti bracelet, which she wore in the leading role as the beautiful and seductive Egyptian queen, a design instantly recognisable worldwide.

Which also at least partly explains the Serpenti collections as the most identified with the brand.

It was also in the beginning of the 1960s that the scales of the Serpenti timepiece took on more realistic forms, with every scale crafted by hand from sheet gold and affixed to the others by soldered gold pivots. For the enamelled models, the scales were screwed together.

A white gold spring runs through the core to ensure perfect flexibility. Sometimes the scales were rendered with gemstones like turquoise, onyx, lapis lazuli, coral or jade.

Bulgari produced the first Serpenti watches with the Tubogas (Italian for gas pipe) technique in the late 1940s.

The timepieces featured a highly stylised snake motif realised in the signature Tubogas fashion, or in a gold mesh style that coiled around the wrist. The case and dial were typically square or rectangular and evoked the head of the enigmatic serpent.

The serpent started to look more like the real thing from the mid-1950s. The case assumed the shape of the snake's head and the dial laid under a hinged core on the upper and central part of the head.

The bracelet was in a coiled tubular band or crafted with small "boules" soldered one by one into an intricate gold mesh.

Often, the head was encrusted with diamonds and decorated with eyes in ruby, emerald or sapphire.

Till the late 1970s, established brands like Movado, Audemars Piguet, Jaeger-LeCoultre and Vacheron Constantin supplied the movement for the watches.

The logo of the movement maker appeared alongside the Bulgari logo on the dial of these early timepieces. Things started to change in 1978, when the brand opened a watch factory in Switzerland.

Around this time, some of the Serpenti watches also appeared with pear-shaped dials.

The 1970s and 1980s saw a revival of the Tubogas flexible body with a geometric dial.