The Quirky Backstory. The Quirky Backstory. The Quirky Backstory. The Quirky Backstory. The Quirky Backstory
Bulgari Serpenti Secret Watches. Bulgari Serpenti Secret Watches. Bulgari Serpenti Secret Watches. Bulgari Serpenti Secret Watches
06 October 2026
The Quirky Backstory Of Bulgari’s Serpenti Secret Watches, 1950s–1970s
A snake wrapped around the wrist, covered in gold, diamonds, enamel and precious stones. And somewhere inside its head… a tiny mechanical watch.
The snake turned increasingly lifelike. Its body was built from individually articulated gold scales, allowing it to coil several times around the wrist, while versions appeared covered in colourful enamel or materials such as turquoise, onyx and coral.
Diamonds, rubies and emeralds became eyes, while even the forked tongue could be reproduced in gold.
Yet the quirkiest detail was hidden inside the head.
Many of these creations were “secret watches”: lift the snake’s hinged head and a tiny dial would suddenly appear. And while Bulgari created the extraordinary jewellery surrounding it, the watchmaking inside could come from some rather familiar Swiss names.
Examples from the period can be found with movements and dials signed Jaeger-LeCoultre, Vacheron Constantin and Piaget — sometimes alongside the Bulgari signature.
Some weighed more than 200 grams, while their hidden dials could measure little more than a centimetre across.
By the 1960s, the Serpenti had become one of Bulgari’s most recognisable creations, famously appearing on Elizabeth Taylor’s wrist in Rome in 1962 and later finding another devoted admirer in legendary Vogue editor Diana Vreeland.
