190 Bulgari Very Elegant and Gorgeous, Serpenti Tubogas, Wristwatch in Yellow, Pink and White Gold, With Elastic Bracelet, Reference G1374-4

Estimate: €15,000 –⁠ 30,000

Model: Serpenti Tubogas
Reference: G1374-4
Case Material: Yellow Gold
Bracelet Material: Yellow, Pink and White Gold
Year: 1970's
Movement: Manual
Case N°: 4142
Dimensions: 14 × 16 mm
Signed: Dial, Case and Movement

Since snakes got their really big break at Bulgari in the late 1940s, they have appeared in countless forms: at first highly abstracted, the style evolved over the decades, becoming more animalistic through the 1960s and early ’70s and, in the past decade, reinterpreted in more geometric and stylized form once again. Innovative, modern and very distinctive, the Tubogas style quickly built a following. The so-called tubogas (or gas pipe) technique was developed during the second half of the nineteenth century and used by Bulgari on the first Serpenti watch creations of the 1940s and 1950s. The term “tubogas” was inspired by the distinctive shape of the gas carrier pipes in use from the 1920s onwards. As social life changed and style became more casual throughout the decade, the Tubogas grew in popularity again and in the mid-’70s, production of the elaborate, scaled designs ended. The Bulgari Tubogas is a flexible band with rounded contours produced without soldering. In practice, the result is a bracelet that is remarkably flexible to allow for comfortable wear while remaining firmly coiled around the wrist, arm, or neck. The gorgeous creation here offered is manufactured in yellow, pink and white gold with the case signed by nonetheless than Gerald Genta, the creator of Royal Oak and Nautilus. The rounded rectangular “head” of the snake contain the Silvered dial with black Arabic/Baton indexes and hands.