SpotlightShed New Light Every Season: Tadao Ando X Bulgari Serpenti Quartet
The new Tadao Ando x Bulgari Serpenti captures the changing face of nature through the year's four seasons using fragmented dials fashioned from green aventurine, tiger's eye, white and pink mother of pearl on the brand’s iconic reptilian timepiece
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Noted Japanese architect Tadao Ando and Italian watchmaker Bulgari have crossed paths before to extend the brand’s Octo Finissimo line by co-creating iterations in 2020 and 2021. For the third time now, the two legends have collaborated on a 2024 edition of the iconic Bulgari Serpenti in not one but four limited-run versions fashioned from diverse hue and material. Ando—noted for his design approach that combines perception, principles of circularity with good use of natural light—remarked at the press launch that through this Tadao Ando X Bulgari Serpenti quartet, he had aimed “to integrate the various forces at play, to restore the unity of architecture with nature”. Further, the Product Creation Executive Director of Bulgari, Fabrizio Buonamassa Stigliani explained the role of ‘nature’ in the new Serpenti lineup, saying: “Aligning with Serpenti felt instinctive. In a metaphor for time and transformation, indeed for the renewal of nature itself: the serpent likewise sheds its skin and emerges anew, its colours transformed.”
Through the four hues and fragmented dials as timekeeping terrain, the new Serpentis capture the Earth’s essence as leaves turn green, orange, yellow and finally die every spring, summer, fall and winter, akin to the ‘ecdysis’—the skin shedding process a serpent undergoes to regrow new skin and rid of parasites attached to the old.
The Tadao Ando Version Of The Iconic Bulgari Serpenti
A 1940s invention, the Bulgari Serpenti is symbolic of the raw reptilian energy, and of metamorphosis and rebirth. Its sheer design creates a magnetic pull, from the way the coiled bracelet gets wrapped around the wrist, courtesy the Tugobas mechanism, to its studded diamond embellishments and smooth polished metal body with cabochon-cut semiprecious gem on the crown for the right dose of sheen and sparkle.
To create the jagged dial impression on the new Bulgari Serpenti quartet, the brand’s in-house artisan-craftspeople handpicked the ‘perfect’ shards to cut, shape and arrange at angles that will unfailingly capture light to achieve a play of colourful shades for vibrancy and scaly reptilian texture. Adding to the sheen, a total of 38 diamonds are studded along both sides of the bezel of the 35mm case. A 135mm Tugobas bracelet secures the watch to the wrist.
The Changing Nature Of Four Seasons
In its latest avatar, the Bulgari icon is represented through four dials after the four seasons (with Japanese monikers) through fragmented dials fashioned from gemstones or mother-of-pearl. Here’s a gist of the four new Bulgaris: Natsu, Japanese for summer, has a translucent green aventurine dial, complemented by a yellow gold and steel coiled bracelet. Aki (autumn) is symbolised through the fiery tiger’s eye gemstone like the autumnal maple leaf, with rose gold case and bracelet, pink rubellite on the crown. Fuyu (winter) is represented by a white mother-of-pearl dial with steel case and bracelet, while Haru (spring) pink mother of pearl dial with rose gold and steel bracelet to reflect Japan’s trademark cherry blossom trees.
The Tadao Ando x Bulgari Serpenti, powered by an in-house quartz movement, qualifies as a collector’s item with a dainty engraving of Ando’s signature on the caseback, stating: ‘Tadao Ando Limited Edition’. Each of the four watches comes packed in specialised box, crafted by Ando himself. Collectors and connoisseurs aspiring to possess all four dials can opt for the limited edition of 20 boxed sets that house all four watches under the reptilian theme.
