25/06/2026
‘Acting was my mother’s passport to the world,’ says Claudia Squitieri, daughter of Claudia Cardinale, the movie star who rose to fame in the 1960s ‘She travelled everywhere promoting her movies, from New York to Tokyo, and would often take her favourite jewels with her.’
With a distinctly Mediterranean sensuality, Cardinale came to embody post-war European glamour and a femininity that broke with that of previous decades. She became Visconti’s favourite actress, Fellini’s muse and a global ambassador for the greatest names in Italian fashion, notably Bulgari, whose distinctly Italian style celebrating yellow gold, cabochon cuts and eye-catching colour combinations was beginning to attract an international following. ‘Bulgari was one of my mother’s favourite brands,’ says Squitieri. ‘In the 1960s, the house was synonymous with the hedonism and glamour of the Roman dolce vita.’
Leading the collection coming to Christie’s is a blue and white enamel and sapphire Bulgari ‘Serpenti’ bracelet watch from around 1965, with a manual movement and a dial signed Vacheron Constantin Genève. The first models produced in the 1960s were nearly all made in yellow gold with diamond-set heads and tails. The later colourful enamel examples, such as this one, feature scales handmade from sheets of gold and dials concealed in the serpent’s head. ‘My mother was a free-spirited, fiercely independent woman who saw the serpent motif as a symbol of strength, wisdom and vitality,’ says Squitieri. ‘I think she found it very empowering to wear this watch coiled around her arm.’ A similar model to the present example is illustrated in the publication Entre histoire et éternité, released in 2009 for the 125th anniversary of Bulgari, an occasion that was also marked by a major exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris
Lot 38: BULGARI SAPPHIRE & ENAMEL “SERPENTI” WATCH
Estimate: EUR 150,000 – 250,000
Joaillerie | Paris | 16 – 26 June
