The origin of secret watches dates back to a time when it was considered a faux pas for women to check the time in public—or perhaps even wear watches at all. Appearing merely as a gorgeous piece of jewelry, the secret watch offered an alternative that allowed women to adhere to the social norms and more discretely view the time when needed. Secret watches can be traced back to the 19 th century, but many prominent brands like Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels added secret watches as mainstays of their catalogs in the 1920s.
Still, it wasn’t until the 1950s that Bulgari introduced the first secret watches to its now iconic Serpenti collection, which had only launched a few years prior in 1948. The Serpenti line of jewelry watches presented the perfect foundation to create a secret watch, concealing the timekeeper ever so subtly within the stunning snake design. While the secret watch concept is no longer needed from a practical perspective, the style endures for its perfect blend of jewelry and horology, and Bulgari continues to be one of the brands to do it best.
In the Roman Maison’s monumental 140 th anniversary year, we’ve seen it pull out all the stops from launching a slew of new Octo models in April (breaking the record for the world’s thinnest watch, again) to its latest release of six jaw dropping high jewelry secret watches. This is the new Bulgari Aeterna collection. Among Bulgari’s new selection of pieces within its Aeterna collection, there are three sub.