In Italian, Tubogas literally means “Gas Pipe”.
Sounds unromantic, right? But in the 1930s-1940s, this industrial hose technology originally used to transport pressurized gas gave jewelry designers huge inspiration.
🏭 Magic of Technology: Gold Band without Welding Points
The core of Tubogas lies in “Winding”.
Craftsmen tightly wind two long gold strips (or gold-wrapped steel strips) in an interlocking shape on a copper or wooden core. After winding, the core inside is dissolved by acid or pulled out forcibly.
The remaining gold tube is buckled together relying on the tension of the metal itself and the interlocking structure.
- Feature 1: Elasticity. It is like a spring, can stretch, twist, and then spring back to its original state.
- Feature 2: No Welding Points. The entire chain has no welding, which means it is extremely smooth, fits the skin like silk, and will not pinch hair at all.
🐍 Bulgari and Serpenti
Although Van Cleef & Arpels was also making Tubogas, it was Bulgari that truly pushed it to the altar.
In the 1940s, Bulgari realized that the tubular structure of Tubogas looked very much like a snake body. So, they stuffed the watch movement into the snake head and used the Tubogas gold tube to make the snake body winding around the wrist.
This is the prototype of the classic Serpenti series handed down to the world.
💡 Collection Guide: Not Just Bulgari
Although Bulgari’s Tubogas is expensive, in Italy from the 1940s to the 1970s, many unknown goldsmith workshops (especially in Arezzo and Vicenza) also produced a large number of high-quality Tubogas jewelry.
How to choose?
- Check Elasticity: Pick up the bracelet or necklace, gently stretch and release, see if it can rebound quickly and tightly. If it becomes loose, it means metal fatigue, don’t buy it.
- Check Color: The most beautiful time of Tubogas is Tri-color Gold. Craftsmen would alternately use yellow gold, white gold and rose gold strips for winding, forming a striped effect, which has the charm of Art Deco and Retro periods.
- Check Ends: Check whether the End Caps of the gold tube are rounded and smooth, which is the key to judging the fineness of craftsmanship.
Tubogas is the perfect marriage of the Industrial Revolution and goldsmith craftsmanship. It proves that the cold structure of machinery can also be turned into tender feelings around the fingers.
