Reine de Naples 8918

Despite the crisis that struck the entire watchmaking industry in 2009, the Swatch Group and Breguet – its flagship Fine Watchmaking brand – stayed the course as they succeeded in not laying off a single employee while continuing to invest in research and development. This proactive policy enabled them to introduce in 2010 a number of technically innovative pieces such as the Réveil Musical or the Type XXII watch, the first mass-produced mechanical chronograph with an escapement operating at a frequency of 10Hz – thanks mainly to silicon. These two models are the product of advanced research on the use of new materials that add real value in watchmaking. Forexample,Liquidmetal® wasemployedtocreatetheRéveilMusical’smembrane,a component that transmits the pin barrel’s vibration to the combs and transforms it into sound audible to the human ear. This membrane also ensures that the watch is water- tight to a depth of 30 metres, despite the openings in the caseback that allow optimal propagation of the sound while the music is playing. This ambitious investment policy has enabled Breguet to file over 100 patents during the past decade, since its purchase by the Swatch Group. It is also thanks t o this policy, as well as to continual innovation, that the company is able to proudly present a revolutionary new model in 2011: the Classique Hora Mundi, the first mechanical watch with an instant time-zone display and a memory featuring synchronised date, day/night and city indications.  

Breguet watches have always charmed women, from Queen Marie-Antoinette of France through Empress Josephine to the Marquise de Condorcet. The Reine de Naples watch was created as a tribute to the wristwatch that Caroline Murat, the Queen of Naples, ordered from Abraham-Louis Breguet, a watchmaker then located on the Quai de l’Horloge in Paris. This timepiece’s soft ovoid shape, its crown at 4 o’clock, and the distinctive strap lug are characteristics that have made it a truly iconic watch that is recognised and sought after throughout the world. Available in a number of versions with or without complications, it is introduced here in 18-carat red gold with hours and minutes. It has a self-winding movement, Breguet Calibre 537/1 and a sapphire caseback. The bezel and its flange are set with 117 full-cut diamonds totalling 0.99 carat. In the Breguet tradition, the dial is made of 18-carat silvered gold, with hand engraving done on a rose engine, and natural mother-of-pearl. It is decorated with redesigned Breguet Arabic numerals and has a pea r-shaped 0.09-carat diamond at 6 o’clock.