FIT FOR A
QUEEN
BY CAROL BESLER
I
BREGUET’S REINE DE NAPLES
COLLECTION CELEBRATES THE FIRST
WRISTWATCH ON RECORD AND THE
WOMAN WHO WORE IT
n 2001, Breguet had the wild idea of launching a collection of high-
end, highly decorated timepieces with mechanical movements
for ladies and calling it Reine de Naples. The result was a watch
that was both ahead of its time – Breguet was one of the first elite
watchmakers to identify the ladies’ watch as an ideal venue for the
Metiers d’Art of watchmaking – and at the same time a nod to the
history of watchmaking. The Reine de Naples was inspired by a watch
Breguet made in 1812 for Caroline Murat, the Queen of Naples and sister
of Napoleon Bonaparte. Many historians believe it to have been the
first wristwatch ever made.
The Reine de Naples set a new standard in ladies’ luxury timepieces,
both when it was first presented in 1812 and when it was reinvented
nearly 200 years later. The collection has become an authentic
platform for Breguet’s expertise in complicated movements for ladies
watch. Successive models have not only pushed the limits of design,
including all of the metiers – sometimes all on a single watch – but in
watchmaking, with complications designed and decorated for women,
including a day/night indicator, moon phase and a “sonnerie au
passage” (hour strike). Every watch in the collection has a decorative
dial, with many hand engraved on a rose engine, and most set with
diamonds. All have mechanical movements.
Caroline Murat was a member of France’s ruling Bonaparte family,
whose members were true patrons of the arts, including watchmaking,
an art form the family introduced to the aristocracy of France. Breguet’s
Breguet’s Reine de Naples 8909 with moon phase
and power reserve indicator. In white gold, with a
blue natural mother-of-pearl dial and diamonds set
into the caseband, bezel, flange, dial and bracelet.
SUMMER 2018 | INTERNATIONAL WATCH | 39