Reine de Naples Jour/Nuit

 
Among the timepieces Breguet produces, those in the Reine de Naples collection have always been noted for lapsing into poetry. This impression is no doubt due to the unique shape of the case, which symbolises the origin of life, but it could also be because it is a collection in which each highly complicated watch is made only for women. In the Reine de Naples models, Breguet thus expresses its high regard for women through both artistic and mechanical skills.
 
Last year, Breguet presented the Reine de Naples Jour/Nuit model, a mechanical interpretation of the daily ballet of the sun and the moon in the heavens. It arrived to critical and popular acclaim, and thereafter won several prizes. This year, the company has decided to offer a variant that is even more splendid with a gem-encrusted Reine de Naples model that does honour to the jewellery skills of Breguet’s artists. The bezel and caseband are set with 131 baguette diamonds, while the dial and the ball attachment are finely decorated in a frosting of diamonds. The crown is topped by a briolette diamond.
 
Breguet’s mechanical expertise is also on display, since this watch is fitted with the movement specially made for the Reine de Naples collection. Apart from indicating the hours and minutes it animates a whimsical representation of the hours of the day and night on a second dial. The two dials combine in a figure 8, a symbolic number in many cultures, which recalls the sign for infinity.  A titanium moon is placed on a disc of lapis lazuli while the path of the sun is represented by the facetted rim of the balance-wheel that throws out rays of light. The sun moves according to the motion of the balance on a daylong tour of the Arabic Chapter ring before setting beneath the horizon of the steel bridge supporting the mechanism. Decorations on the disc add to the enchantment with inserts of mother-of-pearl for clouds and the living gleam of gold stars.
 
To bring the time easily to hand, the dial for the hours and minutes has a mother-of-pearl chapter ring engraved with Roman numerals, while Arabic numerals adorn the mother-of-pearl inset surrounding the representation of the day and night hours. All this is staged in the tasteful and finely crafted surroundings of the Reine de Naples case.
 
The astute combination of watchmaking and jewellery engineered by Breguet results in an excellent watch and an ornament that sparkles with a thousand fires. It offers women the sophistication of a unique and poetic horological complication.