The Breguet Reine de Naples 8938

There are not that many emblematic watches entirely dedicated to women, but the Breguet Reine de Naples is one of them. Named after Caroline Murat, a younger sister of Napoleon I of France and Queen of Naples (Reine de Naples in French), it pays tribute to a watch designed by Abraham-Louis Breguet with quite some historical importance, being said to be the first-ever wristwatch. Immediately recognisable thanks to its oval shape, the brand has created many watches under this name, and today launches a new pair of watches with sophisticated aesthetics, thanks to a delicate snow diamond setting. Meet the new Breguet Reine de Naples 8938 models.

Available either in white gold with a light blue strap or in rose gold with an orange strap, the new additions to the Reine de Naples collection rely on the brand’s signature oval case, here with a rather large case of 36.5mm x 28.45mm. Classically executed, with the finely fluted caseband, these new references 8938 are mostly distinguished by extensive use of diamonds all around. The bezel, the dial’s flange and the lug are set with 161 brilliant-cut diamonds (approx. 1.82 ct) and the crown comes with a rare briolette-cut diamond. Overall, more than three carats of diamonds light up this precious timepiece.

For the dial of these new Breguet Reine de Naples 8938, the brand has opted for a specific technique named snow setting, it is far more complex to achieve than a traditional concentric setting since it uses different sized stones to cover the dial, thereby keeping the visibility of the material upon which they are set to a minimum. This deceptively random placement of the stones results in unmatched brilliance. Breguet rounds off the Reine de Naples 8938 dial with an off-centred, natural white mother-of-pearl hours chapter at 6 o’clock, classic Breguet numerals and blued moon-tipped hands.

This watch isn’t just a pretty, fancy face, as under the sapphire caseback beats a true Breguet engine, the self-winding Calibre 537/3, equipped with silicon escapement wheel, in-line Swiss lever and balance spring. Beating at 3.5Hz, this movement is wound by a guilloché platinum oscillating weight and boasts 45 hours of power reserve.

These new additions to the Breguet Reine de Naples collection, ref. 8938BB/8D/964 DD0D in white gold with blue strap and ref. 8938BR/8D/964 DD0D in rose gold with orange, also feature a gold triple-blade folding clasp set with 28 brilliant-cut diamonds. These are available from boutiques and retailers. Price on request.

For more details, please visit breguet.com.