WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT
As this year filled with pieces created in honor of the 250th anniversary of its founding draws to a close, the prestigious Swatch Group brand unveils two new models available in several versions.
The Reine de Naples is much more than an object designed to tell the time. It is a fertile ground for creativity, an architectural icon of the passing hours, a symbol that contradicts the outdated notion that watches are only for men, and an interpretation of the past, drawing on its roots in the history of watchmaking. The first timepiece with a bracelet was made between 1810 and 1812 by a man, Abraham-Louis Breguet (1747-1823), at the request of a woman, Caroline Murat born Bonaparte (1782-1839). it lives on in a contemporary collection to which two new additions have been made: the Reine de Naples 9935 and the Reine de Naples 8925.
Available in four versions, the first model features a 36.5 x 28.5 mm oval Breguet gold case set with 109 diamonds and a fluted middle case measuring 10.3 mm in height. It houses the caliber 537L2, a movement vibrating at a frequency of 3.5 Hz, which is wound by its guilloché “Petit Trianon” platinum oscillating weight. The dial combines the iridescent reflections of Tahitian mother-of-pearl with the translucent depth of midnight blue aventurine glass to display the hours and minutes, slightly off-center at 6 o’clock, the small seconds chiseled with the “Quai de l’Horloge” patterne, and the moon phase placed in the upper part dominated by a pear-cut diamond. The second reference combines three versions and is only available with a flexible bracelet made of pearl-shaped links. Punctuated by a gem-encrusted ball at 6 o’clock, the Breguet gold case set with 107 brilliant-cut diamonds houses the caliber 586/1, which drives the Breguet hands with hollowed-out tips for the hours and minutes on a white mother-of-pearl, Breguet gold, or black lacquer and aventurine glass disc surrounded by a band of precious stones.
