While I adore the idea of this watch, the characteristic egg shape of the Reine de Naples doesn’t entirely appeal to me in this form. There’s something lopsided about the design to my eye. I prefer the aesthetics of the Reine de Naples when the top half of the egg is balanced out by the moonphase and power reserve. Nonetheless, I can’t quibble with the parts (natural mother-of-pearl dial, white gold fluted caseband and diamond set bezel), even though the whole doesn’t completely sum up for me.
Turn over the watch and you’ve got my pulse jumping. One of the signs of high watchmaking is when the movement fits into the case like a hand slipping into a perfectly tailored glove. Breguet designed the automatic egg-shaped movement specifically to cozy up in this space. What’s so breathtaking is that the movement, visible through a sapphire crystal, is an artistic as well as mechanical achievement. The bridges and oscillating weight form an image of a dove, with the design extending to the engraving on the case. As you can tell I’m more entranced with the back of the watch than the front.
I haven’t heard the watch strike in person so I can’t comment on the acoustics. Breguet pride themselves on putting a lot of time and resources into technical achievements so I can safely presume the watch sounds great.
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