3 minute read
bREgUET
Sharmila Bertin
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If ever there was a feeling that was as pure and as immutable as a diamond, well... it’s love! But unlike precious stones, it can take on various forms, far from the traditional bonds that link two people. Sometimes it’s platonic, concealed behind friendship, or weaves its way subtly in like a sort of good-natured admiration. Love, like beauty, is everywhere for those who know how to look. It adorns a dazzling aura, makes eyes twinkle, makes the heart flutter for those who feel it deep within.
Can we imagine love between Caroline Murat (1782-1839), the Queen of Naples and younger sister of Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), and AbrahamLouis Breguet (1747-1823), the exceptional master watchmaker? In a certain sense, and even if it may shock
some, yes we can. The enchantment that a piece of work can spark is a form of love, the loyal trust a customer extends to a creator is one too. Between 1808 and 1814, Caroline Murat purchased 34 timepieces from Abraham-Louis Breguet, including a wristwatch – the first in the history of watchmaking! – boasting complications, commissioned in 1810 and delivered two years later.
This piece, for which only traces in the archives remain, which expresses the mutual admiration between a woman who was liberated for the times, and a watchmaking engineering genius, changed over the years to become a sort of appreciation through the Reine de Naples collection.
Love, or rather, all the forms of love live and breathe on a daily basis. “Love is the only beauty” wrote Victor Hugo over
rEd gEms fLy away undEr THE nigHT-TimE sTar and a doubLE HEarT bEaTs THE sEconds wiTH passion.
a century and a half ago, a quote that is totally in tune with every period of time. And what better way to embed one’s feelings in eternity than to illustrate it on the face of an object that is synonymous with... time! A wish fulfilled by Breguet, the modern-day manufacture, with the Reine de Naples 8905 edition, limited to only 26 pieces. Everything about it diffuses love, from the presence of a myriad of red stones that fly off towards 12 o’clock on the white mother-of-pearl dial to indicate the energy remaining, the double heart that beats the second passionately at 7 o’clock, the fan-shaped aperture that unveils the night-time star, to the finely-hammered white gold disc set against a starry sky. Every detail that we are invited to admire is ravishing, the ensemble is extraordinarily refined. The oval bezel, strewn with diamonds, centre stages a dazzle that is perfectly echoed by the stone-set flange. The black-hued Roman numerals encircle a guilloché-engraved decor where two blued hollow moon-tip Breguet hands hover over the hours and minutes. The mesmerizing small seconds features a wavy engraving on its backdrop like a nautilus shell, a stylized sun.
This vision of love is animated by the automatic 537DRL2 calibre, which beats at a frequency of 3.5 Hz and delivers a power reserve of 45 hours, nestling in a white gold oval case (36.5 x 28.45 mm). This precious case, enhanced even more so by a ruby on the crown at 4 o’clock embraces the wrist with passion, enlacing it with its vermilion alligator strap.
* extract from the poem “Les Chansons des rues et des bois” (1865) by Victor Hugo (1802-1885), French writer and poet
