The Breguet Reine de Naples Steel

Breguet present a new ladies watch - the Reine de Naples Steel. There are a few characteristics which define the luxuriously elegant Reine de Naples collection - the curvey "egg-shaped" case, the distinctive ball strap lug, the asymmetric design with crown at four o'clock, the off-centre chapter ring on mother of pearl dial and the haute-horlogerie combination of gold and diamonds used in its construction, until now that is, the latest piece is made from steel.

The Reine de Naples Steel is larger than previous models at 43.75 x 35.50mm, perhaps because the more economical steel allows for a larger case or maybe because this piece is less a dress watch and more for everyday wear given the lack of jewels (personally I have no problem wearing a diamond-set watch in daylight hours - nothing quite catches the sunlight like a bezel full of Top Wesseltons).

Breguet are one of the hallowed few who appear to give the same attention to the mechanics of ladies watches as they do for their mens collections and inside this one is the Calibre 591C self-winding movement.  The use of high precision silicon escapement and balance-spring and the handfinished 22 carat gold oscillating weight say a lot about the direction Breguet is taking, respecting the traditional watchmaking methods whilst embracing the use of cutting-edge materials.

The Breguet Reine de Naples Steel is water resistant to 30m and comes presented on a grey alligator strap.  The piece is not entirely lacking in sparkle, somebody in Breguet's design department must have stamped their foot and insisted that the curious little drop-shaped diamond set into the crown must remain, steel case or not, and quite right too.