Timed to be unveiled to the world just before Valentine’s Day, the new Breguet Reine De Naples Coeur Eternal Love watch might have you fooled. At a glance, you see a lovely white lacquered dial, a big gold heart and a tiny red pointer heart, as well as a heart placed every five minutes on the minute track. Yes, it sure looks like it’s a Valentine’s Day watch similar to other heart-inspired luxury timepieces that are created annually in honor of the romantic day. The thing is that this watch introduces some incredible technical advances made – and patented -- by the master watchmakers and technicians at Breguet.
In a way, the fact that the brand released the watch timed to coordinate with Valentine’s Day could have been a mistake. Of course, if the brand wants to sell the watch for Valentine’s day, it won’t have any trouble since it is truly a beautiful and romantic piece. However, the “heart” side of the watch may just overshadow the innovation inherent in the 28-piece limited edition piece. That would be too bad, because the patented mechanical display of time actually demonstrates how time moves.
The hours are indicated in an arc aperture near the center of the dial. But the minute indication is where the novelty comes into play. Essentially, the large heart in the center of the dial is actually a two-pronged hand. Attached to it is a small red lacquer heart that indicates the minutes. As time passes, the large heart-shaped hand moves around the oval dial expanding to reach the outer edges of the dial at 12:00 and 6:00 where the oval is longest and contracting in size for the 3:00 and 9:00 shortest sides of the dial.
It is mesmerizing to watch in fast-motion, and even in real time, as the hand changes its size and shape by nearly 100 percent as it revolves around the dial. This is accomplished via two arms of the heart mechanism that operate at different speeds to press against one another to form the heart into a new shape.
Every 20 minutes the speeds of the arms change in order to morph the heart into the smallest and biggest sizes. The look of this constantly moving and changing heart, one has to admit, seems like a romantic dance of love. However, this watch actually boasts a total of four patents and is more about innovation in watchmaking than love.
The rotating mechanism stems from the center of the dial and boasts two cams (each patented) that guides the hands (also patented). An inventive torque regulating system (patented) issues the right amount of pressure to the two-pronged hand to force the expansion. The hands are fixed to two pinons and a ruby follows the shape of the oval, indicating to the mechanism where the hand is . With two pinions, each arm of the hand gets energy from a different wheel that tells it how fast or slow to go.
In a nut shell, it looks simple but much research and development went into the making of the 252-part movement and the expanding hands. While the caliber is not too difficult to assemble, Breguet says the hands are delicate and very tricky to set. The movement is naturally finished to Breguet standards and a sapphire crystal aperture on the case back allows for viewing of the caliber 78AO, made entirely in house. The $46,100 Reine de Naples Coeur Eternal Love watch is crafted in gold, set with diamonds and sold in a sleek red leather clutch bag.
Interestingly enough, this Coeur Eternal Love watch may well be the first of more concepts to come. According to Breguet, the heart motif works because it is a symmetrical figure. This means that another symmetrical symbol could be introduced that works with this mechanical system. While squares, circles and stars quickly come to mind, there are literally thousands of symmetrical shapes in the world. I am sure the wheels are turning already at the House of Breguet.
