Anna Maria Bernini — watch collection

About Anna Maria Bernini’s watch collection

Anna Maria Bernini is one of Italy's most prominent political figures, currently serving as Minister of University and Research in the government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. A lawyer by training and a longtime member of Forza Italia, the centre-right party founded by Silvio Berlusconi, she has held senior roles in the Italian Senate for over two decades, including President of the Forza Italia parliamentary group in the Senate. Her career spans academia, law, and high-level government, making her one of the more intellectually credentialled figures in contemporary Italian politics.

The Anna Maria Bernini watch collection, based on sightings documented here at Watch Paparazzi, currently numbers one confirmed piece — but it is a remarkable one. Bernini has been photographed wearing the Patek Philippe Nautilus reference 3700/1A, the original Nautilus introduced at the Basel Fair in 1976. Designed by Gérald Genta, the ref. 3700/1A was Patek Philippe's answer to the luxury sports watch category that Genta himself had helped define with the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak four years earlier. The stainless steel case, integrated bracelet, and porthole-inspired octagonal bezel were genuinely unconventional for Patek Philippe at the time, and the ref. 3700/1A is now regarded as one of the foundational references in modern watch collecting.

Spotting the original Nautilus on the wrist of a senior Italian parliamentarian is a notable moment. The ref. 3700/1A is not a watch that announces itself loudly — its significance is legible mainly to those who already know what they are looking at. That kind of understated depth aligns with a collector who appears to approach horology the way she approaches law and policy: with genuine knowledge rather than surface-level interest. Whether Bernini's collection extends further beyond this one confirmed sighting remains to be seen, but the bar she has set with the 3700/1A is a high one.