Rolex
Breguet

THE BRAND

Today Breguet watches are made in the Vallée de Joux, the centre of advanced mechanical horology. The Breguet workshops bring together extraordinary resources to handle the essential aspects of watchmaking.

Breguet combines avant-garde processes with closely guarded traditional techniques. The constant modernization of their equipment reveals the motivation of the craftsmen who build the Breguet watch : pride in their work.

Watch production is divided into a dozen very different workshops. In one, massive presses exert tremendous forces to cut tiny metal components. In another, removed as far as possible from all sources of vibration, digitally controlled transfer machines mill complex shapes in metal to tolerances of a few microns. Concentration is palpable in the dust-free atmosphere of the assembly and casing-up workshops.

All of the hundreds of operations that go into the orchestration of a Breguet watch need deft hands, experienced eyes and an ear for the melody of time.

Each feature expresses the quiet pride of expertise in superior performance. In a magnified world, tiny components are progressively made true, and their surfaces finished for unforgiving inspection, before they are combined into the mechanism of astounding complexity that gives a Breguet watch its life.

THE HISTORY

Breguet – a name embodying inventive spirit in watchmaking history and a demonstration of how innovations can gradually turn into the typical patterns of actions and behaviors, eventually perceived and considered as a tradition.

Born in 1747, Abraham-Louis Breguet was the genesis of some of the most important, desired and influential inventions in horology, still being produced and applied in today’s watchmaking industry. As an inventor, A.L. Breguet had a rather slow-growing interest in watchmaking, and it was not until the age of 15 when he began his career as an apprentice to a master-watchmaker in France.

With his talent being fostered, Breguet was able to open his watchmaking workshop in 1775 on the Quai de l’Horloge in Paris. There he created groundbreaking inventions like the first self-winding watch, the shock protection system „Pare-chute“, a special balance-spring for more accuracy or the famous tourbillon.

Understandably, these innovations and achievements did not go unnoticed, and it was only a question of time until famous historical personalities, like Marie-Antoinette, Napoleon Bonaparte or his sister Caroline Murat, Queen of Naples, to name a few, who became customers and patrons of the brand.

However, Breguet is not only about mechanical inventions, but it is also famous for its design language, expressed by features like the Breguet hands, the Breguet numerals or the engine turned dials which are till today, unmistakable hallmarks of the brand.

Until today, Breguet is considered to be one of the leading producers for exquisite timepieces and with many claims to fame, a very important and influencing watchmaker.

TIMELINE

To understand this importance, let’s have a look at Breguet’s many achievements:

1780

Invention of the „Perpétuelle“ watch, first self winding wristwatch with a sprung weight on a pivoting arm jumping up and down.

1783

Introduction of the „moon“ tip watch hands, a signature of Breguet watches.

1783

 Invention of the gong-spring marking a turning point in watchmaking by considerably reducing the thickness of striking watches.

1785

Invention of the equation of time showing the difference between mean and true solar time.

1790

Invention of the „Pare-Chute“ a shock protection system sustainably increased the robustness of a watch.

1795

 Invention of the Perpetual Calendar.

1795

Invention of the Breguet Balance Spring.

1810

Invention of the Tourbillon, a construct which by constant rotation cancels out the effects of earthly gravity on the balance spring.

1810

Creation of the first wristwatch, in response to a commission from the Queen of Naples June 8th 1810.

1820

Invention of a first version of the chronograph, a watch able to indicate a length of time that has elapsed.

2005

Introduction of the escape wheel and lever in silicon.

The House of Breguet