Breguet: Bracelets and Baguettes

In 2020, the long-established House of Breguet added magnificent new models to several of its flagship collections all at once. The aim of this review is to provide a description of these latest additions.

Fifteen years after the Swatch Group's late founder Mr. Nicolas Hayek Sr. took over and revived the old house that still bears the name of great watchmaker Breguet, it has been transformed into a groundbreaking state-of-the-art laboratory, where one of the world's most powerful watch companies tests all of the latest complex and record-breaking technologies.

The pandemic for such houses is not as terrible as for everyone else: the quantity of the novelties was relevant to a number of the watches, that were shown to a public in pre-coronavirus times. And although we did not see any of the latest stunning ultra-complex watches, new variations of the best hits of recent years, the release of new bracelets and even an entire women's collection can be called a serious achievement.

Old Bestsellers in New Look

Breguet chose to put the debut of complicated new timepieces on hold, and reinterpreted the hottest watches it has released over recent years. This of course included the stunningly minimalistic Breguet Classique Tourbillon Extra-Plat Automatique 5367  with its enamel dial and tourbillon at 5 o'clock. It was first released two years ago in a 42 mm diameter case just 7.45 mm thick, available in rose gold and platinum.

 The self-winding caliber 581 is 3 mm thick with a massive 80-hour power reserve (thanks to a special spring). The high-strength tourbillon cage is made of titanium, and the dial is covered with a very special white enamel with an extraordinary history.

The watchmakers at Breguet were rather lucky to have chanced upon a 90 year-old Japanese master of the ancient technique, who had miraculously preserved a hardened piece of enamel finishing the size of a football that had belonged to his great-great-grandfather.

This Grand Feu enameling technique was used by masters all over the world more than two hundred years ago. Now Breguet masters broke down part of the "ball" of enamel, and tried to recreate the ancient technique. They studied the composition so well that they learned how to add different shades to a white base this year. This was the year a watch with the Grand Feu blue enamel dial debuted.

The remarkable Breguet Marine Équation Marchante 5887  was unveiled in 2017. It features a perpetual calendar, tourbillon and a running equation of time. Not only is this the first wristwatch that has small seconds on the tourbillon axis, it also has a cam for the equation of time which can be adjusted depending on the month (the month’s scale is drawn directly on the plate of the movement, just below the space for the tourbillon). This watch also has two different minute hands.

In addition to the traditional civil minute hand, the one with the golden faceted Sun shows the true solar time, which can deviate from the apparent time due to the Earth's tilt, ranging from 16 minutes behind to 14 minutes ahead. The solar minute hand has its own separate gear. Another short central hand known as retrograde indicates the date.

The self-winding 581DR movement houses a tourbillon in a titanium cage with a silicon balance spring. It has a power reserve of 80 hours. The 43.9 mm case came in rose gold and platinum with the guilloché frosted dial in white. This year's version is available in a rose-gold case with a slate-gray dial.

Statement Bracelets

The next reissue was the Breguet Marine Alarme Musicale 5547 (Ref. 5547BB/Y2/BZ0), the first in a series of watches with an important novelty — gold bracelets. They are simply a must for a sports collection. How else can you compete with the luxury of Rolex Oyster, Audemars Piguet Royal Oak and Patek Philippe Nautilus, who have used these bracelets for such a long time?

It would probably be going too far to say that the gold bracelets by Breguet were jaw-dropping, especially considering that it follows the titanium prototype presented last year. The design of the bracelet was expected to change slightly, as titanium is far more durable and harder than pliable gold. Yet hardly any changes were made, although the cast links of solid gold even visually look more solid.

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Needless to say, they do weigh much heavier, but it is a desirable weight to be carrying on your wrist. They are integrated very organically into the case, which simply flows into them. The bracelets echo the finishing on the surface of the case, and are made up of links with polished and glossy facets. The bracelets are currently available in white gold and rose gold. The titanium version has not been abandoned either.

As far as the wristwatch alarm itself is concerned, there were no changes made to the design. The 40 mm case is in 18 carat white gold with a fluted case ring. The caseback is made of saphire crystal, and the watch boasts a water resistance of 50 m. While last year's dials were a shade of slate-gray, this year has the latest blue dial in gold.

The hours mark with Roman numerals and luminescent indexes. An alarm time subdial showing the time for which the alarm is set can be found at 3 o'clock, and the indicator for a 24-hour second time zone is located at 9 o'clock.

The alarm on/off indicator is displayed in the round window at 12 o'clock, and the calendar-date can be read at 6 o'clock. There is a power reserve indication for the alarm function between 9 o'clock and 12 o'clock. The Breguet hands with an open tip are filled with luminescent material. The 519F/1 self-winding movement with a silicon balance spring has a frequency of 4 Hz and a power reserve of 45 hours.

Marine Chronographe 5527 is available in two reference number versions: in a 42.3 mm diameter case (13.85 mm thick) with a water resistance of 100 m in white gold or rose gold. The white-gold model has a blue dial, whereas the pink-gold model's dial is white.

A couple of the regular sporty Marine 5517 automatic watches share exactly the same configuration. The uncluttered, yet nevertheless three-dimensional dial of the Marine 5517 model is fitted with three hands and features a date aperture. The dials of the gold watches have been guillochéed by hand with an original wave pattern.

The case is 40 mm in diameter, 11.5 mm thick, and is water resistant to 100 m. The manufacture Caliber 777A operates at 28,800 vph, has a silicon balance spring, and offers 55 hours of running time. Instead of the typical letter "B" on the short tip of the seconds hand counterweight, the hand bears the international maritime signal flag "Bravo" corresponding to the initial "B" in Breguet. The oscillating weight of the self-winding movement is inspired by the shape of a ship's tiller. 

Marine for Her

The House of Breguet has devoted no less attention to its La Marine collection than the acclaimed Classique. La Marine safeguards Bregeut's interests in the very serious and sizable sport de luxe watch market segment. And you have to admit that the collection is doing a pretty good job at that. In any case, a Breguet La Marine can be spotted on almost every second wrist on business-class flights jetting off to exclusive resorts, while Ulysse Nardin slipped back behind the curtain to economy class a long time ago.

Although Abraham-Louis Breguet himself was not so noble to be personally responsible for anything at the French Royal court, he is mainly remembered for his marine chronometers, and was appointed chronometer-maker to the French Royal Navy.

Perhaps that is precisely the reason why Breguet decided to establish its new Marine Joaillerie collection, taking the marine line into the high-end jewelry class with the debut model Marine Haute Joaillerie Poseidonia. The model is named after the seagrass species Posidonia oceanica endemic to the Mediterranean Sea, which is an important part of its marine ecosystem.

A reflection of the underwater meadow is rendered on the Tahitian mother-of-pearl dial set with 85 baguette-cut diamonds. It proved to be a particular challenge for the watchmakers to invisibly set the gems with the finicky art of mother-of-pearl marquetry on such an extremely delicate and rather unpredictable surface.

The bezel, lugs and triple blade folding clasp on the strap are also decorated with baguette-cut gems and diamonds. Beating at the heart of the Marine Haute Joaillerie Poseidonia model is its extra-thin self-winding mechanical 591C caliber.

In addition to Marine Haute Joaillerie, the House of Breguet has also presented three other models: a sapphire-set blue version, ruby-set red version and emerald-set green version. The pattern on the dial of each version is has a different combination of precious stones dominated by shades of the version's primary gems. 

As a result of months of hard work the jewelers have spent to select, cut and set the gems in the dial, each version of the Marine Haute Joaillerie  watch is essentially a unique piece. The 35.80 mm diameter and 10.46 mm thick round case made of 18-carat white gold is also encrusted with precious stones weighing a total of 6.64 carats.

A Guilloché Classic

Some people believe that Abraham-Louis Breguet began engraving dials with guilloché patterns, or as one might prefer, "engine-turning" dials, not only for aesthetic reasons, but also to improve readability by preventing the glare of reflected sunlight on a smooth surface making it difficult to read the time shown by the hands. This is true to a certain extent, although the reasons given by the great watchmaker himself are far more mundane.

First of all, it is incredibly difficult to achieve a perfectly smooth surface on a painted dial, which, by the way, not everyone can do even today, and any flaw, even the tiniest of flaws on the large full-moon circle of a pocket watch would not only be noticeable, but your eye would be drawn to it. Guilloché provided a very good solution to this problem.

Secondly, there were very few special machines known as engine-turning lathes around at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries capable of etching patterns. There were even fewer masters who were able to do this by hand. This also made guilloché one of the first effective ways to prevent forged copies being made, which were already rampant in Europe at the time when Breguet had become a big name throughout the civilized world.

Of course, the con artists tried their best to keep up with the maestro and continued making counterfeits, but Breguet was constantly improving his technique and coming up with new patterns. It is no surprise that the House of Breguet eventually mastered the art of guilloché perfectly. The ingenious Mr. Hayek Sr. brought House of Breguet back to life, and the first thing he did was to demand that the modern watchmakers achieved the same level of skill.

It took time, and they have only mastered it now, when the first students have finally graduated from a special workshop, having acquired the skill with the help of the latest 8D machines, which can engrave patterns on almost any surface, onto any electronic memory embedded in them.

Watches from all of the House of Breguet collections are guillochéed, but a great amount of care is devoted to the Classique dials. It would be silly to describe the two new guilloché models with words — Classique 7137 and Classique 7337 — when you can see how beautiful they are with your own eyes.

The one thing that is worth mentioning is that their dials are made of gold, not brass, and the gold surface is then covered with a layer of silver powder and embellished. It should also be pointed out that several different patterns are etched onto the same dial.

For example, the Breguet Classique 7137 model has the classic Clous de  Paris hobnailing pattern on the main portion of its dial, while the panier maillé basket weave pattern is used for the power reserve display, and the damier checkerboard pattern is used for the date display.

The new models exhibit recognizable features of the historic pocket watches created under the direction of founder Abraham-Louis Breguet and his son. Classique 7137 was inspired by the Perpetuelle No. 5  pocket watch, while Classique 7337 is based on the quarter-repeating calendar pocket watch No. 3833, which dates back to 1823. The case diameter of both models is 39 mm, and they come in white gold and rose gold.

Boutique Traditions

Last but not least, two models made another important debut in the Tradition collection, famous for its open dials with the movement's main plate turned upside down. Designers I have spoken to from almost all the great houses of watchmaking have declared their love for these magnificent watches.

That includes those who prefer to adhere strictly to tradition (Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin), forward-thinking master watchmakers from Cartier, and eccentric mould-breakers from Hautlence, Urwerk and MB&F. Breguet's Tradition was the trailblazer that set the trend for semi-skeleton watches. Every watchmaker began exposing their movements, but to put it mildly, not everyone had or has something worth flaunting.

Breguet does have something worth showing off, and knows how to do it best. The Tradition Automatique Seconde Rétrograde 7097  for men with its blue guilloché dial scaled down and moved up to the top of the dial has drawn its inspiration from the Souscription pocket watch.

The bridges, train wheels, escapement, barrel and other details that are normally kept hidden under the dial have been put on show. The gilt bridges and plate have been processed using special technology to give them a uniform granular finish. The shape of the gold oscillating weight is reminiscent of the historical 18th-century watch movement style.

The 18-carat white gold case is 40 mm in diameter with a fluted caseband around the side. It encloses the 505SR1 caliber, which is fitted with an inverted straight-line lever escapement with silicon pallets and a silicon Breguet balance spring. Its frequency is 3 Hz (21,600 vph), and has a 50-hour power reserve.

This year also saw the release of the Tradition Dame 7038 for her with an iridescent Tahitian mother-of-pearl dial and an orange leather strap. It houses the same caliber. However, it has a smaller 37 mm diameter case. The watch's bezel is set with 68 diamonds, and the crown is decorated with a cabochon-cut ruby.

And most importantly, the watch comes in its own elegant handcrafted and tailor-made matching orange clutch bag in grained calfskin leather. The clutch is handmade in Italy according in accordance with the artisan tradition, and the pattern on its clasp echoes the rosette that adorns the mainspring barrel on the dial of the Tradition 7038 watch. This watch incorporates more than two hundred years of the brand's history, and can only be purchased exclusively in Breguet boutiques.