Breguet
- Founded
- 1775
- Based in
- L'Abbaye, Switzerland
- In our catalog
- 5 watches from $17,000 to $175,000
If one person shaped the modern watch, it was Abraham-Louis Breguet. The tourbillon, the hands that carry his name, engine-turned guilloché dials, the overcoil balance spring and one of the first self-winding mechanisms all came from his Paris workshop. The brand that bears his name today, owned by the Swatch Group, builds on that legacy with some of the most traditional watches you can buy.
History
Breguet, born in Neuchâtel in 1747, opened his workshop on the Quai de l'Horloge in Paris in 1775. His clients included Marie Antoinette, Napoleon and much of Europe's aristocracy. He made a self-winding "perpétuelle" watch in the 1780s, patented the tourbillon in 1801, and around 1810 made what is often called the first wristwatch, for Caroline Murat, Queen of Naples.
After his death in 1823 the business passed through his family and later other owners, including the Brown family of England, who ran it for much of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In the twentieth century Breguet made chronographs for French military pilots, the Type 20. The company moved to the Vallée de Joux and in 1999 became part of the Swatch Group, under Nicolas Hayek, who made it one of the group's flagships.
Signature models
- Classique 5177: The essential Breguet: a gold case with fluted caseband, a guilloché dial, Breguet numerals and the blued "pomme" hands.
- Tradition 7057: Turns the watch inside out, with the movement's bridges and gear train visible on the dial side, in the style of Breguet's own pocket watches.
- Marine 5517: A sportier line that draws on Breguet's role as clockmaker to the French navy.
- Type XX Chronographe 2057: The modern version of the 1950s pilot's flyback chronograph.
- Classique Tourbillon Extra-Plat 5367: A very thin tourbillon that honors the brand's most famous invention.
What it's known for
Guilloché, Breguet hands, Breguet numerals, and coin-edge (fluted) cases. These details have been copied so widely that they've become the vocabulary of classical watch design. Breguet is also known for its museum and archives, and for numbering and signing dials discreetly to fight counterfeits, as its founder did.
Price and positioning
Breguet sits at the top of the Swatch Group alongside Blancpain, and in the same class as Vacheron Constantin and Lange. Steel and gold models start in the high teens and twenties of thousands of dollars, and tourbillons and complications run into six figures. Pre-owned Breguets are often good value, since the brand is less hyped than Patek or AP.
Breguet watches in our library
- Breguet Type XX Chronographe 2057 ($17,000 to $18,500)
- Breguet Marine 5517 ($22,000 to $24,000)
- Breguet Classique 5177 ($25,000 to $27,000)
- Breguet Tradition 7057 ($33,000 to $35,000)
- Breguet Classique Tourbillon Extra-Plat 5367 ($160,000 to $175,000)