Breguet in a sailing jacket
By Julien Moreau, Geneva ·
The titanium 5517 is the Marine I would actually buy, and I say that as someone who spent years insisting Breguet should stay at home with its guilloché and its gold.
The name, at least, is earned. Abraham-Louis Breguet was made horloger de la Marine in 1815 and built chronometers for the French navy, so a sporting Breguet has more pedigree than most of the sports watches it competes with. The 2018 redesign tidied the case, put a wave motif on the dial (grey here, which suits the metal), and kept the fluted flanks that tell anyone paying attention who made it. At 40 mm and 11.5 mm, in titanium, it will feel like almost nothing on the wrist, and 100 m is plenty for a week on a boat. The 777A's 55 hours will see you from Friday evening to Sunday night without complaint.
Now the awkward part. At twenty-two to twenty-four thousand dollars it sits squarely against the Overseas, and the Overseas has the stronger following and, frankly, the stronger resale. The 21 mm lug width is a small irritation if you like to change straps. And there is the question nobody in a Breguet boutique wants to hear, which is whether anyone at the yacht club will know what it is. For me that is the charm. For a buyer who wants recognition for his money, it is the wrong watch, and he should go and queue somewhere else.