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Breguet History
Breguet
In the world of watch making, 1997 will be dominated by the 250th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Louis Breguet (1747-1823).
Universally recognized as the greatest watchmaker of all time. Abraham Louis Breguet was born in 1747 in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. He moved to France at the age of 15 and acquired extremely thorough theoretical and practical training before founding his own enterprise in 1775, in Paris, on the Ile de la Cité.
This was the beginning of an unparalleled career, characterized by great virtuosity and artistic flair, scientific rigor and technical innovation, as well as by commercial daring and a great sense of human relations.
Abraham Louis Breguet was to make successive or simultaneous incursions into all fields of watch making. His career got off to a spectacular start with a series of masterful coups: the development of the automatic or perpétuelle watch, first commercialized in 1780; the invention of the gong spring which considerably reduced the width of repeater watches, followed by that of the first anti-shock device or pare-chute, which rendered watches less fragile and consequently more reliable.
Highly appreciated by King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette, Breguet watches featured original movements and constantly refined lever or cylinder escapements. Their neo-classical style was strikingly economical. Breguet designed a new type of hands with off-center hollowed-out points (known as pomme and later simply as Breguet hands) and elegant numerals for enamel dials. The gold cases, and subsequently the silver dials, were hand-engraved on a rose engine. For the first time, watches were thin rather than cumbersome. However, at a time when his works had contributed much to the advancement of watch making, Abraham Louis Breguet was forced by the Revolution and the ensuing upheavals to momentarily abandon Paris and take refuge in Switzerland for two years.
After a period of reflection and ongoing international contacts, he returned to Paris in 1795, subsequently offering his contemporaries a wealth of inventions and new creations: the Breguet overcoil balance spring; the constant force escapement; the first modern carriage-clock, sold to Bonaparte; the souscription watch; the sympathetic clock which regulates and sets the time on a watch placed in a special recess; the tact watch which makes it possible to tell the time by touch; and finally the tourbillon regulator, patented in 1801. Constantly pursuing his aesthetic research, he created ever more elegant and refined models and in 1812 launched the first dials with off-center hour-ring.
On a commercial level, Breguet was known and highly regarded at all European courts and became the watchmaker of reference for diplomatic, scientific, military and financial elites. His personals contacts with foreign sovereigns did much to foster his unparalleled international reputation. He crafted specially commissioned models for eminent figures such as the Tsar of Russia, the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, the Prince-Regent of England and the Queen of Naples, Caroline Murat - for whom he fashioned a world première: an extremely thin wristwatch with repeater mechanism and thermometer. After a period of constraints imposed by Bonaparte?s aggressive foreign policy which naturally hampered its exports, the House of Breguet experienced and extraordinary new commercial lease of life after the fall of the Napoleonic Empire.
The latter part of Breguet?s life was prosperous and marked by numerous tokens of recognition: he became a member of the Board of Longitude and Horologer to the French Royal Navy. He also entered the famous Académie des Sciences and was awarded the Légion d?Honneur by King Louis XVIII. Supported by his family and the finest watchmakers of his time, he tirelessly pursued his creative work: his marine chronometers with two going-barrels, his trimetallic thermometers and his military pedometers are known throughout the world. His astronomical counter with eyepiece permitting the measurement of tenths and even hundredths of seconds; his inking chronograph; or the montres à doubles secondes or observation chronograph: this inventive feats constitute the very source of modern watch making. When he died in 1823 at the age of 77, everyone was unanimous in paying tribute to a figure who had revolutionized all facets of the art and science of watch making.
The founding father passed on but the story continued? While the influence of Abraham Louis Breguet was felt in all counties, his work was particularly perpetuated within the house which bore his name and pursued the prestigious route he had opened under the leadership of his son and grandson. Heir to such an outstanding master of his craft, the House of Breguet remained faithful to the innovative spirit of its founder. In 1830, it launched the first watch with featuring keyless winding carried out by means of a knurled winding-button. Soon after, it successfully launched a new generation of sympathetic clocks which now rewound watches in addition to setting them to time.
Louis Clément Breguet, both a physician and a watchmaker, was passionately interested in electrical applications. After developing the first electrical clocks and patenting the tuning-fork clock, he abandoned watch making in 1870 to devote himself to electrical telegraphs and the nascent field of telecommunications. The firm passed smoothly into the hands of workshop manager Edward Brown and his family, with whom it would remain for one hundreds years. Honored by a prestigious clientele, it successfully weathered the major crises of the 20th century while remaining a watchmaker of reference for the eminent figures of this world and among scientific circles.
Heir to an uninterrupted tradition, the House of Breguet now possesses an exceptional legacy in the shape of archives which represent a constant source of inspiration for contemporary models. In harmony with the standards of technical excellence and visual harmony established by the maestro, it constantly innovates and makes a point of remaining ahead of its times. Only thus can it remain faithful to the pioneering spirit of Abraham Louis Breguet.
Emmanuel Breguet
BREGUET, 250 YEARS OF CREATIVE HISTORY
Chronological landmarks1747 Birth in Neuchâtel (principality of Neuchâtel) on 10 January of Abraham Louis Breguet.1762 Arrival in France of Abraham Louis Breguet.
1775 Founding of the Breguet firm in Paris, quai de l?Horloge, Ile de la
Cité.
1780 Launch of the first self-winding watches known as perpétuelles, with an
oscillating weight and two going-barrels.
1783 Invention of gong spring for repeating watches. Design of hands with
hollowed-out points now known as Breguet hands and of Arabic numerals now
known as Breguet numerals.
1786 First guilloché dials (hand-engraved on a rose engine). Improvement of
the English lever escapement.
1788 Deposit with the Academy of Sciences of a sealed envelope containing
the description of the Three-wheel clock.
1789 Invention of the ratchet key known as the Breguet key. Natural
escapement, functioning without lubrication.
1790 Invention of the pare-chute anti-shock device which would reach its
final form in 1806.
1791 Jump seconds watches. Appearance of the new Breguet calibre, derived
from Lépine?s calibre.
1792 Construction of mechanism of Chappe?s optical telegraph, completed in
early 1793.
1793 Abraham Louis Breguet flees the turmoil of the Revolution, leaving
Paris for Switzerland in August and remaining there until May 1795.
1795 Final version of the ruby cylinder escapement after fifteen years of
work. Development of perpetual calendar. Invention of Breguet overcoil
balance spring. First description of the sympathetique clock.
1796 Construction of the first carriage clock. Development of a new optical
telegraph with the Spanish engineer Bétancourt. Sale of first souscription
watch.
1798 Patenting of first constant force escapement (9 March). Presentation of
the first sympathetique clock, which sets and winds a watch placed in a
special recess. Invention of the musical chronometer, a watch movement which
served as a metronome.
1799 Sale of first tact watch enabling the wearer to tell the time by touch.
1801 Patenting of the tourbillon regulator (26 June). This famous invention,
first devised in 1795, would only be marketed from 1805 on.
1808 Opening of Russian outlet, the Maison de Russie, subsequently closed in
1811. Breguet becomes watchmaker to His Majesty and the Imperial Navy of
Russia.
1810 Manufacture of the first ever wristwatch, commissioned by the Queen of
Naples and completed in 1812.
1812 Appearance of dials with off-centre hour-ring.
1814 Abraham Louis Breguet appointed to the Board of Longitude.
1815 Abraham Louis Breguet appointed Horologer to the Royal Navy.
Development of the marine chronometer with two going-barrels.
1816 Abraham Louis Breguet appointed to the Academy of Sciences by decree of
King Louis XVIII.
1817 Start of production of the new trimetallic thermometer, the climax of
thirty years of work on the subject.
1819 Abraham Louis Breguet awarded the Légion d?Honneur. Development of the
pedometer for regulating the pace of marching troops. Invention of
astronomical counter with eyepiece permitting the measurement of tenths of
seconds and even, approximately, hundredths.
1820 Invention of the motres à doubles secondes or observation chronometer,
forerunner of the modern chronograph.
1822 Inking chronograph. Publication of the firm?s first commercial
catalogue: Horlogerie pour l?usage civil et pour les Sciences, de Breguet et
fils?
1823 Death of Abraham Louis Breguet in Paris on 17 September. His son
Antoine Louis takes over the running of the firm.
1830 Sale of the first watch with keyless winding, using a knurled
winding-button for winding and setting the hands.
1833 Antoine Louis Breguet retires from business. His son Louis Clément
takes over management of the firm.
1834 Patenting of the sympathetique clock equipped with a system for
rewinding the watch (30 June).
1836 Manufacture of a number of wristwatches, to continue until 1839.
1840 Invention of the hourly thermometer, a device which combines a metallic
thermometer with a watch movement. In parallel with watchmaking, Louis
Clément Breguet embarks on work on the applications of electricity.
1843 Louis Clément Breguet appointed to the Board of Longitude.
1845 Louis Clément Breguet is awarded the Légion d?Honneur.
1856 Work on electric clocks, particularly on the municipal clocks in Lyon.
A number of patents registered in the following years.
1866 Patent of the tuning-fork clock (26 October).
1870 Louis Clément Breguet decides to devote himself entirely to the
applications of electricity. He sells the watchmaking firm to Edward Brown,
in whose family it would remain until 1970.
1923 Celebrations of the centenary of the death of Abraham Louis Breguet.
Major retrospective exhibition staged at the Musée Galliéra in Paris.
1926 Patent of watch with no hands and rotating dial, featuring jumping
hours displayed in an aperture.
1939 Patent of sidereal garden-temps (28 February).
1954 A traditional supplier to the aeronautical industry, Breguet launches
the first of its military Type XX wrist chronograph, equipped with retour en
vol function.
1970 The watchmaking firm is bought by the jeweler Chaumet, and subsequently
by the finance company Investcorp in 1987.
1972 Elaboration of several wristwatch models which were to give rise to a
new classic line.
1976 Transfer of Breguet workshops to Le Brassus (Vallée de Joux).
Henceforth the entire production is based in Switzerland.
1988 The classical line is enriched by a tourbillon wristwatch in tribute of
the inventor of this regulating device.
1990 New sympathetique clock with wristwatch instead of pocket watch. Launch
of Marine Line.
1991 Patenting of wristwatch with perpetual equation of time (17 April).
Worldwide exhibition The Art of Breguet and auction held in Geneva.
1994 Establishment of new Breguet manufacture in l?Abbaye (Vallée de Joux).
1995 Launch of Type XX line.
1996 Patent pending for a watch movement with straight-line perpetual
calendar movement and instant year jump.
1997 Celebration of the 250th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Louis
Breguet.
