"Man was born free, and he is everywhere in chains"

"Man was born free, and he is everywhere in chains". These words are the opener to book The Social Contract, and probably the most famous words uttered by humanist philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, circa 1760. I thought it appropriate for sporting the Breguet La Tradition Fusee Chain Tourbillon today, and my foul slavish "feel like I am in chains" mood today. Interestingly, Louis Abraham Breguet was still a teenager when Rousseau died. But Rousseau's ideas on social contract and universal rights heavily influenced the French Revolution, which decimated Breguet's clientele pool. Actually Breguet was marked for the guillotine, but was saved his friendship with Revolution leader and Rousseau's admirer Jean Marat, who helped Breguet escaped back to Switzerland in the 1790s. It was also this time in Switzerland that Breguet started his practice of a subscription watch, where a client pays a advance deposit to secure a watch in that series, this giving him the working capital to launch the watch series. It was this particular series that Breguet decided to incorporate a fusee chain mechanism.

best, Horo

And a beautiful watch!

Magnificent, love the giant tourbillon [nt]

By: Spangles - Dr. Tabby : October 10th, 2018-08:03

Absolutely stunning

By: g_schroder : October 10th, 2018-08:21

Fantastic timepiece, and an excellent outfit to boot.

Thank you sir

By: Hororgasm : October 14th, 2018-13:32

Best, Horo

I look at this watch...

By: jporos : October 10th, 2018-08:35

and think more of Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan, the view that we can explain the universe by starting with the smallest mechanistic interaction. Perhaps if the universe worked according to Breguet, we might be as happy as looking at this watch makes me. Cheer...