Breguet Luxury Swiss Watches

The legendary luxury watches bearing the Breguet name have long captivated collectors and laypersons alike. Along with being a vital part of European culture, Breguet timepieces have been hugely popular internationally for years and years, as well. How far does Breguet’s legacy of quality and amazing elegance go? How about over two hundred years, dating back to 1775?

That was the year when Abraham-Louis Breguet founded what would become one of the most well-known luxury watch manufacturers in the world. After Breguet’s wedding to a daughter of a well-off French family, Breguet was able to open his own workshop using the dowry that he received. Of course, Breguet was not simply a man with ambitions and some money in his pocket. He had completed an apprenticeship as a watchmaker and spent time studying mathematics, as well. Among his early successes included none other than Louis XVI buying several of his pieces, as he was taken aback by the self-winding design Breguet had innovated.

The tendency of Breguet’s works to charm the rich and powerful gave his company a great start, and his own technical genius ensured that the admiration would continue. The self-winding movement that Perrelet created was perfected by Breguet, and the young man also invented shock resistance that allowed his pocket watches to resist damage from falling to the ground. He also used his ingenuity to create a pocket watch that chimed at certain intervals, so that people could tell time when they couldn’t read their watches, such as in the dark.

All of this paled in comparison to the tourbillion, which even today can only be replicated by the most skilled watchmakers in the world. Breguet had realized that since pocket watches were carried vertically, the force of gravity could lead to deviations in the timekeeping itself, and wanted to ensure that his pocket watches would be precisely accurate, no matter how they were positioned or carried.

Brequet’s solution was to develop what amounted to a clock within the clock, as the balance and escapement turned on one axle within the movement, which was successful in eliminating inaccuracies cause by changing the position of the pocket watch, and instantly gave accuracy similar to a chronometer. As a result, Breguet continued to succeed and was a personal favorite of Napoleon himself, who loved Breguet’s watches.

Of course, Breguet’s innovations, which also included a perpetual calendar and moon phase indicator, led to not only imitators, but also counterfeiters, which was extremely rare at the time for even the most successful watchmakers. As a result, a “secret signature” was created on the dial to ensure that someone looking through a loupe could tell whether the watch was genuine or not. Serial numbers given to each watch produced and sold also provided a method of verifying authenticity.

Of course, Breguet’s legacy lives on even now, more than two hundred years after he started the company. In 1970, the company was bought by Jacques and Pierre Chaumet, two brothers who were jewelers that wanted to restore the kind of prestige once associated with Breguet’s pieces.

They have succeeded by having only watches built by the most talented watchmakers, with little touches such as hand-engraved silver dials, along with more casual pieces, such as the “Marine” watch. The fact that today’s offerings are just as respected and admired as the originals were in their time is a testament to the staying power of Breguet’s vision.