Editor’s Note: It’s easy (too easy, really) to pigeonhole a brand, often unfairly. For me, my first association with Breguet was all fluted cases, engine-turned dials and precious metal cases. To be fair, the brand does all those things exceptionally well, but you know what else they do pretty darned well? Steel sports watches, like this Type XXI 3817 … Turns out that Breguet, not content with nailing the brief when it comes to dress watches and innovating left, right and centre are also quite the dab hand when it comes to pilot’s watches. And they’re no Johnny-come-latelies at the genre, either. In fact, in the early 20th century, Abraham-Louis Breguet’s grandson — Louis Charles Breguet — made planes under the name of Breguet Aviation. There is no connection, however, between Louis Charles’ aeronautical business and the Type 20 chronograph that inspired the Type XXI 3817 that we’re looking at today. It’s important to note that Type 20 and 21 chronographs used by the French Air Force in the early ’50s were made by a variety of suppliers. A group of six brands produced them according to a set of minimum requirements covering off form and function, with key features being the flyback chronograph, rotating 12-hour bezel and some fairly rigorous accuracy… Read More
HANDS-ON: Titanium case and a new style dial – the Breguet Marine 5517
Last year, Breguet gave us a first taste of their new design for the Marine collection. However, the new look didn’t get the massive attention you might expect for an update of a pillar collection. Not because it wasn’t noteworthy but because the new look was revealed in the form of the Marine Équation Marchante 5887 – and when you get a complication as mouth-watering as that, the aesthetics tend to play second fiddle. In contrast, the new Marine 5517, released at Baselworld 2018, places the emphasis firmly on the design. Vital Statistics Set in a 40mm case, the movement is Breguet’s self-winding in-house calibre 777A with a power reserve of 55 hours, a silicon balance spring and skeletonised winding rotor. As well as this white gold-blue dial version, the Breguet Marine 5517 comes in red gold with a silvery white dial, and in titanium – the latter with a sun-brushed dial, rather than the guilloché wave pattern of the gold models. The dial of each watch is individually numbered, below the Breguet logo. The hour chapter is marked out by applied Roman numerals, with luminescent dots for the minutes and a date window at 3 o’clock. There’s also lume… Read More
HANDS-ON: Keeping illustrious company with the Breguet Reine de Naples 8918
First shown at Baselworld 2017, the stunner that is the Breguet Reine de Naples 8918 in rose gold is my pick of Breguet’s women’s offerings (in Australia) at the moment. Breguet is all proportion, horological order and watchmaking museum elegance. But sprinkle that heritage with 1.46 carats worth of white diamonds and the ghosts of French royalty, and you are contemplating a pretty heady proposition. Let’s start with the diamonds before working back over the centuries to Parisian courtiers, and really, it’s hard not to. They include a pear-shaped diamond at 6pm (approx. 0.09ct); a briolette-cut diamond on the off-set crown situated at 4pm (approx. 0.26ct); the rose gold folding clasp that is set with 26 brilliant-cut diamonds (approx. 0.12ct); and the bezel and dial flange is encircled with 117 brilliant-cut diamonds (approx. 0.99ct). It might all be too blinding a vista to take in if the case was in white gold with a pale dial (and this model is one of 11 variants); but here, the dial makes calming use of champagne Tahitian natural mother-of-pearl with some white tones of the same material. Depending on the light, the dial’s main hue ranges from hazelnut or light chocolate brown to taupe, with… Read More
INTRODUCING: A touch of class – the Breguet Classique 7787
Enamel is enjoying something of a renaissance in watch manufacturing. Many companies – from Seiko to Patek – are increasingly turning to the nearly forgotten art to decorate their dials. While it’s a slow and sometimes unforgiving process, the reward for mastering the technique is a uniquely alluring dial with a hue that will never fade. One company that has mastered the craft is Breguet – the gurus of guilloche also produce watches with some of the finest enamel dials in the industry. In fact, just this year they updated two of their classically styled pieces – the elegant Classique 7147, which we looked at earlier this year, and this more complex Classique 7787. Breguet has exchanged these models’ traditionally engine-turned dials for a pair of pearly whites. Both watches share the same style of grand feu enamelled dial, with Breguet numerals, whimsical star minute track, and stylised fleur-de-lis hour markers. However, there are a few extra details on the 7787, starting with a power reserve indicator that sweeps across the dial between three and six o’clock. Next is the smiling cutout at 12 o’clock, which displays the age and phases of the moon – with its stars and man on the moon set in… Read More
VIDEO: 3 outstanding Breguet watches from Basel 2017, including the incredible Marine Équation Marchante
Breguet may not have had the largest collection on display at Basel, but they certainly had one of the most complex. As well as some handsome new additions to the Classique family, Breguet released an epic new grand complication – the Marine Équation Marchante 5887, a completely new watch boasting a perpetual calendar, tourbillon power reserve and, wait for it… a running equation of time. What’s that, I hear you ask? Well, you’ll have watch the video and find out.
HANDS-ON: The Breguet Classique 7147 gets an enamel update
Last year’s slim Breguet Classique 7147 had a spectacular dial, with a central section in detailed engine-turned guilloche and a subdial in a delicate crosshatch pattern. It was, not to overstate things, the star of the show. It’s a very difficult art to master, but there’s no doubt that Breguet has the technique down pat. So, imagine our surprise when we were presented this year’s update of the 7147 and there was not a hobnail or brushed finish to be seen. In its place is a single piece of lustrous grand feu enamel – an equally tricky technique to master – and this single change creates a completely new look for this dressy design. Thanks to the multiple firings the white enamel is of a brightness and lightness, and has an undulating sensuality, that’s hard to capture in photos (and even harder in words). It also has delicately hand-painted Breguet numerals (of course) and a delightful minute track (the non-cardinal markers are stylised fleur de lys) . The best bit though is the delicate dip that constitutes the small seconds subdial. The hands are pure Breguet, and made of hand-blued steel. Looking beyond the dial, everything is as it was with guilloche… Read More
MY WATCH STORY: Running into last year’s crush in Hall 1, Jared’s Breguet Type XXI 3817
There are watches you see that have an immediate impact, but then the feeling fades. You see the same watch some years later and you can remember thinking it was amazing, but sometimes the desire to own it is gone. The opposite happened when I spotted Jared’s Breguet Type XXI 3817, which was released at Baselworld last year. It remains one of the finest pilot’s chronographs available, and one of the best value in terms of materials, quality and finishing with pricing at $17,800. And that’s without mentioning its looks. My mancrush on this perfectly chiselled piece is more intense than ever. Time has only made its combination of rugged machismo and fine guilloched detail stand out even more off the wrist. Below my misty-eyed iPhone shots, you can find a much better quality selection we took last year. Thanks to Jared for letting me fawn all over it and try it on, yet again. Why did you choose this one? With my style I am more of a sporty person and I like to have a watch I can wear every day with every outfit. I also really like the vintage style of the strap. At the same time it keeps… Read More
HANDS-ON: A different kind of luxury sports watch – the Breguet Marine 5817 Big Date
We’re willing to bet that when you think of Breguet, the first thing that comes to mind is slim elegance, or maybe the old-world charm of their vintage chronos. But a casual/luxury sports watch? Not so much. Nevertheless, that’s exactly what the Marine 5817 is – Breguet’s take on a breezy weekender. Sure, it’s got all the brand’s classic hallmarks; the fluted middle case, the very particular lugs and, of course, that guilloche dial. But this is no delicate dandy. Water resistance is solid at 100m, there’s lume, the crown is protected by some unique, curved crown guard and it has a presence on the wrist far beyond what you’d expect for a 39mm x 11.82mm watch. While no one’s suggesting you complete an ultra-marathon in this guy, there’s no doubt it’s ready to tackle whatever life might throw at it, and it will do so in inimitable Breguet style. I was surprised to find just how versatile that style was. Normally I wouldn’t consider guilloche and roman numerals as everyday wear, but combined with the Marine’s masculine case styling (those lugs, that double bezel), they turned out to be very adaptable. The big date is a particularly useful complication. I find… Read More
