The Breguet Classique Souscription 2025 single-handedly kicks off the brand’s 250th anniversary celebrations
Zach BlassWas the Breguet Classique Souscription 2025 on your horological bingo card for this year? Though it was inevitable that Breguet would want to celebrate its 250th anniversary with a new watch, most would have probably expected a tourbillon, considering its namesake created the renowned complication. Instead, we have the opposite: a clean, one-handed wristwatch inspired by an Abraham-Louis Breguet Souscription pocket watch from the late 1790s.
The backstory
Breguet was founded in 1775, and therefore, this year being 2025, is the brand’s 250th anniversary. But the story of the Classique Souscription dates back to 1796, when the first Breguet Souscription pocket watch was sold. The formal novelty was launched the following year, marketed to the public via pamphlets. Though Abraham-Louis Breguet is first and foremost associated with being a highly innovative and influential watchmaker, he also had a keen sense for marketing.
To create a point of difference in the purchasing of his watches, Breguet developed the souscription system – literally, “subscription” – in which clients would place a deposit that equated to a quarter of the timepiece’s price, confirming their order and starting the process of their watch being made. Awareness was drawn to this process and the product itself via advertising brochures hand-written by Breguet himself. To further create visual intrigue and a point of difference, Breguet atypically realised a design that utilises a single, flamed-blue, open-tipped hand, now known as a Breguet hand, to tell the time on a white enamel dial. It is this very significant and early pocket watch design that influenced the Classique Souscription 2025.
A white grand feu enamel dial
The white grand feu enamel dial of the Classique Souscription 2025 is nearly identical to the Souscription pocket watch from 1797. The only immediately noticeable difference is the incorporation of the Breguet logo at 12 o’clock in place of the visible screw that held the dial to the movement. The Breguet numerals look almost exactly the same as the ones found on the original pocket watch, perhaps a tad thinner, which could be the result of a smaller dial for the wristwatch when compared to the larger pocket watch. There is once again a single, heat-blued Breguet hand at the centre, though there is no longer a port for a key to wind the watch where the hand is mounted, as you would find on the pocket watch.
Upon closer inspection, the remaining deviation would be a slightly restyled railroad minutes track, allowing you to more easily track every fifth minute, and the new placement of the Breguet secret signature at the 6 o’clock position. These secret signatures are the word “Souscription”, the serial number, and the Breguet name, all engraved into the dial by exactly the same means as they were with the pocket watches: by using a pantograph. This 19th-century mimicry engraving machine is able to recreate a handwritten template onto a desired surface.
A new 18k Breguet Gold case
Though I, and many of you, would associate Breguet with having fluted casebands and welded lugs, the brand is presenting a new case that forgoes these elements, instead aligning with Breguet’s earliest wristwatches. In this sense, the brand is looking backwards, but looking forward, the Breguet Classique Souscription 2025 debuts a brand new gold alloy that has been dubbed “18k Breguet Gold.” The result, which is the fruit of a mixture of 75% gold and 25% copper, silver, and palladium, is a subtly warm yellow gold that looks very handsome in the metal.
This would appear to be a page taken out of Swatch Group sibling Omega’s playbook, known for its Moonshine, Canopus, and Sedna gold alloys, and perhaps should not come as a surprise, considering Breguet’s recently appointed CEO, Gregory Kissling, came to the brand from Omega.
The protruding bezel and caseback still create a channel for the caseband, but instead of being fluted, it now receives a delicate brush across its side, extending to the redesigned lugs, which are meant to offer heightened ergonomics and a more compact case length. I unfortunately do not have an exact lug-to-lug measurement for you, but the 30-metre water-resistant 18k Breguet Gold case measures 40mm in diameter and 10.8mm in thickness.
Having worn other Breguets that measure 40mm in diameter, qualitatively speaking, the Classique Souscription 2025 felt like it wore a tad more compact across the wrist. That said, I can’t pretend that it’s not a little intimidating on my 6.5-or-so-inch wrist. I respect the choice of this watch being 40mm in size, as the single-handed dial needs to be larger to account for legible timekeeping. In terms of thickness, 10.8mm could understandably seem beefy for what is ultimately a one-handed dress watch, but when you flip it over and see the movement, I suspect most will be very forgiving.
New four-day, in-house VS00 calibre
The Breguet Classique Souscription 2025 debuts the manually wound VS00 movement, meant to closely resemble the architecture of the original pocket watch. At first glance, most would be unable to tell the difference. If the layout seems familiar, it’s because it is, derived from the current Tradition line-up that is built on the premise of bringing as much of the movement to the dial with little obstruction, with only a small sub-dial for the hours and minutes.
This 18k Breguet Gold-gilded surfaces continue the tradition of frosted finishing contrasted with hand-bevelled edges, and the usage of tall finger bridges that create depth while affording a full view of the gear train. The tradeoff of such depth is ultimately a thicker movement, and therefore a thicker watch. But if this is the result, you have no complaints from me.
At its centre is a large single barrel that houses a mainspring delivering four days (96 hours) of power reserve on a full wind, which is almost double compared to the 50-hour 507 DR1 inside the Tradition 3057. I want to draw your attention to the barrel, not just to have a conversation about endurance, but also to circle back to the advertising brochures I mentioned before. Engraved onto the ratchet wheel is Abraham-Louis Breguet’s handwriting taken from the pamphlets that advertised the Souscription pocket watches. It’s a neat touch that further drives home the significance of the design, and the incredible milestone of a 250th anniversary.
Speaking of small details, for those who are left wishing for Breguet’s signature true guilloché to be utilised in the design of this watch, though it is not featured on the dial, the caseback does have an engine-turned pattern on its outer perimeter. It’s an entirely new guilloché pattern for Breguet, and what Breguet has dubbed “Quai de l’Horloge”, the street on the Île de la Cité where Breguet founded his first workshop. Its intertwining curves are inspired by the snaking of the Seine between the Île de la Cité and the neighbouring Île Saint-Louis.
Final thoughts
Okay, let’s rip off the band-aid and answer the million-dollar question. The Breguet Classique Souscription is priced at US$48,700, a staggering figure for a watch that has no elaborate complication and only a single hand to tell the time. Interestingly, after doing some research, I stumbled upon a video review by Tim Mosso from a time when The 1916 Company/WatchBox had a Breguet Souscription pocket watch in its inventory. According to Mosso, the circa 1805 Breguet pocket watch he was reviewing, accounting for inflation, would translate to a retail price of approximately US$51,000. So, in that context, the US$48,700 asking price no longer seems completely out of left field.
Ultimately, the Classique Souscription is being sold in the same spirit as the pocket watches it is inspired by. It is not a limited edition, but buyers, in the tradition of Souscription, will need to visit a Breguet boutique and confirm their order with a deposit. So, it’s unclear exactly how many of these watches will be made. Most brands would have done a limited edition series in a quantity inspired by the anniversary number. Breguet could have made this a 250-piece limited edition, but in this Souscription format, there is no means of predicting how many Breguet will make and sell. This is definitely not a watch for everyone, whether due to quirks like its one-handed design or US$48,700 price tag. What it is, then, is the ultimate modern Breguet for the brand’s collectors, and one I imagine will stir up a lot of excitement amongst this segment.
I am curious to see if and how Breguet continues its 250th anniversary celebrations, and if this new VS00 calibre will be rolled out in future 40mm Classique watches. Though many of the F. Piguet-derived Classique watches help keep a slimmer case profile, I do think it would be valuable, in certain instances, to use a movement like the VS00 and offer buyers the feel of a George Daniels or Roger W. Smith, were both heavily inspired by Breguet, but for a lower price and in more accessible quantities.
Breguet Classique Souscription 2025 pricing and availability
The Breguet Classique Souscription 2025 is available now for enquiries, and, in the spirit of the souscription format, will require a placed deposit to confirm your order. Price: US$48,700
| Brand | Breguet |
| Model | Classique Souscription 2025 |
| Reference | 2025BH/28/9W6 |
| Case Dimensions | 40mm (D) x 10.8mm (T) |
| Case Material | 18k Breguet Gold |
| Water Resistance | 30 metres |
| Crystal(s) | Sapphire front and back |
| Dial | White grand feu enamel on gold base |
| Strap | Navy large-scaled alligator leather, 18k Breguet gold pin buckle |
| Movement | VS00, in-house, manual-wind |
| Power Reserve | 4 days (96 hours) |
| Functions | Hours and minutes via a single hand |
| Availability | Now, for enquiries |
| Price | US$48,700 |