A FEMININE MECHANISM

Just a few months before Baselworld 2017, Breguet has unveiled a timepiece crowned with pink gold, mother-of-pearl and diamonds for the greater pleasure of its women customers.

The Tradition collection by Breguet, which was first launched over ten years ago, in 2005 to be precise, has an aesthetic quality inspired by the famous subscription watches made by Abraham-Louis Breguet (1747-1823), one of the greatest craftsmen in the history of watchmaking. These timepieces, known as subscription watches, because a deposit was needed to order one – a system that was very much in vogue in the 19th century, and not only for watches – had a simple appearance, and were driven by a simple movement including a large central barrel, and all at an affordable price. Today, the Tradition collection, paying homage to the great watchmaker, Abraham-Louis Breguet, is the epitome of quality watchmaking, with a perfect mechanism superbly displayed on the watch face. Although technique is considered as a mainly masculine preserve, the Tradition Dame model puts paid to this received idea.

Because in line with the Tradition collection, the pink gold case body with a diameter of 37mm is beautifully fluted, like the grooved crown featuring a synthetic ruby. To make it even more feminine, a bezel covered in 68 brilliant-cut diamonds completes the watch setting. On the dial, the plate and rhodium-plated, frosted bridges are discrete enough to leave the hours and minutes as the central focus. The hours and minutes are offset at 12 o’clock and embodied by two gold Breguet open-tipped hands moving across a white, mother-of-pearl disc engraved in a Clous de Paris pattern. The hour rim is made up of black Arabic numbers, known as Breguet figures. Retrograde seconds with a gilded hand are set at 10 o’clock, directly on the plate.

Placed at the centre of the watch, like in subscription watches and partially hidden by the hour and minute dial, the barrel is engraved with a floral pattern similar to a chrysanthemum with a large number of long, rounded petals. This pattern is repeated on the gold rotor, unveiled by the sapphire caseback.

The new, pink gold Tradition Dame timepiece is driven by the Breguet 505SR calibre, an automatic mechanical movement providing a power reserve of 50 hours.

Price on request. breguet.com

By Sharmila Bertin