San Francisco—September 16, 2015. Renowned watch brand, Breguet and its President & CEO, Mr. Marc A. Hayek, honor its 240th anniversary this year with a milestone—the largest exhibition of Breguet timepieces ever to be shown in the American continent. “Breguet: Art and Innovation in Watchmaking” will open at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco on Saturday, September 19, 2015 and run through January 10, 2016. Part of the museum’s regular 2015-2016 programming, it is arguably the most expansive collection of timepieces by a single brand ever to be curated by a major art museum.

On the evening of Wednesday, September 16th, an estimated 300 guests of Breguet – members of the press as well as friends of the brand from across the U.S., Asia and Europe – were invited to the Legion of Honor to preview the exhibition “Breguet: Art and Innovation in Watchmaking” at an exclusive evening gala.
The evening began with guided tours of the exhibition by curator Martin Chapman, curator at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. The exhibition features fifteen sections, each dedicated to an innovation and representing a slice of the life of A.-L. Breguet. Items on display span from the beginnings of the firm in 1775 to the Art Deco period of the mid 1900s, with one watch standing apart from the rest, the 2008 reproduction of the “Marie-Antoinette” watch, which has made its mark on the watchmaking landscape and the minds of collectors for more than two centuries.
Highlights of the exhibition include a travel clock made for Emperor Napoléon Bonaparte, a touch watch made for his wife, Empress Josephine, chronometers made for the French Ministry of the Navy, and pocket watches made for the rulers of Europe and the Ottoman Empire. Some of the most important timepieces on display are early pocket watches with tourbillon movements made by the inventor himself, A.-L. Breguet. The exhibition represents not only the legacy of a brand, but the history of Europe for over two centuries.
Following the tour, guests were welcomed to a gala surrounding Rodin’s sculpture, The Thinker, in the famous courtyard of the Legion of Honor. “This is the first time that Abraham-Louis Breguet’s work is the subject of a retrospective in a major American art museum,” says Marc A. Hayek. “It is a natural fit for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco to host this exhibition. After all, what better place can one imagine than the Bay Area to highlight the work of a genius who’s creations were as revolutionary as the products devised today in Silicon Valley? Throughout his life, Breguet constantly tested new technological instruments, methods, and solutions.”
“Breguet: Art and Innovation in Watchmaking” allows the viewer to better appreciate mechanical timepieces in a digital world. It tells the timeline of watchmaking, measuring instruments, and technical complications that bring marvel to every tick tock of a Breguet watch that has been keeping time continuously throughout the last 240 years.

For more information on the exhibition: www.breguet.com/en/san-francisco

For tickets and more information on the Legion of Honor: www.legionofhonor.org/breguet