WAVES IN VOGUE

With an aesthetic style inspired by the world of the sea, this new model has all the assets to become a key element in the male wardrobe. We take a closer look.

Updating a watchmaking classic can seem like a challenge. For Breguet, the process paid off in 2017 with some cogent technical and design changes to the models in the Marine collection. The 5517 model launched at the last Baselworld includes all these new developments. You can find the new clasps on the strap, fluting on the cases and a redesigned crown. The model also stands out through the date display in a counter at 3 o’clock. To read the time elements, the brand’s trademark hands make their way around an hour rim featuring Roman numerals. In the centre of the dial, two styles are on offer, depending on the material used to make the 40mm-wide case. The titanium version has a sunburst slate-grey colour, while the white gold and rose gold models feature a magnificent wave pattern made using a skilful guilloché technique.

Each timepiece is driven by a self-winding movement. The calibre with its silicon components guarantees 55 hours of power reserve once the watch is fully wound. The mechanism can be seen through the sapphire glass caseback and includes a surprising rotor shaped like a ship’s wheel.

A range of options for straps are available to suit all tastes. Along with elegant brown or blue leather, there is also a rubber version for a casual-chic look.

Price: 18,000 EUR (titanium) – 28,000 EUR (gold) breguet.com

By Dan Diaconu

ESSENTIAL FOR TRAVEL

So you can go from one continent to another with perfect peace of mind and without losing track of time, the brand has brought together two complications to make this watch indispensable.

The Marine collection is like an invitation to pack your bags, weigh anchor and explore a new world. In the pure Breguet spirit, the models in the collection stand out through their elegance and practical features, bringing style to your travel accessories. The 5547 has all the strengths characterising this range of timepieces. On the dial – blue, slate grey or silver, depending on the version – the time display is designed for optimum readability. The watch has a new aesthetic style launched in 2017. The hour rim is made up of Roman numerals and luminous markers, with fine moon-tip hands for the hours and minutes. At 3 o’clock, an eye-catching sub-dial is used to set the alarm. Depending on your needs, it could sound to wake you up or remind you about a meeting. When the alarm rings, a ship’s bell appears in a discreet opening under the brand’s logo at 12 o’clock. At 9 o’clock, in a nicely rounded counter, a small hand shows a second time zone. The time information is completed by the date at 6 o’clock.

The 40mm-wide case of the Marine Alarme Musicale 5547 is made of white gold, pink gold or titanium. The three versions come with a leather or rubber strap.

Price: 27,900 EUR (titanium) – 39,800 EUR (white or pink gold) breguet.com

By Dan Diaconu

A TASTE OF ETERNITY

Launched in 2005 in a yellow gold and white gold versions, this year’s 5157 model is made of pink gold to keep up with the times. The calibre is more resistant with the inclusion of silicon elements.

Skill, excellence, technical expertise… There is no shortage of words to describe the work of watchmakers. Sometimes a watch is worth more than a thousand words! You just need to see the Classique Extra-Plate 5157 to agree. The version introduced by Breguet at the recent Foire de Bâle is another illustration. The watch dimensions, 38mm wide and 5.45mm thick, embody our idea of a timepiece with timeless elegance. Inside the fine pink-gold case with a fluted body can be found all the signature elements of the prestigious brand. The silvered gold dial stands out through the central guilloche technique with a hand-made “Clou de Paris” pattern. It is encircled with an hour rim with Roman numerals and naturally features blued steel Breguet-style hour and minute hands with “moon” tips.

The timepiece runs on an automatic movement. The extra-flat calibre 502.3 provides 45 hours of power reserve once fully wound. It also includes the latest innovations from the manufacture with an anchor escapement and silicon spiral. The sapphire caseback unveils the workings inside.

The Classique Extra-Plate 5157 is worn with a brown alligator leather strap featuring a tang buckle. The finished result is a work combining art and craftsmanship. All the models are numbered on the dial. As a guarantee of authenticity, on either side of the watch is a XII, the discreet signature first introduced by the watchmaking genius to combat counterfeiting.

Price: 18,300 EUR breguet.com

By Dan Diaconu

TITANIUM AS A REFERENCE

The manufacture shows off its mechanical talents in 2018 with a modernised design. The Marine Chronographe 5527 also features a titanium case.

Breguet’s Marine range combines watchmaking skill and contemporary design. The Marine Chronographe 5527 was introduced at Baselworld 2018 and includes the new aesthetic elements added to the collection last year, notably in the impressive Equation Marchante 5887. In particular, there is a dial with an attractive guillochage wave pattern. The sub-dials devoted to split-time measurements and a second hand in tri-compax position take nothing away from the delicate, hand-made result. A polished hour rim made up of stylised Roman numerals and luminous markers help to highlight the aesthetic appeal. The time is shown by gold “apple-shaped” Breguet hands. The slender central seconds hand of the chronograph has a counterweight with the symbol M for Marine.

The Marine Chronographe 5527 is driven by an automatic mechanical movement, providing up to 48 hours of power reserve. The presence of silicon means it is unaffected by magnetic fields. The rotor of the calibre 582QA is revealed through the sapphire-crystal back of the 42.3cm-wide case.

Several different versions are available for this sports model. Along with the combination of a white gold case and a blue dial, the brand has come up with a refined pairing of a pink gold case with a dial made of the same material. A more urban version combines a slate-coloured dial with a titanium case. A first for Breguet! They are all worn with a choice of leather or rubber straps.

Price: 22,000 EUR (titanium) – 33,000 EUR (pink gold or white gold) breguet.com

By Dan Diaconu

LA VIE EN ROSE

Added to Breguet’s Classique collection in 2016, the Moon Phase Lady model is dressed in pink, with noble materials and precious stones to celebrate love.

Sometimes, simply holding a watch in the palm of your hand turns into a journey. The Classique Moon Phase Lady 9085, specially designed by Breguet for Saint Valentine’s Day, is, for romantic souls, an invitation to sail down the River Seine, to stroll along the quayside beside tall, elegant buildings and hear Edith Piaf murmuring “La vie en rose” in your ear.

Introduced by the Parisian watchmakers two years ago in the Classique collection, the watch is adorned with a thousand fires and pink reflections to sing a hymn to love. 14 pieces of this watch with a white-gold 30-mm case covered in precious stones will be available, in homage to the mythical date of 14 February. Gradations of pink sapphires (53 in all) married with the dazzle of 13 brilliant-cut diamonds decorate the bezel and horns. These precious stones bring out the iridescent reflections on a dial made of natural mother-of-pearl. At the heart of this opalescent disc arise two blued steel Breguet “moon” tip hands ticking off the hours and minutes.

The silver moon and stars, set on a pink lacquered background and partly hidden by a heart-shaped magnifying glass, discreetly watch the seconds go by.

All the functions of the Classique Phase de Lune Dame 9085 are driven by the calibre 537L, an automatic mechanical movement providing 45 hours of power reserve.

A pink, delicately satin-feel alligator leather strap with a white gold tang buckle set with pink sapphires and diamonds rounds off the sublime effect.

Price upon request breguet.com

By Sharmila Bertin

ELEGANCE IS AN ART

As a prelude to Baselworld 2018, Breguet has unveiled a state-of-the-art timepiece embracing a tourbillon and Grand Feu enamel dial nestling in an extra-slim case.

Until today, no watch in Breguet’s Grand Complications collection featured a Grand Feu enamel dial which, it must be said, is one of the manufacture’s stylistic signatures. This century-old decorative technique continues to be the most delicate to fashion. It brings unequalled depth and sublime dazzle, which we will discover in 2018 on the revamped Classique Tourbillon Extra-Plat Automatique.

This new 5367 reference draws its inspiration from the 5377, revealed in 2013, but unlike the latter, which centre staged highly-traditional decorative features, the newcomer is absolutely minimalistic! The purity of the enamel led to different aesthetic choices. The power reserve indicator has been removed to better enhance the presence of the tourbillon at 5 o’clock. The ever-so famous blue hollow moon-tip hands, which contrast perfectly with the whiteness of the enamel, point at a delicate hour chapter composed on Arabic numerals. This graphical layout provides impeccable legibility, which is somewhat reminiscent of that of Breguet’s pocket watches.

When this 5367 reference timepiece is turned over, we can but admire the richly decorative components of its self-winding mechanical movement through the sapphire-crystal caseback. Bridges, plate and barrel are all hand-engraved. The 581 calibre, integrating a “high-energy” barrel, offers the watch a rather advantageous 80-hour power reserve.

This composition nestles in a 42 mm-diameter, 7 mm-slim rose gold or platinum case.

The Classique Tourbillon Extra-Plat Automatique attaches to the wrist with an exquisite mahogany-brown or blue alligator strap, finished off with a folding clasp.

Price on request breguet.com

By Dan Diaconu

“A dandy on the boulevards (…), strolling at leisure until his Breguet, ever vigilant, reminds him it is midday.”

Alexandre Pushkin, Eugene Onegin (1825-1833)

On Wednesday October 4^th 2017, Breguet staged the exclusive London launch of the “Classic Tour”, an event honouring the art of living of a true gentleman. On this occasion, the House has decided to assemble a handpicked selection of craft skills, paired with an elegant timepiece from the iconic Classique collection. After this first British stage, the “Classic Tour” will travel to several cities around the world, in each instance presenting local customs perpetuated by gentlemen in the given location.

MECHANICAL HAUTE COUTURE

Modestly named the Breguet Classique Tourbillon Quantième Perpétuel 3795, this timepiece is an ode to Breguet’s mechanical skills, the apotheosis of finely mastered watchmaking art.

Since its beginnings in 1775, Breguet has designed a large number of timepieces equipped with a perpetual calendar, all of them as fascinating as they are complex. And the brand likes to focus on existing elements to rework them, always with the aim of striking innovation. This is particularly the case with the Breguet Classique Tourbillon Quantième Perpétuel 3795, a version of the 3797, which is itself filled with interesting mechanic ingenuity.

This new version highlights aesthetic elements, somewhat like a haute-couture garment that is attractive both for its individual parts and for the final result. Here, the dial is withdrawn to give way to a watch skeleton, revealing all the magic of the movement’s construction at its heart. The manually wound movement drives two complications: the tourbillon and the perpetual date. Placed at 6 o’clock, the tourbillon is held in place by an angled bridge and crowned by a triple hand marking the seconds. The perpetual calendar, meanwhile, is at 12 o’clock. It is set back in a semi-circle above the sapphire disc, and decorated with Roman numerals showing the hours and minutes. The day counter is at 9 o’clock, and the month counter at 3 o’clock, with a blue sun in its centre to show the leap years.

The Breguet Classique Tourbillon Quantième Perpétuel is available in rose gold or silvered 18-carat platinum, with a 41 mm-wide case, and is adorned with blue steel hands, as well as the secret signature identifying the brand. Between the skeleton design and hand-made guilloché pattern, the Breguet is attractive both for the complexity of its mechanism on display and for the global aesthetic appeal to the eyes.

Price: Platinum: CHF249,000 / Rose gold: CHF235,000 breguet.com

By Isabelle Guignet

THE HEART AT WORK

For the annual charity event organised by watchmakers in support of research into myopathies, Breguet has unveiled a single piece to be sold at auction.

Since 2005, Breguet has been participating in Only Watch. During this event, taking place this year on 11 November in Geneva, 50 unique watches, specially created for the occasion by 50 watchmaking brands, are put on sale. All revenues go to the Association Monégasque contre les Myopathies (Monaco Assocation Against Myopathies). This year, Breguet is offering the elegant and original Classique In-Line Perpetual Calendar (ref. 7715). Why ‘original’? As the name implies, this timepiece displays the information on the perpetual calendar in a linear and simple way, providing optimum readability. The day is displayed in a counter at 12 o’clock. At the centre of the dial, a discreet hand indicates the current month. At 6 o’clock, another disc shows both the date and the leap-year cycle.


As for the watch’s aesthetics, we find all the traditional array of the Classique collection. The blued hour and minute hands move across a hand-made “Clous de Paris”, silver guilloché gold dial, with an hour rim featuring Roman numerals.


The Classique In-Line Perpetual Calendar is driven by an entirely hand-engraved self-winding mechanical movement. The workings and the offset rotor in the calibre 502Q PLT, equipped with a silicon spiral, are revealed through a 39mm sapphire glass on the yellow gold case. Once wound, the mechanism guarantees a power reserve of 45 hours for a piece that is exclusively reserved for philanthropic collectors. onlywatch.com

Price: Estimation 80,000 CHF – 100,000 CHF breguet.com

By Dan Diaconu

A FUNDAMENTAL MASTERPIECE

With a beautifully simple enamel dial, like a classical painting, Breguet unveils a highly refined version of the Classique 7787.

In 2011, Breguet unveiled a pure jewel of expertise, the Classique 7787. The watch included a moon phase on a guilloché dial encircled with Roman numerals. This year, the watchmakers have made a new white gold setting for the most poetic of its complications. The “Grand Feu” enamel dial is individually numbered and signed, setting the stage for this superb composition. Here, the manufacturers have placed their fine, trade-mark Arabic numerals and open-tipped hands made of blued Breguet steel, bearing the name of the illustrious firm. Another house tradition, the minute track made up of tiny stars, with the five-minute markers shown with stylised fleurs-de-lis, encircles the composition.

The power reserve indicator, meanwhile, is decorated with small arrows, inspired by the ones displayed on the dial of the pocket watch n°92, dating from 1785. Set at 3 o’clock, the indication is shown with an easy-to-read, slender and elegant hand, allowing the owner of the White Gold Classique 7787 to check the power reserve of up to 38 hours at a glance.

While the aesthetic features of the watch highlight watchmaking tradition, the mechanism in this elegant timepiece makes use of the latest technological innovations. The 39mm-wide case of the White Gold Classique 7787 features the Breguet 591 DRL calibre. Like the new watches made by the company, the self-winding movement has an escapement and spiral made of silicon, guaranteeing durability.

Price: €29,500 breguet.com

By Dan Diaconu