Born in Switzerland in 1747, Abraham-Louis Breguet pursued his career in Paris. He won
fame as the creator of technical innovations, devising watches, clocks and chronometers
that launched modern watch making.  The slender blue-steel Breguet hands he designed, with
their distinctive circles, have told the time on Breguet watches for two centuries. In
that time, they have become symbols of Breguet’s craftsmanship. After an exceptionally thorough apprenticeship, the young Breguet elected to settle in Paris. Before long, he was introduced at the royal court where he found some of his first patrons. His impressive gifts and growing reputation rapidly earned him the esteem of many of the crowned heads and leading figures of his day. The fluted caseband of the Breguet watch is the hallmark of a style that has fascinated the crowned heads of Europe since Abraham-Louis Breguet set up his business in 1775. He created the most complicated watch of the time for Marie-Antoinette, made timepieces for the Bonaparte family, the Tzar of Russia, the King of England and their peers. For them, the Breguet watch represented the perfect synthesis of aesthetic and mechanical genius. The Breguet watch is subtly recognizable by the delicate engine-turned patterns of the dial—a virtuoso performance of symmetry and precision executed by hand. The detailed features of each watch proclaim the superb casework for which Breguet is renowned. The fluted caseband, the hands, dial, chain-bracelet and buckle, eloquently signify the essential values of the Breguet name—quality, elegance and distinction. Each Breguet watch is a mobile sculpture, created according to the eternal laws of time. Each dial is signed and each movement numbered, as is fitting for a masterpiece. And as with every work of art, the ingredients are patience, devotion and skill. Production is limited, because all the parts of every watch are finished and assembled by hand in the same way as they were made in the golden age of craftsmanship. |