Schweiz · Gegründet 1775
Breguet
Abraham-Louis Breguet patented the tourbillon in Paris on 26 June 1801.
Redaktioneller Text auf Englisch.
Watchmaker founded in Paris in 1775 by Abraham-Louis Breguet, made in the Vallée de Joux since 1976 and owned by the Swatch Group since 1999. The range keeps his codes: guilloché dials, fluted case bands and hollow 'pomme' hands, across Classique, Marine, Tradition, Type XX and Reine de Naples. Most pieces are in gold.
Geschichte
Born in Neuchâtel in 1747, Abraham-Louis Breguet was apprenticed to a watchmaker in Versailles and studied mathematics at the Collège Mazarin in Paris. In 1775 he opened his workshop at 51 Quai de l'Horloge on the Île de la Cité. His self-winding 'perpétuelle' brought him to the attention of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, and in 1783 an admirer of the queen ordered a watch containing every complication then known. That watch, No. 160, was completed only in 1827, four years after Breguet's death.
The Revolution forced Breguet to leave Paris in 1793; he spent two years in Switzerland and England before reopening on the Quai de l'Horloge in 1795. His inventions included the 'pare-chute' shock protection of 1790, the raised overcoil balance spring and the tourbillon, patented in 1801. In 1810 Caroline Murat, Queen of Naples, ordered No. 2639, often cited as the first wristwatch. He became chronometer-maker to the French Navy in 1815, and his clients included Napoleon, Tsar Alexander I and George IV.
His son Antoine-Louis became a partner around 1807 and ran the firm after 1823, followed by grandson Louis-Clément Breguet. When the family stepped back, English watchmaker Edward Brown took charge of the Paris workshops, and the Brown family owned Breguet from 1870 to 1970. The Chaumet jewellery family then owned the brand and in 1976 moved production from Paris to the Vallée de Joux. Investcorp bought Breguet in 1987, formed Groupe Horloger Breguet in 1991 and added the movement maker Nouvelle Lemania in 1992.
The Swatch Group bought Groupe Horloger Breguet from Investcorp in 1999, and chairman Nicolas G. Hayek took a personal interest in the brand. He commissioned No. 1160, a reconstruction of the Marie-Antoinette watch, presented in 2008 in a case made from an oak at Versailles; around its completion, the original, stolen from a Jerusalem museum in 1983, resurfaced. For its 250th anniversary in 2025 Breguet introduced the Classique Souscription 2025 in its own 'Breguet gold' alloy.
Gründer
- Abraham-Louis Breguet
- Founder · 1747–1823
- Neuchâtel-born watchmaker who spent most of his career in Paris. Inventor of the tourbillon and the overcoil spring, chronometer-maker to the French Navy from 1815 and a member of the Academy of Sciences from 1816.
Meilensteine
1775
Workshop on the Quai de l'Horloge
Abraham-Louis Breguet opens his Paris workshop at 51 Quai de l'Horloge on the Île de la Cité.
1780
Perpétuelle self-winding watch
Breguet develops his 'perpétuelle', a self-winding pocket watch driven by an oscillating weight.
1783
No. 160 'Marie-Antoinette' ordered
A watch with every known complication is commissioned for the queen; it is finished in 1827.
1801
Tourbillon patent
Breguet receives a French patent on 26 June 1801 for the tourbillon regulator.
1810
No. 2639 for the Queen of Naples
Caroline Murat orders a watch worn on the wrist, often cited as the first wristwatch.
1815
Chronometer-maker to the French Navy
Breguet receives the official appointment, a year after joining the Bureau des Longitudes.
1870
Brown family ownership begins
The English Brown family takes over the firm and keeps it for a century.
1976
Production moves to the Vallée de Joux
Owner Chaumet closes the Paris workshop and transfers production to Switzerland.
1999
Swatch Group acquisition
The Swatch Group buys Groupe Horloger Breguet, including Nouvelle Lemania, from Investcorp.
2025
250th anniversary
The Classique Souscription 2025 introduces Breguet's own gold alloy of gold, silver, copper and palladium.
Drei Dinge, die Sammler wissen
44 years for one watch
The Marie-Antoinette watch, No. 160, was ordered in 1783 with no limit on time or cost. It was finished in 1827, 34 years after the queen's execution and four years after Breguet's death.
Watches paid for in advance
After the Revolution Breguet sold one-hand 'souscription' watches with a quarter of the price paid at order, which financed production. About 700 were made over three decades.
Brunel's teacher
In 1822 the 16-year-old Isambard Kingdom Brunel spent several months studying with Breguet in Paris.
Wichtige Modelle
- Type XX1954
Flyback pilot's chronograph first ordered by the French Air Force from 1954; a civilian series followed in 1995.
- Marine1990
Sports line recalling Breguet's role as chronometer-maker to the French Navy.
- Reine de Naples2002
Oval women's watch named after Caroline Murat, client for No. 2639.
- Tradition2005
Open-dial watches showing the movement's bridges, inspired by the souscription pocket watches.
- Classique Souscription 20252025
One-hand anniversary watch in Breguet gold, priced at CHF 45,000 at launch.
Fragen
- Who owns Breguet?
- The Swatch Group, since 1999, when it bought Groupe Horloger Breguet from the investment firm Investcorp.
- Did Breguet invent the tourbillon?
- Yes. Abraham-Louis Breguet developed the tourbillon, a rotating carriage for the escapement meant to average out positional errors, and received a French patent for it on 26 June 1801.
- Where are Breguet watches made?
- In the Vallée de Joux, Switzerland, with headquarters at L'Abbaye. Production moved there from Paris in 1976.
- How do you pronounce Breguet?
- breh-GAY. The final t is silent, as in French.