Breguet

Abraham-Louis Breguet opened his workshop on the Quai de l'Horloge in Paris in 1775 and proceeded to invent a substantial portion of modern watchmaking. The tourbillon, patented in 1801, remains his most famous contribution, though the pare-chute shock protection, the self-winding perpétuelle, the gong spring for repeaters, and the first wristwatch — made for Caroline Murat, Queen of Naples, in 1810 — all belong to him.

His aesthetic contributions are equally durable and now generic: guilloché dials engraved by hand, blued steel hands with hollowed moon tips, coin-edge case bands, and the slender Breguet numerals. Watches from unrelated houses still use all of them.

The French Revolution forced Breguet to flee to Switzerland in 1793. He returned two years later to a client list that read as the European establishment — Marie Antoinette, Napoleon, the Duke of Wellington, Tsar Alexander I. The Marie Antoinette pocket watch, commissioned in 1783 and finished in 1827 long after both queen and maker were dead, is among the most storied objects in horology.

The company passed through several hands in the twentieth century before Nicolas Hayek acquired it for the Swatch Group in 1999 and invested heavily in restoring its technical standing. The modern Classique and Tradition lines deliberately mine the archive, the latter exposing the movement architecture of Breguet's own subscription watches on the dial side.

Breguet holds 4 models, from £15,995 to £99,995. Half cost less than £33,450, and a quarter less than £25,711. 3 of 4 are automatic. 1 is stocked by more than one retailer, giving 5 offers in total. Prices are checked nightly against the retailers’ own feeds.

1775

Abraham-Louis Breguet opens his Paris workshop.

1801

Patents the tourbillon.

1810

Delivers the first known wristwatch, for the Queen of Naples.

1827

The Marie Antoinette pocket watch is completed.

1999

Acquired by the Swatch Group under Nicolas Hayek.