Breguet watches, which carry on the essence of the great watchmaker and inventor Abraham-Louis Breguet, will explore their appeal and introduce key models from the four flagship collections: Tradition, Classique, Marine, Heritage, and Type XX.
What is Breguet?
Founded in 1775, Breguet invented or improved many of the complex mechanisms found in modern mechanical watches, captivating royalty and aristocrats around the world.
This exhibition introduces the appeal of Breguet, a company that applied scientific and astronomical knowledge to the manufacture of mechanical watches, laying the technical foundations of modern wristwatches over 200 years ago.
The allure of Breguet
The founder of Breguet, the legendary watchmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet, invented many of the mechanisms that form the basis of mechanical watches, including the automatic winding mechanism and the parachute, a mechanism that protects the balance wheel from impact.
Complex mechanisms such as the tourbillon and perpetual calendar were also invented by Breguet, and it is said that approximately 7% of the mechanisms used in mechanical watches were invented or improved by Breguet.
Since Nicolas G. Hayek took over the management of Breguet in 1999, the company has achieved the remarkable feat of obtaining over 77 patents and developing a new movement every year.
Many of Breguet's watches feature beautiful guilloche dials and sophisticated complicated mechanisms, and some of its masterpieces are housed in famous art museums.
Breguet's distinctive features
Today, Breguet continues the intellectual legacy of Abraham-Louis Breguet, adding a modern interpretation to create watches that can be called works of art. Here, we will look at the complications and designs that characterize Breguet watches.
Tourbillon
Wristwatches did not become common until the 20th century, and in Abraham-Louis Breguet's time, the portable watch referred to a pocket watch.
Pocket watches are often kept in a pocket, and this position forces the movement to be upright, preventing the power from the mainspring from moving the gears accurately, resulting in a loss of accuracy, a common problem with pocket watches.
To counteract the effects of gravity, Abraham-Louis Breguet invented the tourbillon.
This is a structure in which the entire escapement, consisting of the mainspring, anchor, escape wheel, and balance, is housed in a single cyclically rotating carriage. By grouping together parts that are easily affected by gravity and rotating them at a constant rate, it is possible to minimize the effects of gravity on the watch, and it has become synonymous with complex mechanisms.
perpetual calendar
From 1582 to the present day, countries around the world have used the Gregorian calendar, but in 1793, when the monarchy was abolished due to the French Revolution, France temporarily changed its calendar to the Republican calendar (French Revolutionary calendar).
The new calendar system required watchmakers to adapt to the new 10-hour day and 10-day week, and Abraham-Louis Breguet invented the perpetual calendar.
This was a complex mechanism that displayed the difference between the Gregorian and Republican calendars on a single dial, and automatically corrected for month lengths and leap years to indicate the calendar.
The Republican calendar was abolished by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1806, but today, perpetual calendars based on the Gregorian calendar are used by watchmakers with advanced technical capabilities.
Minute repeater
A minute repeater is a complicated mechanism that tells the current time by striking a bell with a hammer built into the watch. Repeater watches were produced as early as the 1680s, but these used a hammer to strike a bell inside a table clock or the back of a pocket watch.
Abraham-Louis Breguet's innovation was the invention of the "gong" mechanism, which strikes a leaf spring around the periphery of the movement, resulting in a richer, more delicate tone and allowing for a more compact mechanism.
Breguet-style minute repeaters were popular among royalty and aristocrats, but it was not until 1892 that Audemars Piguet succeeded in making them small enough to be used in wristwatches.
Minute repeaters were popular among royalty and aristocrats at the time, and are still coveted by enthusiasts today. However, producing a tone worthy of a luxury watch is an extremely difficult task, and only a select few maisons use them.
that’s a joy to receive.
Abraham-Louis Breguet also made numerous inventions and improvements to pocket watch decoration, including guilloched dials, Breguet hands and numerals, coin-edged cases, and rounded lugs.
These decorations are an essential part of the iconic design of modern Breguet watches, and are often adopted by other watch houses as a sign of respect for Abraham-Louis Breguet.
The guilloched dials are particularly exceptional. Breguet was the first to use this technique, which was used for furniture and tableware, to decorate watches, and came up with a variety of engraved patterns.
Intricate patterns, such as the rivet-like Clous de Paris pattern, the radiating Soleil pattern, and the ripple-like Vague pattern, are engraved into the dial using a manual lathe and are now an essential decorative technique for luxury watches, adopted by many watch brands.
http://www.webchronos.net/features/37041/
