A Breguet Classique watch with tourbillon

Breguet is a manufacturer of fine watches, founded by Abraham Louis Breguet in Paris in 1775. Currently part of The Swatch Group, its timepieces are now (since 1976) produced in the Vallée de Joux in Switzerland. Breguet is one of the oldest surviving watch-making establishments and is the pioneer of numerous watch-making technologies, the most famous being the tourbillon, invented by Abraham Louis Breguet. Breguet has recently introduced a line of writing instruments as a tribute to writers who mention or feature Breguet watches in their works. Breguet watches are often easily recognized for their coin-edge cases, fine guilloché dials and distinctive blue pomme hands (often now referred to as 'Breguet hands'). Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (819x825, 96 KB) fr: montre Breguet en: Breguet watch Work by Rama File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Breguet (watch) ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (819x825, 96 KB) fr: montre Breguet en: Breguet watch Work by Rama File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Breguet (watch) ... Statue of Abraham Louis Breguet in the Père Lachaise cemetery Abraham-Louis Breguet or Bréguet (10 January 1747 – 17 September 1823), born in Neuchâtel in Switzerland, made many innovations in the course of a career in watchmaking in France. ... City flag City coat of arms Motto: Fluctuat nec mergitur (Latin: Tossed by the waves, she does not sink) Location Coordinates Time Zone CET (GMT +1) Administration Country France Region ÃŽle-de-France Department Paris (75) Subdivisions 20 arrondissements Mayor Bertrand Delanoë  (PS) (since 2001) City Statistics Land area¹ 86. ... The Swatch Group Ltd. ... 18th century tourbillon by Bréguet Girard-Perregauxs Tourbillon sous trois ponts dor, the quintescance of the tourbillon as a display of mastery in luxury watch-making A tourbillon (IPA: , French for whirlwind) is a type of mechanical clock or watch escapement invented in 1795 by Abraham-Louis... Guilloche interlace on the frame of a doorway, S. Salvatore in Lauro, Rome The guilloche interlace pattern (illustrated, right), a conventional enriched moulding in classical architecture, may enclose empty space or be rosetted as it is here; the result is a moulding that could be said to be guilloché. Bands...

History

Beginnings

Breguet was founded in 1775 by Abraham-Louis Breguet at the quai de l'Horloge on the Ile de la Cite following his marriage to the daughter of a prosperous French bourgeois. Her dowry provided the "financing" which allowed him to open his own workshop. The connections Breguet had made with scholarly people during his apprenticeship as a watchmaker and as a student of mathematics soon paid off with spectacular results. Following his introduction to the court, whereupon Queen Marie-Antoinette grew fascinated by Breguet's unique self-winding watch, Louis XVI had bought several of his watches. Marie Antoinette would commission the famous watch that was to contain every single watch function known to man at the time, including the following: The Île de la Cité seen from the west, downstream The Île de la Cité, an island in the Seine river, is the center of Paris, France, and the location where the city was founded. ... Bourgeois at the end of the thirteenth century. ... Marie Antoinette Maria Antonia Josefa Johanna von Habsburg-Lothringen (November 2, 1755 – October 16, 1793), known to history as Marie Antoinette (pronounced ), was born an Archduchess of Austria, and later became Queen of France. ... Louis XVI Louis XVI (August 23, 1754 - January 21, 1793), was King of France and Navarre from 1774 until 1791, and then King of the French in 1791-1792. ... Marie-Antoinette, Queen of France and Archduchess of Austria (born November 1755 – executed 16 October 1793) Daughter of Maria Theresa of Austria, wife of Louis XVI and mother of Louis XVII. She was guillotined at the height of the French Revolution. ...

• A Clock
• A Perpetual Calendar
• A Repeater
• A Thermometer
• A Chronograph
• A Power-Reserve
• A Pare-Chute

Marie Antoinette never lived to see the watch, as it was completed 34 years later, long after she was executed. A clock (from the Latin cloca, bell) is an instrument for measuring time. ... A perpetual calendar is a calendar which is good for a span of many years, such as the Runic calendar. ... The minute repeater is a complication found in a mechanical watch, in which the time is struck to the nearest minute. ... A common thermometer A thermometer is a device which measures temperature or temperature gradient, using a variety of different principles. ... A stopwatch is a timepiece designed to measure the amount of time elapsed from a particular time when activated and when the piece is deactivated. ... Types of power reserve indicator Power Reserve Indicator - originally called French: - is a function of the watch, which is meant to show how long the watch is going to work until the next winding. ...

Company Timeline

• 1775 - Founded in Paris by A. L. Breguet
• 1780 - Launch of its first self winding watch known as the "Perpetuelle"
• 1790 - Invention of the Pare-Chute, an anti-shock device
• 1801 - Patent of the Tourbillon Regulator
• 1870 - Bought from the descendants of Breguet by E. Brown Jewelers, London

• 1970 - Bought by Chaumet Jewelers
• 1987 - Bought from Chaumet, during bankruptcy, by Investcorp
• 1991 - Valdar was bought, and folded into Groupe Horloger Breguet (GHB), still under the ownership of Investcorp
• 1992 - Nouvelle Lemania, a manufacture of watch movements, was brought into GHB
• 1999, September 4 - Swatch group announces plans for the purchase of GHB

Investcorp is a publicly traded boutique investment firm based in Bahrain. ...

Collections

Gentleman's:

• Classique: Simple, Grandes Complications - popular round-bezel pieces
• Marine - water-resistant, often with non-metal straps
• Heritage - rectangular bezels
• Type XX - sturdy, based on WWII-era pilots watches
• La Tradition - similer to the long gone Souscription by Breguet

Lady's:(Most feature diamonds)

• Classique
• Marine
• Heritage
• Type XX
• Reine de Naples - oval bezels

Breguet also has other types of timepieces, jewellry for women, and writing instruments/cases to celebrate the authors who incorporated the watches into their works.

Notable owners

• Marie-Antoinette, Queen of France
• Louis XVI, King of France
• Louis Antoine de Bougainville, French Explorer
• Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of the French
• Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
• Talleyrand, Prince of Benevento
• Count Axel von Fersen, Swedish diplomat
• Joséphine de Beauharnais, Empress of the French
• Selim III, sultan of the Ottoman Empire
• Caroline Murate, Queen of Naples
• Tsar Alexander I of Russia
• Michel Ney, Marshal of France
• George Washington, 1st American President
• Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom
• Sir Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister
• Arthur Rubinstein, master pianist
• Sergei Rachmaninoff, composer

Fictional owners: Marie Antoinette Maria Antonia Josefa Johanna von Habsburg-Lothringen (November 2, 1755 – October 16, 1793), known to history as Marie Antoinette (pronounced ), was born an Archduchess of Austria, and later became Queen of France. ... Louis XVI Louis XVI (August 23, 1754 - January 21, 1793), was King of France and Navarre from 1774 until 1791, and then King of the French in 1791-1792. ... Louis-Antoine de Bougainville (1729–1811) Louis-Antoine de Bougainville Louis Antoine de Bougainville, Comte de Bougainville (November 12, 1729 – August 20, 1811) was a French navigator and military commander. ... Bonaparte as general Napoleon Bonaparte ( 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821) was a general of the French Revolution and was the ruler of France as First Consul (Premier Consul) of the French Republic from November 11, 1799 to May 18, 1804, then as Emperor of the French (Empereur des... Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS (c. ... Charles Maurice de Talleyrand Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (February 2, 1754 - May 17, 1838) was a French diplomat. ... Benevento is a town and archiepiscopal see of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, 32 miles northeast of Naples. ... Count Axel von Fersen, dressed in the robes of a Swedish Privy Councilor, with the Knights Commander chains of the Royal Orders of the Seraphim and that of the Sword around his neck. ... Joséphine de Beauharnais, Empress of the French Joséphine de Beauharnais (June 23, 1763 – May 29, 1814) was the first wife of Napoléon Bonaparte and became Empress of the French. ... Sultan Selim III Selim III (December 24, 1761 – July 28/29, 1808) was a sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1789–1807). ... Motto: دولت ابد مدت Devlet-i Ebed-müddet (The Eternal State) Anthem: Ottoman imperial anthem Borders in 1680, see: list of territories Capital Söğüt (1299-1326) Bursa (1326-1365) Edirne (1365-1453) Constantinople (Istanbul) (1453-1922) Language(s) Ottoman Turkish Government Monarchy Sultans  - 1281–1326 Osman I  - 1918–1922 Mehmed VI... The Kingdom of Naples was born out of the division of the Kingdom of Sicily after the Sicilian Vespers rebellion of 1282. ... Aleksandr I Pavlovich (Russian: Александр I Павлович) (December 23, 1777–December 1, 1825), was Emperor of Russia from March 23, 1801–December 1, 1825 and King of Poland from 1815–1825, as well as the first Grand Duke of Finland. ... Michel Ney, Marshal of France. ... The Marshal of France (maréchal de France) was one of the Great Officers of the Crown of France. ... George Washington (February 22, 1732–December 14, 1799)[1] led Americas Continental Army to victory over Britain in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), and was later elected the first President of the United States. ... The presidential seal was used by President Hayes in 1880 and last modified in 1959 by adding the 50th star for Hawaii. ... Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837, and the first Empress of India from 1 May 1876, until her death on 22 January 1901. ... Churchill redirects here. ... The Prime Minister is in practice the most important political office in the United Kingdom. ... For the 19th century Russian pianist and composer, see Anton Rubinstein Arthur Rubinstein photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1937 Arthur Rubinstein (January 28, 1887 – December 20, 1982) was a Polish pianist who is widely considered as one of the greatest piano virtuosos of the 20th Century. ... Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff (Russian: , Sergej Vasil’evič Rachmaninov, 1 April 1873 (N.S.) or 20 March 1873 (O.S.) – 28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. ...

• Dr. Stephen Maturin in Patrick O'Brian's Napoleonic War novels
• Baron d'Anglars from Dumas' Count of Monte Cristo
• Philleas Fogg from Verne's Around the World in 80 Days
• Eugene Onegin in Alexander Pushkin's Onegin

The Aubrey–Maturin series, also known as the Aubreyad, is a sequence of 20 historical novels by Patrick OBrian, set during the Napoleonic Wars and centering on the friendship between Captain Jack Aubrey of the Royal Navy and his ships surgeon Stephen Maturin, who is also a... Patrick OBrian (December 12, 1914 – January 2, 2000; original name Richard Patrick Russ) was a novelist and translator, best known for his Aubrey–Maturin series of novels set in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars and centered on the friendship of Captain Jack Aubrey and an Irish–Catalan... The Napoleonic Wars lasted from 1804 until 1815. ... Around the World in Eighty Days (French: Le tour du monde en quatre-vingt jours) is a classic adventure novel by Jules Verne, first published in 1872. ... Eugene Onegin (Russian: Евгений Онегин, BGN/PCGN: Yevgeniy Onegin) is a novel in verse written by Aleksandr Pushkin. ... Aleksandr Pushkin was a Russian poet and a founder of modern Russian literature Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin (Russian: Алекса́ндр Серге́евич Пу́шкин) (June 6 (May 26, O.S... Onegin is a 1999 film adaptation of Aleksandr Pushkins novel in verse Yevgeny Onegin. ...

Trivia

Breguet gave a piece to the mariner Bougainville, who was just organizing his great expedition to the North Pole.

External links

• Official Site
• Fan page and discussion group