Breguet boasts a huge list of renowned clients. The great Russian writer, Pushkin, called the Breguet watch ‘ever vigilant’ and wrote that: “The stomach is our accurate Breguet.” Napoleon and Wellington both checked their watches at Waterloo! Louis XVI bought many Breguets.
Abraham-Louis Breguet
Born in Neuchatel, Switzerland in 1749, Abraham-Louis Breguet learned watch-making in Paris and studied mathematics. The young and ambitious Swiss man got his chance when he married the daughter of a wealthy Frenchman who gave her a large dowry.
He established the company in Paris. Breguet became famous with his invention of the automatic watch which he made for the Duke of Orleans. Soon he was making watches for the French aristocracy and inventing numerous mechanisms. These include the rewinding watch, the tourbillion, and the overcoil.
Queen Marie-Antoinette became fascinated by the rewinding mechanism and an admirer ordered a very advanced watch with many of Breguet’s new inventions for her. Unfortunately, this wasn’t finished until Abraham-Louis and the Queen had both died.
Breguet made the first wristwatch ever invented for Caroline Murat, the sister of Napoleon 1 and Queen of Naples in 1810. He became the watchmaker for the navy and was awarded the Legion of Honour by Louis XVIII.
Antoine-Louis and Louis-Clement Breguet
After Abraham-Louis died in the company was taken over by his son, Antoine-Louis. Antoine-Louis drove the prestigious business into bankruptcy by letting sales and orders decline and debts pile up. His son, Louis-Clement, eventually took over. He invented the first electric clocks but decided to leave and concentrate on electric telegraphs and telecommunications. The business was sold to the English watchmaker, Edward Brown.
The Checkered History of Breguet
The next decades were difficult for the company which struggled to retain its luxury image. There was little invention except for the pocket watch with no traditional hand indicators. Sales declined during the First World War. In 1970 the company was sold to the Chaumet brothers who wanted it to become glamorous again and started ‘reinventing’ the product so that they could return it to its former glory. Unfortunately they went bankrupt and the company fell victim to their troubles.
Breguet is now owned by the Swatch group and is the favourite brand of the chairman, Nicolas Hayek. He is credited with revitalising the luxury Swiss watch brand by focusing on price and style. Incredibly, these brands have been less affected by the GEC than the rest of the watch market. In August, 2009, diamond-encrusted “double tourbillon” watches that cost about $710,000.00 US were selling out as soon as they reached the country’s shores!
It seems that Breguet has a glorious future ahead of it.
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