A. Lange & Sohne,150,Accutron,1,AkriviA,11,Alain Silberstein,4,alarm,18,Alpina,25,Andersen Geneve,2,Andersmann,2,Andreas Strehler,5,Angelus,6,annual calendar,44,Anonimo,15,Anthony de Haas,2,Antiquorum,4,Antoine Martin,2,Antoine Preziuso,1,Apple,2,Apple Watch,2,Aquadive,2,Aquastar,1,Armin Strom,87,Arnold and Son,28,Artime,1,Astarwatch,1,Atelier de Chronometrie,1,Atelier Wen,1,Ateliers deMonaco,2,Atmos,1,Auctions,95,Audemars Piguet,99,Autodromo,1,automaton,2,BA111OD,1,Ball Watch,1,Bamford,2,Baselword 2022,1,Baselworld,8,BaselWorld 2013,50,BaselWorld 2014,53,Baselworld 2015,69,Baselworld 2016,27,Baselworld 2017,64,Baselworld 2018,75,Baselworld 2019,41,Baselworld 2020,2,Baume,4,Baume & Mercier,22,Baume et Mercier,76,Beaubleu,1,Bell & Ross,41,Berneron,1,Bernhard Lederer,5,Bernhard Zwinz,1,bespoke,1,Blancpain,106,blue dial,3,Bonhams,2,Bovet,15,Manufacturers histories,1,Breguet,137,Breitling,75,Bremont,1,Bremont Watch Firm,4,Breva,3,bronze,28,Bücherei,1,Bucherer,1,Bulgari,126,Bulova,2,Burberry,1,C3H5N3O9,1,carbon,4,carillon,4,Carl F. Bucherer,4,Carl Suchy,1,Carrera,22,Cartier,50,ceramic,26,Certina,13,Chanel,5,Chaumet,3,chiming hour,15,Chopard,43,Christiaan van der Klaauw,2,Christie’s,9,Christophe Claret,5,Christopher Ward,16,chronograph,821,chronometer,43,Chronoswiss,6,Cimier,1,Citizen,6,co-axial,1,column-wheel,11,full calendar,31,problems,92,idea watch,5,Harmony,1,constant-force,39,Corum,18,Credor,2,CSEM,1,Cuervo y Sobrinos,1,Cyrus,40,Czapek,9,Dan Niederer,1,Daniel Roth,1,Davosa,1,Daytona,9,De Bethune,30,de Grisogono,3,useless seconds,21,Delma,2,detent escapement,5,DeWitt,9,digital show,2,dive watches,109,diving,8,diving watches,427,double regulator,3,Doxa,43,drei,1,gown watches,562,twin time,110,Ebel,2,Eberhard,37,Edouard Koehn,10,Edox,6,El Primero,46,Emile Chouriet,1,Emmanuel Bouchet,1,Emmanuel Breguet,1,enamel dial,15,enamelling,16,Equation of time,10,ETA,1,Eterna,18,exhibitions,1,F.P.Journe,41,Faberge,2,manufacturing unit excursions,3,Favre-Leuba,1,characteristic article,98,options,133,Felipe Pikullik,2,Ferdinand Berthoud,8,flyback,67,Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie,1,Formex,1,Fortis,9,Franc Vila Founder,1,Franck Muller,8,Frederic Jouvenot,1,Frederique Fixed,27,Furlan Marri,1,FVF,1,Gallet,1,Garrick,1,Geneva Watchmaking Grand Prix,8,Georg Jensen,1,George Daniels,4,Gerald Charles,2,Gerald Genta,13,Girard-Perregaux,49,Glashuette,19,Glashuette Authentic,104,Glashütte,33,Glashütte Authentic,137,Glycine,4,GMT,147,GoS,1,GoS Watches,1,GPHG,23,GPHG 2020,3,GPHG 2021,3,GPHG 2022,3,GPHG 2023,3,GPHG 2024,3,GPHG2019,1,Graham,6,Grand Feu,7,Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Geneve,17,Grand Seiko,39,Grande Complication,28,Grande Sonnerie,9,Greubel Forsey,41,greubelforsey,1,Grøne,1,Gronefeld,10,Grönefeld,8,Grossmann,3,guilloché,9,H. Moser and Cie,52,H20 Watch,1,Habring,10,Habring2,11,Hajime Asaoka,2,Hallmark of Geneva,3,Hamilton,41,hands-on,141,Hanhart,24,Harry Winston,11,Hautlence,6,Hermes,27,Heuer,3,excessive jewelry,3,high-frequency,8,Hublot,71,Hybris Artistica,1,Hydro Mechanical Horologists,7,HYT Watches,16,Icon,1,In footage,18,impartial watchmaker,40,trade information,249,interview,9,Interviews,9,IWC,184,Jacques Bianchi,1,Jaeger-LeCoultre,133,Jaquet Droz,58,Jean-Francois Mojon,1,Jean-Marc Pontroué,1,JeanRichard,3,leaping hours,39,Junghans,12,Kaj Korpela,1,Kari Voutilainen,12,Kazuo Maeda,1,Kenissi,1,Kollokium,1,Korpela,1,Krayon,5,Kudoke,6,Kurono,2,L.Leroy,1,L’Epee 1839,2,Labails,1,Girls watches,205,Lang & Heyne,4,Lang 1943,1,Lange,56,massive date,3,Laurent Ferrier,26,Laureus,2,Le Garde Temps,1,Lederer Watches,5,Leica,3,Lemania,1,Leroy,4,Linde Werdelin,2,Longines,110,Louis Erard,37,Louis Moinet,8,Louis Vuitton,3,luxurious metal watch,37,LVMH,10,LVMH 2020,6,M.A.D.Version,5,M.A.D.Editions,6,Maîtres du Temps,1,Manufacture Contemporaine du Temps,3,Manufacture Royale,3,Marc Lang,1,marine chronometer,2,Marqueterie,1,Maurice de Mauriac,2,Maurice Lacroix,29,MB&F,77,MCT,1,MeisterSinger,103,meteorite,3,metiers d’artwork,3,Mickey Mouse,2,Mido,76,navy watches,14,Minerva,4,Ming,2,Minute Repeater,63,monopusher chronograph,5,Montblanc,58,moon phases,139,Moritz Grossmann,31,Moser,47,Muhle,6,Mühle-Glashütte,5,thriller watches,4,Nautilus,14,New Britain Corp,1,new watches,4012,Nivada,3,Nomos,86,Norqain,32,Ochs und Junior,6,Officine Panerai,112,Omega,215,Solely Watch,15,Solely Watch 2015,4,Solely Watch 2017,2,Solely Watch 2019,3,Solely Watch 2021,4,Solely Watch 2023,10,Oris,44,paillonne,1,Panerai,115,Parmigiani,19,Parmigiani Fleurier,38,Pascal Coyon,1,Patek,62,Patek Philippe,143,Pedrozo & Piriz,1,perpetual calendar,166,Perrelet,12,Petermann Bedat,3,Phenomen,1,Philippe Dufour,1,Phillips,10,Piaget,49,Pierre DeRoche,2,pilot,1,pilot watch,118,Pininfarina,1,Pisa,18,Pisa 1940,6,Pisa Circle,13,Pita,1,planetarium,3,platinum,8,pocket watch,4,pocket watches,2,Poehlmann-Bresan,2,Poincon de Geneve,3,Porsche Design,17,Pre-SIHH 2016: Cartier – Clé de Cartier Computerized Skeleton,1,pulsometer,5,Purnell,1,quartz,11,Rado,21,Ralf Tech,3,Ralph Lauren,2,rattrapante,28,Raul Pages,3,Raymond Weil,7,rectangular watches,16,reddot award,1,regatta,3,regulator,32,remontoire,5,Remy Cools,1,Renaud Tixier,1,Reservoir,2,resonance,23,Ressence,13,retrograde,11,Revelation,1,Reverso,28,evaluate,144,RGM,1,RGM Watch Co.,1,Richard Mille,126,Richemont,4,Richmond,1,Roger Dubuis,12,Roger Smith,1,Roger W. Smith,1,Rolex,75,Romain Gauthier,13,Romain Jerome,1,Royal Oak,42,Rudis Sylva,1,sapphire,6,satellite tv for pc hours,1,Schwarz Etienne,1,Seamaster,14,Seiko,43,SevenFriday,27,SIHH,3,SIHH 2012,4,SIHH 2013,25,SIHH 2014,36,SIHH 2015,43,SIHH 2016,44,SIHH 2017,41,SIHH 2018,43,SIHH 2019,53,Simon Brette,2,Singer,7,Singer Reimagined,11,single hand,37,single-hand watches,44,Sinn,16,skeleton,40,smartwatch,9,photo voltaic vitality,2,Sotheby’s,9,Speake Marin,7,Speake-Marin,7,Speedmaster,41,break up seconds,29,sport,1,sport watches,1047,sportwatches,1,Spring Drive,3,sq. watches,4,squelette,65,steampunk,1,Steinhart,1,Strehler,1,placing time,17,SuisseMecanica,1,dawn,2,sundown,2,Swatch,9,Swatch Group,25,Sylvain Pinaud,2,desk clocks,4,Tag Heuer,198,tantalum,1,technical perception,3,terra Cielo Mare,1,Theo Auffret,1,tides,1,Tiffany,17,Tissot,11,titanium,13,prime information,512,Torsti Laine,1,tourbillon,399,Trilobe,4,Tudor,42,Tulloch,1,Tutima,5,extremely skinny,36,Ulysse Nardin,40,Unimatic,1,Union Glashutte,16,Common Genève,1,City Jurgensen,29,Urwerk,23,Vacheron Constantin,84,Van Cleef & Arpels,7,Vauchier Fleurier,1,Vianney Halter,6,video,1,classic watches,3,Voutilainen,1,Vulcain,12,wandering hours,1,watches,2,Watches & Wonders,43,Watches & Wonders 2020,19,Watches & Wonders 2021,28,Watches & Wonders 2022,35,Watches & Wonders 2023,38,Watches & Wonders 2024,47,Watches & Wonders 2025,36,Watches&Wonders,43,WatchesandWonders2022,35,WatchesandWonders2023,39,WatchesandWonders2024,48,WatchesandWonders2025,36,Wilhelm Schmid,1,Winnerl,1,worldtime,65,worldtimer,3,YEMA,5,Zannetti,1,Zeitwerk,2,Zeitwinkel,1,Zenith,121,Zodiac,9,

Whereas staying in Neuchâtel and Le Locle, Breguet continued his exploration of high-end watchmaking but additionally got down to rebuild his enterprise to, let’s put it this fashion, match the brand new social panorama. It was right here in Switzerland the place he conceived the Souscription, and when he returned to Paris in 1795, manufacturing started. Simplified and single-handed, Souscription watches have been each revolutionary merchandise and revolutionary advertising and marketing. Advertising-wise, Souscription watches have been aimed on the “plenty,” priced decrease, featured in an promoting pamphlet (believed to be one among, if not the primary, watch adverts!), and pre-ordered with a 25% deposit. Product-wise, that 25% deposit allowed the Breguet workshop to serialize manufacturing in a means that was by no means attainable and pay craftsmen prematurely. Breguet’s novel Souscription enterprise mannequin was as environment friendly as watchmaking could possibly be within the 1790s.

Abraham-Louis Breguet was most likely the primary watchmaker to launch a watch with the assistance of a Kickstarter marketing campaign. Okay, effectively, not precisely, however in 1797, he made his 61mm Souscription pocket watch obtainable for order with a 25% down fee. That manner, the comparatively easy watch with just one hand and a white enamel dial turned extra accessible to a bigger viewers, and Breguet might amass the funds to finish the mission. Immediately, for the model’s 250th anniversary, Breguet CEO Gregory Kissling introduces the Breguet Classique Souscription 2025. This 40mm wristwatch in proprietary Breguet gold takes inspiration from the late-18th-century pocket watch in each its design and the hand-wound motion.

Should you’d prefer to know extra concerning the authentic Souscription pocket watch, I extremely advocate having a look at The Bare Watchmaker’s deconstruction of it. In abstract, this pocket watch was manner forward of its time concerning resistance to shocks, temperature fluctations, and magnetism. Its simplified one-handed format, the hard-to-copy inscription on the white enamel dial, and the subscription-model introduction additionally confirmed nice design and entrepreneurial expertise. Let’s see how Gregory Kissling and his workforce at Breguet translated all that magnificence into the Classique Souscription 2025.

The Breguet Classique Souscription 2025 in Breguet gold

RJ already mentioned it a number of occasions in his articles and across the Fratello workplace: “Breguet ought to carry yellow gold again into its assortment.” Nicely, it appears like his want has been granted as a result of the brand new Classique Souscription 2025 is available in Breguet gold. The model calls it a blond shade of gold, and it consists of a mix of gold, silver, copper, and palladium. This formulation is similar to that of Omega’s Moonshine Gold.

The 18K gold case has a 40mm diameter and a ten.8mm thickness. That features the marginally domed sapphire crystals on the highest and backside. The design of the mid-case and lugs stands aside from earlier Breguet Classique watches. The lugs look extra built-in, they usually taper towards the strap whereas bending barely down towards the wrist. This up to date design ought to enhance wearability together with the modest 48mm lug-to-lug span.

One other huge change is the ending on the mid-case. Breguet watches of the previous have been well-known for his or her coin-edge texture. As a substitute, the brand new Classique Souscription 2025 has a refined horizontal satin-brushed end.

The one-handed grand feu enamel dial

When Abraham-Louis Breguet launched his Souscription pocket watch, he needed it to be simply readable. Actually, the format and legibility have been at all times crucial pillars in his dial designs. As on the unique watch, the Classique Souscription 2025 has only one blued metal hand with Breguet’s signature open-tipped design. This hand makes one revolution in precisely 12 hours. Between the numbers marking every of these hours, you’ll discover dashes designating each 5 minutes and quarter-hour markings highlighted in daring. Whereas this isn’t essentially the most exact time show, it is rather simple to learn and perceive.

The pristine white grand feu enamel dial options petit feu black Arabic Breguet-style numerals, a minute observe, and Breguet’s signature at 12. There’s additionally a “secret” engraving at 6 o’clock, which Breguet initially added to make it more durable to repeat his designs. It’s a refined marker of authenticity that typically reveals itself when the sunshine hits it. It’s engraved with a diamond-point pantograph and options the Souscription title, the watch’s serial quantity, and Breguet’s signature.

The hand-wound VS00 caliber

The brand new motion inside takes inspiration from the unique motion contained in the Souscription pocket watch. While you flip the Classique Souscription 2025 round, it nearly looks like you’re taking a look at a Breguet Custom. That’s no coincidence as a result of the motion from the unique pocket watch additionally impressed the Custom assortment when it debuted in 2005.

The hand-wound VS00 motion options the everyday Breguet structure, with a symmetrical format and minimalistic design for the bridges. The ratchet wheel within the middle options an inscription based mostly on Breguet’s phrases taken from the unique advertising and marketing supplies from 1797. The motion has a gold-plated and shot-blasted end, and, in fact, the Breguet signature and serial quantity are engraved there as effectively.

The motion runs at a frequency of 21,600vph, options 21 jewels, and holds a formidable energy reserve of 96 hours in a single barrel. After all, there’s a Nivachron steadiness spring with a Breguet overcoil, which helps preserve the motion immune to temperature adjustments, magnetic fields, and shocks.

As well as, the gold ring of the case again surrounding the motion incorporates a new Quai de l’Horloge guilloché sample. Its inspiration comes from the shapes of the Île de la Cité and Île Saint-Louis islands within the river Seine in Paris. That is the place Abraham-Louis Breguet had his workshop.

Preliminary impressions

I haven’t seen the brand new Breguet Classique Souscription 2025 in actual life but. Nonetheless, I feel it’s a really becoming launch for such a giant anniversary. This watch completely connects Breguet’s wealthy historical past by way of design, technical innovation, and entrepreneurship with right this moment’s world. The brand new Breguet gold appears very elegant, and the modernized case form completely fits the timeless dial design. Moreover, the Classique Souscription 2025 appears modest, as a Breguet watch ought to, but it’s very spectacular once you look extra intently at its ending, know-how, and total design. Do I miss the coin-edge sample on the case flanks? Sure, particularly after I take a look at the gorgeous texture on the pocket watch’s mid-case. Nonetheless, I additionally very a lot admire the braveness to attempt one thing totally different this time.

The brand new Breguet Classique Souscription 2025 prices €53,200. Now, regardless of the title, there’s no point out of a subscription or down-payment choice like there was again within the 18th century. So I suppose you’re anticipated to pay the total quantity if you would like one. That’s a disgrace, particularly for these with a smaller finances, like me. Nonetheless, the worth appears to be decrease than that of the unique Souscription pocket watch. That value £600 in 1797, which roughly converts to a formidable €70,000 right this moment.

After all, we’ll ensure to get our palms on the brand new Breguet Classique Souscription 2025 as quickly as potential. Within the meantime, tell us what you consider this celebratory launch within the feedback beneath.

Zach Blass

Was the Breguet Classique Souscription 2025 in your horological bingo card for this yr? Although it was inevitable that Breguet would wish to have fun its 250th anniversary with a brand new watch, most would have in all probability anticipated a tourbillon, contemplating its namesake created the famend complication. As an alternative, now we have the other: a clear, one-handed wristwatch impressed by an Abraham-Louis Breguet Souscription pocket watch from the late 1790s.

The backstory

Breguet was based in 1775, and due to this fact, this yr being 2025, is the model’s 250th anniversary. However the story of the Classique Souscription dates again to 1796, when the primary Breguet Souscription pocket watch was offered. The formal novelty was launched the next yr, marketed to the general public through pamphlets. Although Abraham-Louis Breguet is at the beginning related to being a extremely progressive and influential watchmaker, he additionally had a eager sense for advertising.

To create some extent of distinction within the buying of his watches, Breguet developed the souscription system – actually, “subscription” – during which purchasers would place a deposit that equated to 1 / 4 of the timepiece’s worth, confirming their order and beginning the method of their watch being made. Consciousness was drawn to this course of and the product itself through promoting brochures hand-written by Breguet himself. To additional create visible intrigue and some extent of distinction, Breguet atypically realised a design that utilises a single, flamed-blue, open-tipped hand, now referred to as a Breguet hand, to inform the time on a white enamel dial. It’s this very vital and early pocket watch design that influenced the Classique Souscription 2025.

A white grand feu enamel dial

The white grand feu enamel dial of the Classique Souscription 2025 is almost similar to the Souscription pocket watch from 1797. The one instantly noticeable distinction is the incorporation of the Breguet emblem at 12 o’clock rather than the seen screw that held the dial to the motion. The Breguet numerals look nearly precisely the identical as those discovered on the unique pocket watch, maybe a tad thinner, which may very well be the results of a smaller dial for the wristwatch when in comparison with the bigger pocket watch. There’s as soon as once more a single, heat-blued Breguet hand on the centre, although there isn’t a longer a port for a key to wind the watch the place the hand is mounted, as you’ll discover on the pocket watch.

Upon nearer inspection, the remaining deviation can be a barely restyled railroad minutes monitor, permitting you to extra simply monitor each fifth minute, and the brand new placement of the Breguet secret signature on the 6 o’clock place. These secret signatures are the phrase “Souscription”, the serial quantity, and the Breguet title, all engraved into the dial by precisely the identical means as they had been with the pocket watches: through the use of a pantograph. This Nineteenth-century mimicry engraving machine is ready to recreate a handwritten template onto a desired floor.

A brand new 18k Breguet Gold case

Although I, and lots of of you, would affiliate Breguet with having fluted casebands and welded lugs, the model is presenting a brand new case that forgoes these components, as an alternative aligning with Breguet’s earliest wristwatches. On this sense, the model is trying backwards, however trying ahead, the Breguet Classique Souscription 2025 debuts a model new gold alloy that has been dubbed “18k Breguet Gold.” The consequence, which is the fruit of a combination of 75% gold and 25% copper, silver, and palladium, is a subtly heat yellow gold that appears very good-looking within the steel.

This might seem like a web page taken out of Swatch Group sibling Omega’s playbook, recognized for its Moonshine, Canopus, and Sedna gold alloys, and maybe mustn’t come as a shock, contemplating Breguet’s not too long ago appointed CEO, Gregory Kissling, got here to the model from Omega.

The protruding bezel and caseback nonetheless create a channel for the caseband, however as an alternative of being fluted, it now receives a fragile brush throughout its aspect, extending to the redesigned lugs, which are supposed to provide heightened ergonomics and a extra compact case size. I sadly do not need a precise lug-to-lug measurement for you, however the 30-metre water resistant 18k Breguet Gold case measures 40mm in diameter and 10.8mm in thickness.

Having worn different Breguets that measure 40mm in diameter, qualitatively talking, the Classique Souscription 2025 felt prefer it wore a tad extra compact throughout the wrist. That mentioned, I can’t faux that it’s not a bit of intimidating on my 6.5-or-so-inch wrist. I respect the selection of this watch being 40mm in measurement, because the single-handed dial must be bigger to account for legible timekeeping. By way of thickness, 10.8mm might understandably appear beefy for what’s in the end a one-handed gown watch, however once you flip it over and see the motion, I think most might be very forgiving.

New four-day, in-house VS00 calibre

The Breguet Classique Souscription 2025 debuts the manually wound VS00 motion, meant to carefully resemble the structure of the unique pocket watch. At first look, most can be unable to inform the distinction. If the structure appears acquainted, it’s as a result of it’s, derived from the present Custom line-up that’s constructed on the premise of bringing as a lot of the motion to the dial with little obstruction, with solely a small sub-dial for the hours and minutes.

This 18k Breguet Gold-gilded surfaces proceed the custom of frosted ending contrasted with hand-bevelled edges, and the utilization of tall finger bridges that create depth whereas affording a full view of the gear prepare. The tradeoff of such depth is in the end a thicker motion, and due to this fact a thicker watch. But when that is the consequence, you haven’t any complaints from me.

At its centre is a big single barrel that homes a mainspring delivering 4 days (96 hours) of energy reserve on a full wind, which is sort of double in comparison with the 50-hour 507 DR1 contained in the Custom 3057. I wish to draw your consideration to the barrel, not simply to have a dialog about endurance, but additionally to circle again to the promoting brochures I discussed earlier than. Engraved onto the ratchet wheel is Abraham-Louis Breguet’s handwriting taken from the pamphlets that marketed the Souscription pocket watches. It’s a neat contact that additional drives house the importance of the design, and the unimaginable milestone of a 250th anniversary.

Talking of small particulars, for many who are left wishing for Breguet’s signature true guilloché to be utilised within the design of this watch, although it’s not featured on the dial, the caseback does have an engine-turned sample on its outer perimeter. It’s a wholly new guilloché sample for Breguet, and what Breguet has dubbed “Quai de l’Horloge”, the road on the Île de la Cité the place Breguet based his first workshop. Its intertwining curves are impressed by the snaking of the Seine between the Île de la Cité and the neighbouring Île Saint-Louis.

Closing ideas

Okay, let’s rip off the band-aid and reply the million-dollar query. The Breguet Classique Souscription is priced at US$48,700, a staggering determine for a watch that has no elaborate complication and solely a single hand to inform the time. Apparently, after doing a little analysis, I stumbled upon a video evaluation by Tim Mosso from a time when The 1916 Firm/WatchBox had a Breguet Souscription pocket watch in its stock. In accordance with Mosso, the circa 1805 Breguet pocket watch he was reviewing, accounting for inflation, would translate to a retail worth of roughly US$51,000. So, in that context, the US$48,700 asking worth not appears fully out of left subject.

In the end, the Classique Souscription is being offered in the identical spirit because the pocket watches it’s impressed by. It isn’t a restricted version, however consumers, within the custom of Souscription, might want to go to a Breguet boutique and ensure their order with a deposit. So, it’s unclear precisely what number of of those watches might be made. Most manufacturers would have carried out a restricted version sequence in a amount impressed by the anniversary quantity. Breguet might have made this a 250-piece restricted version, however on this Souscription format, there isn’t a technique of predicting what number of Breguet will make and promote. That is positively not a watch for everybody, whether or not attributable to quirks like its one-handed design or US$48,700 price ticket. What it’s, then, is the last word trendy Breguet for the model’s collectors, and one I think about will fire up a variety of pleasure amongst this section.

I’m curious to see if and the way Breguet continues its 250th anniversary celebrations, and if this new VS00 calibre might be rolled out in future 40mm Classique watches. Although most of the F. Piguet-derived Classique watches assist hold a slimmer case profile, I do suppose it might be useful, in sure cases, to make use of a motion just like the VS00 and provide consumers the texture of a George Daniels or Roger W. Smith, had been each closely impressed by Breguet, however for a cheaper price and in additional accessible portions.

Breguet Classique Souscription 2025 pricing and availability

The Breguet Classique Souscription 2025 is out there now for enquiries, and, within the spirit of the souscription format, would require a positioned deposit to substantiate your order. Value: US$48,700

This 12 months, probably the most vital names within the watch business is celebrating its 250th anniversary. I’m after all speaking about Breguet, the model created by the all-important Abraham-Louis Breguet in 1775, Quai de l’Horloge in Paris (despite the fact that he was Swiss, A.L. Breguet labored most of his life in Paris besides through the French Revolution). Breguet was an inventor – the tourbillon, the pare-chute, presumably the primary wristwatch, the gong-spring – and a pioneer of the idea of branding in watchmaking. So, with the 250th anniversary of the model’s inception, we have been anticipating one thing large. And whereas it will certainly come later, the primary commemorative watch is impressed by one thing much less grandiose, the easy however significantly vital souscription pocket watches. Pure and targeted, impressed by the previous and but trendy, let’s take a better have a look at the brand new Breguet Classique Souscription reference 2025. 

The souscription idea and pocket watches

At this time, the historic and again then groundbreaking souscription pocket watch is reborn as a wristwatch. However what was the souscription pocket watch, and why is it as vital as among the nice innovations of the model’s founder? Effectively, as mentioned, Abraham-Louis Breguet was not only a watchmaker with concepts forward of his time, who created mechanisms such because the tourbillon. A.L. Breguet was additionally a sensible, visionary businessman who one way or the other created one of many first watch manufacturers, with a particular design and traits to face out from the gang – what we’ll later name Breguet’s unmistakable indicators (the Breguet fingers, the Breguet numerals, the fluted bands, the guilloché dials, the hidden signature to guard his model from counterfeiters). However this additionally led him to have a business-oriented imaginative and prescient for his firm.

Whereas he was again in his nation of start, Switzerland, through the French Revolution (from 1793 to 1795), A.L. Breguet noticed the necessity to develop his enterprise but in addition to make it extra secure. Manufacturing a number of watches with out them being bought upfront means having strong funds… To counter that, Breguet had a daring industrial thought: an apparently easy timepiece accompanied by a advertising and marketing technique named souscription (subscription in English). By paying 1 / 4 of the value when the order was positioned, clients enabled Breguet to organise its manufacturing and pay its craftsmen upfront – one thing unprecedented again then in watchmaking – but in addition with an nearly standardised sequence of watches. Lastly, the watch was additionally the topic of an promoting pamphlet, an actual innovation for the time, so Breguet may handle its potential clients instantly. It was as a lot a watchmaking innovation as a reinvention of the promoting strategies.

In 1795, Breguet went again to Paris with many new concepts in thoughts, together with this new industrial technique. The primary souscription pocket watches seem as early as 1796 in gross sales registers, despite the fact that primarily marketed from 1797 onwards. The watch was, in comparison with different creations of the person, easy and meant to be an object for day by day use, with a dependable motion. This 61mm pocket watch had a white enamel dial and a motion with a comparatively easy structure – no issues – with a single-hand show. Round 700 timepieces have been produced on this method over greater than 30 years. Most have been product of gold with a finely guilloched caseband.

The motion of most fashions was characterised by its massive central barrel and triangular stepped bridges, with a completely gilt end. It options a number of sensible options, comparable to temperature compensation for the carbon metal stability spring, shock safety for the stability pivots (Breguet’s pare-chute) and a ruby cylinder escapement. There was no prime cowl however solely a crystal over a white enamel dial with a single blued metal hand, pointing at a 5-minute divided observe with traditional Breguet numerals. A secret signature was normally discovered beneath the 12 o’clock marker, engraved on the enamel’s floor with a pantograph. There’s an attention-grabbing deconstruction to find right here at The Bare Watchmaker.

The Breguet Classique Souscription 2025

As mentioned, the primary watch created to have a good time Breguet’s 250th anniversary is a trustworthy tribute to the easy however vital souscription pocket watches, remodeled into a chic wristwatch. However moreover the unmistakable resemblance to those vintage fashions, there are some issues to say about this Classique Souscription 2025, a watch that feels each extraordinarily Breguet and but strikes away from sure codes we’ve come to count on lately. What’s simple is the connection, each design-wise and mechanically, with the outdated souscription pocket watches, as you may see beneath.

Let’s begin with the case. The Classique Souscription is a contemporary, elegant watch with a traditional enchantment. It measures a comparatively compact 40mm in diameter, with a thickness of 10.8mm – not probably the most compact nor the thinnest, however the entire level wasn’t to create a tuxedo-style timepiece right here, however to carry the identical spirit of simplicity and restrained class because the outdated pocket watches. What strikes most is the precise design of the watch, which appears like a robust departure from all present Classique fashions. Right here, you received’t discover the standard fluted caseband and soldered straight lugs with screw bars.

As an alternative, the case of the Classique Souscription has a extra conventional 3-part building with lugs built-in inside the center case, the latter being satin-brushed on the flanks, with lug ideas that finish with an nearly teardrop form (there’s a little bit of Laurent Ferrier on this easy type). These, nonetheless, supply higher ergonomics than the normal straight lugs, and a greater match on the wrist. A refined domed bezel frames a sapphire crystal with a “chevé” profile – a reference to a different revolutionary type of Breguet, with a crystal that was thinner and fewer domed than others, with a comparatively flat floor and a bevel on the sting. The again brings traditional guilloché across the see-through caseback.

Modernity hasn’t been forgotten – particularly because the new CEO, Gregory Kissling, is well-known to have been behind many of the current improvements at Omega. The case of the Breguet Classique Souscription 2025 is bringing a brand new alloy to the model, named Breguet gold. Composed of 75% gold, this yellow gold alloy is enriched with silver, copper and palladium to make sure its resistance to discolouration and its stability over time. It additionally has a selected brilliance and a barely extra muted yellow hue than traditional yellow gold – not that totally different from Moonshine gold used at Omega (coincidentally… or not)

As for the dial of this Breguet Classique Souscription, the resemblance to the vintage fashions is robust. This new watch options mainly a decreased model of the dial discovered on outdated souscription pocket watches – together with the structure, show and supplies. The dial is product of white grand feu enamel over a gold base, with black, petit feu enamel Breguet emblem, Breguet Arabic numerals and minute observe – the latter being modelled after that of the pocket watch with the identical sectoring indicating the hours and the 5, 10, 15 and 30-minute markings. Subsequent to the minute observe are traditional and extremely elegant, barely inclined Breguet Arabic numerals.

This clear face contains a single hand, just like the outdated souscription watches did, with a metal, open-tipped Breguet hand, which has been flame-blued and curved by hand. Studying the time in all fairness exact, as with all single-hand watches, however right here the legibility and distinction are nice. A pleasant tribute to the previous might be discovered, at the very least in sure mild circumstances, at 6 o’clock… Identical to outdated fashions, the Classique Souscription contains a secret Breguet signature with the inscriptions “Souscription”, the distinctive serial quantity, and the Breguet emblem discreetly showing. And like within the outdated days, it’s right here nonetheless produced historically utilizing a precision device geared up with articulated arms: the diamond-point pantograph, which makes it potential to delicately engrave this signature into the enamel.

Turning the watch over reveals a fantastically designed motion, as soon as once more faithfully recreating the look of the motion discovered within the souscription watches. In fact, not solely has the scale been decreased (35.6mm x 5.7mm) in comparison with the pocket watches, however some modernity has been introduced… However with a deep respect for the vintage fashions. The brass-made calibre VS00 is constructed round a big central ratchet, held in place by an outsized triangular bridge, with two further stepped bridges for the primary wheel and the stability wheel, and two smaller triangular bridges for the gear prepare – general, a mode that’s equivalent to what Breguet has completed with the Custom assortment, because the calibre VS00 shares its technical base with these watches.

This hand-wound motion depends on a big, single barrel that delivers a 96-hour energy reserve, with a regulating organ beating at 3Hz. The stability spring is produced from non-magnetic Nivachron (a titanium-based alloy), is blued and contains a Breguet overcoil. The stability pivots embrace a contemporary anti-shock gadget that’s been formed like an outdated pare-chute (once more, shared with the Custom fashions), and the wheels have a traditional Breguet 5-spoke design. The motion’s ending is according to the outdated pocket watches, with the brass bridges and plate being finely shot-blasted, and the motion is gilded in the identical shade as Breguet gold. The ornament additionally contains polished bevels, heat-blued screws and varied engravings – hand-engraved Breguet and variety of the watch, in addition to a textual content on the central ratchet wheel (the founder’s phrases, explaining the design of the Souscription motion and brought from his promoting brochure).

The Breguet Classique Souscription 2025 is worn on a navy blue large-scaled alligator leather-based, with a discreet gradient impact, and closed by an 18k Breguet gold pin buckle. It’s delivered in a brand new presentation field that pays tribute to the crimson Moroccan leather-based instances as soon as utilized by A.-L. Breguet, with the person serial quantity and emblem on prime.

Availability & Worth

The Breguet Classique Souscription 2025 (reference 2025BH/28/9W6) will not be launched as a restricted version however will be a part of the everlasting assortment. Will probably be priced at CHF 45,000 (incl. taxes) or EUR 52,800 (incl. taxes). Briefly, a really good begin for the 250th anniversary celebrations… For extra particulars, please go to breguet.com.