The new Breguet Tradition Seconde Rétrograde 7035 for the Brand’s 250th Anniversary

As you would possibly know now, after our preliminary article, Breguet is celebrating its 250th anniversary, and we’ll be seeing a fleet of recent fashions launched all year long, all product of 18k Breguet gold and paying tribute to among the most vital innovations of its founder, Abraham-Louis Breguet. Initiated by the launch of the Classique Souscription 2025, paying tribute to the Souscription Pocket Watches, the celebratory assortment now welcomes a brand new member of the Custom household, watches which are additionally impressed by the motion’s structure of the Souscription and Tact watches. And never solely is the brand new Custom Seconde Rétrograde 7035 offered in a good-looking mixture of gold and blue, however it additionally marks the return of a compact case for males. 

The Custom assortment was created below the steerage of the late Nicolas G. Hayek, as a tribute to Souscription and Tact watches as soon as made by Abraham-Louis Breguet within the late 1790s. First offered in 2005 because the reference 7027, measuring 37mm in diameter, it featured and nonetheless encompasses a motion that’s straight modelled after the hand-wound calibres of those vintage pocket watches, solely inverted to be seen on the dial facet. Over the previous 20 years, the Custom assortment has developed to include new kinds and completely different issues. For instance, the traditional energy reserve mannequin developed to change into the reference 7057, with a 40mm diameter, which grew to become the usual dimension for males’s watches on this lineup. Alongside this traditional mannequin, Breguet launched an automated version, with retrograde seconds, the reference 7097, in addition to a chronograph, a retrograde date and the sumptuous Tourbillon with Fusée and Chain transmission.

Extra importantly, Breguet additionally as soon as had in its assortment a 38mm automated model, the Seconde Rétrograde reference 7037, which is now discontinued (changed by the 7097 in 40mm). The mannequin one way or the other continued to exist as the automated Custom Seconde Rétrograde reference 7035, with a 38mm case, meant for a female viewers. And at present, the model brings again a discontinued reference and applies the 250th anniversary remedy, making probably the most compact Custom watch we’ve seen in years, housed in a 38mm case. And that’s one thing I can solely applaud, because it (nearly) goes again to the unique dimension of 2005.

Whereas there are some notable visible variations to report, this 250th anniversary model of the Custom Seconde Rétrograde 7035 is as traditional as you’d anticipate, bringing again all the things there was to like concerning the outdated reference 7037. This implies a 38mm diameter and 12.6mm thickness, a traditional Breguet case with a fluted caseband and welded lugs with screw bars. After all, the case is right here product of the gathering’s particular alloy, 18k Breguet gold – a hotter tone of yellow gold meant to recall vintage alloys, utilizing copper, silver and palladium, with robust resistance to fading. Sapphire crystals are discovered on each side, and the watch is waterproof to 30m.

The opposite specificity of this Custom Seconde Rétrograde 7035 is its dial. As at all times with the Custom assortment, we’re speaking a few small off-centred dial positioned at 12 o’clock, above the motion. Right here, it shows guilloché and enamel finishes, two conventional methods expensive to A.L. Breguet. The 18k Breguet gold base is finely engine-turned with the devoted 250th anniversary ” Quai de l’Horloge” motif (impressed by the strains of the river Seine in Paris, because it flows across the Île de la Cité, the place A.L. Breguet’s workshop as soon as stood). This textured base is then coated in tinted, translucent, blue Grand Feu enamel. Lastly, the Breguet Arabic numerals, the minutes observe, with its stylised fleurs-de-lys, are in contrasting silver. A pair of Breguet open-tipped fingers in 18K Breguet gold point out the hours and minutes, whereas the retrograde seconds sits on the left of this sub-dial and is indicated by a blued metal baton hand.

On the coronary heart of the 250th anniversary Custom Seconde Rétrograde 7035, and visual on each side of the watch, is a fairly improbable motion, with a novel structure impressed by the calibres of the souscription pocket watches. The calibre 505SR retains its uncovered stepped bridges, gears and central barrel, with the regulating organ on the entrance facet, geared up with an anti-shock system that mimics the outdated “pare-chute” system invented by Breguet. Matching the case, the motion is gilded in Breguet gold with shot-blasted and straight brushed surfaces, constrasting with the polished bevels and the blued screws.

The again of the motion is equally interesting, with a central rotor that once more mimics the fashion of Breguet’s vintage “perpétuelle” watches. The central crescent moon-shaped rotor rotates classically on 360 levels, however, particular to this version, it’s product of vertically brushed platinum, contrasting with the shot-blasted foremost plate and straight-brushed bridges. The remainder of the motion is acquainted, with a single central barrel delivering 50h of energy reserve, and a regulating organ beating at 3Hz, with a Nivachron steadiness spring.

This Breguet Custom Seconde Rétrograde 7035 version 250th Anniversary comes on a navy blue alligator leather-based strap, and is delivered within the 250th anniversary crimson leather-based case. A restricted version of 250 items, it will likely be priced at CHF 43,000 (incl. taxes) or EUR 50,400 (incl. taxes). For extra particulars, please go to Breguet.com.