Breguet

Breguet Chronographs & Marie-Antoinette N°1160 Exhibition, 25 Nov to 1 Dec 2010, Singapore

 

Exhibition of Two Centuries of Breguet Chronographs will be held from 27 November to 1 December 2010 at Boutique Breguet – The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands while the Marie-Antoinette N°1160 will be staying for two days from 25 to 27 November, 2010.

Breguet, over the years, has created the most prestigious of watches, for example with the invention of the tourbillon, along with many other developments, notably in the art of chronography.  Know-how has been gathered over a period of more than 200 years and continually been developed to secure a position at the forefront of technology which benefits current collections.

For example, Breguet, makes the world's smallest column wheel, self-winding chronograph movement with date and small seconds. Measuring 10½ lines and 6 millimeters in height, it is a masterpiece of technicality and elegance for demanding ladies. Gentlemen are not left out in the cold when it comes to world firsts: the Marine Tourbillon Chronograph, the first tourbillon movement equipped with a silicon escapement (spiral, lever, escape wheel). A column wheel also controls the chronograph functions of this masterpiece, which never fails to be the focus of admiration.

In the Breguet collection, lovers of fine watchmaking will find other magnificent chronographs where the functionality is controlled by a column wheel. These movements are assembled by master watchmakers in a special workshop dedicated to complications; for example, the 5247 chronograph with its enamel dial and tachometric scale enabling calculation of speed over distance. Its dial is decorated with the traditional secret signature cherished by the brand. The enamel dial acts as accomplice to the secrecy, making the signature virtually invisible to the naked eye.

Chronographs with the fly-back function deserve equal admiration in the Type XX line and its more modern declination, the Type XXI, with elegant black rhodiumed dials and generously proportioned cases.

The desire to be able to measure elapsed time between two events was evident in the very early years of modern watchmaking. The first "chronographs", etymologically speaking, appeared from 1822 onwards. However, Breguet, pioneer of modern watchmaking technology, had already developed in its workshop some 'garde-temps' (timekeeping watches, the term used by Breguet for the design of precision watches) with independent seconds, capable of stopping and restarting, all be it without the facility of resetting to zero. Breguet then went on to develop double second observation chronometers (1820), which allowed the precise measurement of intermediate times or the duration of two simultaneous events. With this second invention, ancestor of the split-time (rattrapante) chronograph, Breguet was indisputably at the source of modern chronography.

The Breguet workshops also saw the development of the so-called Fatton chronograph in 1822. This was the fruit of a collaboration between Breguet and watchmaker Frédéric-Louis Fatton, one of A.-L. Breguet's best pupils. Breguet sold these inking chronographs from 1822. These watches have a second hand linked to a small reservoir that discharges a miniscule drop of ink on to the white enamel dial as required, literally making a note of the passage of time.

Breguet maintained its technological leadership in chronographs into the 1950s with the Type XX, initially used by the French Air Force, and then also by the French Marine Air Force from 1954. Reliable and robust, these chronographs with the fly-back functionality, typical of aviation watches, tolerate the acceleration of jet aircraft which subjects the balance's oscillations to very strong gravitational constraints.

Through this exhibition, Breguet wishes to pay tribute today to two centuries of Breguet chronographs, and to two centuries of continual invention and technological development.




List of the Breguet Chronographs in the exhibition


1. Breguet No 4009

Double seconds and stop feature watch, constructed along the principles of the "Garde-Temps", gold and silver case, silver engine-turned dial, movement with going barrel, lever escapement.





Diameter 58 mm

Sold on January 6, 1925 to Mr Whaley.


2. Breguet No 4168

Double-sided watch, silver and gold engine-turned case with crystals on each side, silver pendant, gold bow; white enamel dial on recto with one hand and chapter-ring marked in ten-minute intervals, white enamel dial on verso with inking chronograph Fatton system, chapter ring marked in ten-second intervals plus a ten-minute subdial, lateral lever escapement, two-arm compensating balance wheel.

Diameter 62 mm

Sold on March 18, 1826 to Mr François Arago, French physicist and statesman.


3. Breguet No 525

Inking chronograph  called « compteur à pointage nouveau modèle » with 60-minutes recorder. Gilt brass case. White enamel dial with eccentric subsidiary small minutes recorder, centre-seconds with Breguet inking hand, cylinder escapement.

Diameter 79 mm

Sold on November 4, 1845 to the Collège Royal de Lyon.


4. Breguet No 4001/629

Inking chronograph called « compteur Fatton », plain silver case, white enamel dial with hour and minute indicator (left) and seconds with inking system hand (right), lever escapement, cut compensating balance wheel.

Diameter 61 mm

Sold on January 27, 1827 to Baron Schickler.


5. Breguet No 1971

Keyless split-seconds chronograph watch with 60-minutes register,
silver case, white enamel dial. Bulletin de 2ème classe de l'Observatoire de Besançon ; lever escapement.





Diameter 53mm

Sold on April 20, 1928 to Mr Ettore Bugatti


6. Breguet No 2170

Split-seconds chronograph watch, special tachometric scale, subsidiary seconds and 60 minutes recorder, gold case, enamel dial, lever escapement.

Diameter 52 mm

Sold on April 30, 1929 to Mr Louis Dollfus.


7. Breguet No 2868

Split-seconds chronograph watch, 60-minutes recorder and small seconds, tachometer from 50 to 250 kilometer per hour. Gold case, white enamel dial, lever escapement.

Inscription "Observatoire de Besançon, Bulletin de 1ère classe, Médaille d'or ».

Diameter 52 mm

Sold on November 7, 1933, to Mr Giély.


8. Breguet No 2875

Split-seconds chronograph watch, 60-minutes recorder and small seconds. Gold case, white enamel dial, lever escapement, gold medal at the Besançon Observatory.

Diameter 53 mm

Sold on November 30, 1933 to John Wanamaker of Philadelphia. .


9. Breguet No 1963

Tonneau-shaped gentleman wristwatch, single button chronograph, steel and gold case, silver dial with tachometer helical scale, subsidiary seconds and minute recorder, lever escapement. Unique piece.

Dimensions 38 x 47 mm.

Sold in 1928 to Mr Jean Brenot.


10. Breguet no 2730

Single button chronograph wristwatch, gold case, silvered dial with small seconds and 30-minutes recorder, lever escapement.

Diameter 38 mm

Sold in 1930 to Mr Emile Nobel.


11. Breguet no 3149

Chronograph wristwatch with tachometer, minute recorder and small seconds, triple date calendar, with phases of the moon. Yellow gold case, silver dial, lever escapement.

Diameter 36 mm

Sold on January 8, 1965 with the inscription « Offert  à M. André Chaume par ses camarades de la ligne. 1er JANVIER 1965 ».


12. Breguet no 4168/1939

Chronograph wristwatch, stainless steel case, with tachometer and 30-minute register. Lever escapement.






Diameter 32 mm

Sold on September 6th, 1939 to Mr Jouasset.


13. Breguet no 3638

Single-button chronograph wristwatch, gold case, white enamel dial, tachometric scale, small seconds and 30-minutes register, lever escapement

Diameter 35 mm

Sold on January 13, 1937 to the Le Bronze company.


14. Breguet No 4135

Chronograph wristwatch with oval buttons, gold case, silver dial, 30 minutes recorder, small seconds  and tachometric scale, lever escapement.

Diameter 32 mm.

Sold on September 29, 1939 to Mr Van Campenhout.


16. Breguet No 3495

Wristwatch chronograph Type XX, first generation, stainless steel case, black dial with recorders for 30 minutes and 12 hours, fly-back function, lever escapement.

Diameter 38 mm

Sold on November 23, 1959 to Société Aérotechnique in Algiers.


17. Breguet No 1780

Wristwatch chronograph Type XX, first generation, gold case, black dial with 30-minutes recorder, fly-back function, lever escapement.

Diameter 38 mm

Completed in 1955. Only three examples of this model were made in gold by Breguet.


18. Breguet no 21326

Wristwatch chronograph Type XX, second generation, stainless steel case, black dial with 15-minutes fly-back function, lever escapement.

Diameter 38 mm

Sold on July 10, 1975 to the Royal Air Forces of Morocco.


19. Breguet Classique réf. 5247BR/29/9V6

Classique chronograph in 18-carat pink gold. Hand-wound movement with seconds subdial and 30-minute totaliser. Tachometric scale indication. Dial in oven-fired white enamel with Breguet Arabic numerals and secret signature. Sapphire caseback.

Diameter : 39 mm.



20. Breguet Marine ref. 5837BR/92/5ZU

World first : tourbillon movement with silicon escapement.

Marine Chronograph in 18-carat pink gold, with tourbillon. Hand-wound movement. Balance spring, lever and escape wheel in silicon. Tourbillon carriage in titanium with small seconds on the tourbillon shaft. Black rhodiumed dial in gold, hand engraved on a rose engine. 30-minute and 12-hour totalisers. Sapphire caseback, screw-locked crown, water-resistant to 10 bar (100m). Rubber strap.

Diameter : 42mm.


21. Breguet Marine High Jewellery ref. 5829BR/8R/9ZU/DD0D

High jewellery Marine chronograph in 18-carat pink gold. Self-winding movement with date and seconds subdial. Centre chronograph minutes and seconds. Bezel, lugs and caseband paved with 158 baguette-cut diamonds. 15-minute sector paved with 55 baguette-cut rubies. Natural mother-of-pearl dial, hand engraved on a rose engine. Sapphire caseback, screw-locked crown. Leather strap.

Diameter : 42 mm.


22. Breguet Classique silver clock ref. 6190AG 12

Silver clock with thermometer calibrated in both Celsius and Fahrenheit. Hand-wound chronograph movement. Centre minute totaliser and seconds. Dial in silvered 925 silver, hand-engraved on a rose engine.


23. Breguet Classique ref. 5238BB/10/9V6/DD00

Classique openworked chronograph in 18-carat white gold. Hand-wound movement with seconds subdial and 30-minute totaliser. Bezel, lugs and caseband paved with 96 baguette-cut diamonds. Sapphire caseback.

Diameter : 40.3 mm.