It’s difficult to overstate the impact that Swiss-French watchmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet has had upon horology. Inventor of the tourbillon, proponent of the souscription (“subscription”) model of patronage and payment and designer of some of the most striking dials ever crafted, he was a singular force who has known few equals in the annals of watchmaking. Perhaps only George Daniels, Roger Smith and a handful of others have ever truly risen to his level.
Born in Neuchâtel in what was then a Prussian principality, Abraham-Louis Breguet showed an aptitude for horology from his teenage years. In 1775, he set up his eponymous workshop at 51 quai de l’Horloge in the Île de la Cité in Paris. Fleeing the French Revolution in 1793, he returned to Paris in 1795 brimming with fresh, innovative ideas. Among these ideas was that of a single-handed pocket watch and a special financing scheme marketed via a pamphlet: A customer wishing to purchase this watch would place a deposit of 25%, allowing Breguet and his team to complete their work. This forward-thinking business scheme allowed the Breguet workshop to produce and sell some 700 timepieces over the course of 30 years — a remarkable feat considering the entirely handmade, high-end nature of its products.
The pocket watch in question — roughly 61mm in diameter and featuring a white enameled dial and a hand-wound movement with relatively simple architecture — serves as the basis for the first Breguet 250th anniversary timepiece of 2025. Based upon several surviving historical examples (Nos. 246, 324 and 383 pocket watches), the new timepiece takes the form of a 40mm wristwatch produced from a new alloy of 75% gold, plus silver, copper and palladium dubbed “Breguet gold.” Rather than being fluted in typical Breguet fashion, the 10.8mm-tall case features a satin-brushed case band that mirrors the original pocket watches’ finishing along with specially curved lugs meant to comfortably hug the wrist.
Beneath a smooth bezel and a sapphire crystal with a thin chevé profile, the Classique Souscription 2025 features a white grand feu enamel dial with a single blued steel Breguet hand with a characteristic open tip. Around the dial’s periphery is a black minute track with Breguet’s famous namesake indices executed in petit feu enamel. With the exception of the Breguet signature below 12 o’clock, no extraneous text or feature breaks the simplicity of this design and calls away the eye — well, except for one thing: “Souscription,” the watch’s unique serial number, and a secret signature are present between the dial center and 6 o’clock. A callback to the original Souscription pocket watches, this authenticating text — which served to fight counterfeiting — is applied with a special precision tool, the diamond-point pantograph, which allows for engraving directly onto enamel. These elements are only visible from certain angles and in certain light, becoming an enticing “Easter egg” for the collector.
You might be wondering how one can accurately keep time with just a single hand, but worry not: Prominent three-minute gradations (as well as less prominent gradations at each minute) mean that tracking the precise time is a cinch. True, there’s no seconds hand — but if worn as a dress watch, there should be little need of knowing precisely how many seconds have elapsed during any given event. (Many classic dress watch designs don’t feature a seconds hand at all.)
If the Classique Souscription 2025’s dial is a picture of simplicity, then a view of its caseback tells a completely different, highly sophisticated story: Surrounding a domed sapphire crystal is handsome “Quai de l’Horloge” guilloché inspired by the shape of the the Île de la Cité and Île Saint-Louis in Paris. Through a domed sapphire crystal, the beautiful new hand-wound Breguet cal. VS00 in gilded brass is visible: Beating at 3 Hz and boasting a four-day power reserve courtesy of a single barrel, it features a Nivachron balance spring with a characteristic Breguet overcoil, shot-blasted plates and bridges inspired by vintage Breguet movement componentry and an engraved ratchet wheel featuring an inscription in A.L. Breguet’s words describing the design of the original Souscription movement as seen in his advertising brochure. Blued steel screws and pink jewels pop against the gilded brass plates, making for a handsome, mesmerizing look that’s sure to captivate the wearer.
Even the watch’s presentation materials have been carefully considered: Rather than being packaged in a hefty wooden box like most other high-end timepieces, the Classique Souscription 2025 comes in a lightly grained red calf leather case inspired by Moroccan leather originals used by Breguet in the 18th/19th centuries. Hot embossed in gold text with “Breguet 250 Years” as well as the timepiece’s individual serial number, it features a rounded profile much like a vintage spectacles case.
Opened by a simple push-button and featuring Breguet gold-plated hinges that match the watch’s case, it’s lined with blue fabric and houses the watch in a vertical position — much as Breguet’s vintage pocket watches were housed. Finished with a large-scaled blue alligator leather strap with tone-on-tone stitching and an 18K Breguet gold pin buckle, the Classique Souscription 2025 embodies the technical, aesthetic and business innovation of Breguet’s brilliant pocket watches, converting them into a wearable object that any collector would be delighted to wear and own.
In speaking to what is admittedly a sense of lethargy regarding the velocity of high-end releases, it can be inferred that yet another guilloché-masterpiece-as-birthday-novelty may very well have been greeted with a groan. The Classique Souscription 2025 — no doubt but one of several planned 250th anniversary pieces — is something else entirely, however. A historical nod to the democratization of watch collecting (albeit in high-end form), it’s a welcome addition to the brand’s oeuvre — and an exciting start to the next quarter-millenium of Breguet.
SPECS:
- Diameter: 40mm
- Movement: Breguet cal. VS00 hand-wound
- Notable Features: Single-hand design; beautifully finished movement; vintage-inspired design
- Price: Upon request
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