Breguet continues to feel like “the watch that got away,” which more or less means its watches could easily fly under your radar and pass you by. If you don’t pay really close attention, it is extremely easy to miss new releases from the storied Swiss watch brand named for the grandfather of modern horology. Today, let’s look at the elegantly simple and very satisfying new-for-2016 Breguet Classique 7147 (debuted here), here in 18k white gold. My love affair with many of the brand’s products such as this one continues despite the company’s mostly absent use of modern marketing or widespread communication which is necessary is today’s very busy world of luxury mechanical timepieces. In other words, it takes a lot of hands-on time with Breguet watches in order to properly separate them from the competition.

Abraham-Louis Breguet 3553 Watch Price was created in 1747, in Neuchâtel, a little town that retains its high significance in the Swiss watch industry to this day. Back in 1775, at the age of 28, he started his workshop at the Ile de la Cité area of Paris — only a stone’s throw away from prestigious regions round the Louvre and Place Vendôme — with the assistance of a particular Abbot Joseph-François Marie, who helped the young watchmaker to not only begin under his own name but also to gain access to the French Court. Even though the French aristocracy shortly began supporting the young watchmaker and entrepreneur, Breguet had to leave Paris during the French Revolution, only to return a couple of years later in 1795. This short overview may seem to be but a brief chapter in Breguet’s career, but we’d be awfully wrong to imply that: let us have a glance behind the scenes to understand how early it was his genius began to reveal in his work.It was in 1780, just five years to owning his workshop, that he developed the world’s first mechanically wound watch bore. Yes, the very basics of modern automatic watches were put down by Breguet’s creation. His goal was to create a pocket watch which would need not be wound by a key (since winding a watch movement throughout the crown wasn’t yet possible in that time), but could synthesize its own mainsprings all alone. His “perpétuelle” caliber featured an oscillating weight that would reply to the wearer’s hand gestures when holding the eye, in addition to his movement when walking.

Breguet was the darling acquisition of Nicolas Hayek Sr. who coveted the brand for its heritage, accomplishments, and particular flavor of traditional design. The brand’s relative quiet in the luxury watch industry – a marketing-driven industry – can only be explained by ego. The brand thinks they are hot enough to attract attention from the right people without having to work hard to get it. Maybe they are right. I mean, here I am waxing poetic about the brand’s products despite the fact that they sometimes seem to forget it’s the 21st century… ah, the joys of appreciating mechanical timepieces in our modern age.

However, not all of watches can (or should) have an open dial along with several balance wheels — a few need to be significantly more controlled and elegant, in the more conventional significance of the latter. That is where the Breguet Classique 7787 comes into the picture.The Classique 7787’s layout was inspired by an original Breguet pocket watch dubbed No. 5 from 1794 (inform me that is not a lavish sounding product title that preceded its era by centuries) as it comes in four variations. The purist-seducing 39mm wide case of the 7787 is crafted exclusively from white or rose gold and of those cases are made accessible using an abysmal grand feu enamel dial, or one with a few properly extensive guilloché work. The one we’re taking a look at now is that the white gold version with all the enamel dial, the specific reference being Breguet Classique 7787BB/29/9V6. Like so many other Breguet watches, the 7787 accounts its smaller diameter using some unnervingly directly lugs which are just the right length — the designer was able not to make the lugs a compensatory element, something that generally still occurs too often on otherwise fine looking cases. As such, the 7787 is a relatively small watch by 21st century watch criteria, but it still has enough presence to look tasteful — rather than apologetic. Most manufacturers tend to fight greatly either when it comes to making these designs look great extended to above forty wide — that is just the nature of proportions — or using timid-looking, miniature watches rather than This Breguet is stretched, nor timid. It’s just about right.Breguet hands fulfill Breguet numerals on the dial and that alone is a solid recipe for success. Just these two components are like the signature or even a fingerprint of a genius. It is something that has been created hundreds of years ago and has been functioning in perfect harmony since. Kudos to Breguet for not butchering the palms but retaining them the proper length — public service announcement: palms must at all times reach their respective paths, not point at them!

Pretty much everything you want or need in a classy-looking men’s dress watch is right here in the Breguet Classique 7147. It’s simple and elegant, but hardly boring. Breguet – with its armada of rose engine guilloche machines – continues to skillfully produce engraved dials like they did “yesterday” in-house at the manufacture in Switzerland. In addition to this being a slick exemplar of artisanal craftsmanship, the guilloche-engraved dials are decorative yet manly. Yes, that is quite tough to do. Not too many things which are obviously adorned with patterns and flair can still be so appropriate for a dude – and yet this signature Breguet look nails it each time. Sure, you can get plenty of other watches which are “modern” and “minimalist,” but they often feel like the visual equivalent of a melatonin tablet.

Abraham-Louis Breguet was created in 1747, in Neuchâtel, a little town that keeps its high value in the Swiss watch industry to this day. In his teens, he left the family home to move to Versailles and then to Paris to pursue his research as a watchmaker’s apprentice. In 1775, at the age of 28, he opened his workshop at the Ile de la Cité area of Paris — just a stone’s throw away from prestigious regions around the Louvre and Place Vendôme — with the assistance of a certain Abbot Joseph-François Marie, that aided the young watchmaker to not only get started under his own name but also to gain access to the French Court. Even though the French aristocracy shortly began supporting the young watchmaker and entrepreneur, Breguet needed to depart Paris during the French Revolution, only to return a couple of years later in 1795. This brief summary may seem to be but a short chapter in Breguet’s career, but we would be horribly wrong to suggest that: let us take a quick look behind the scenes to understand just how ancient it was that his genius began to reveal in his work.It was in 1780, just five years into owning his workshop, so he developed the world’s first automatically wound watch caliber. Yes, the basics of modern automatic watches were put down from Breguet’s creation. His aim was to make a pocket watch which would require not be wound by a key (since winding a watch movement throughout the crown wasn’t yet possible in the time), however could rewind its mainsprings all by itself. His “perpétuelle” caliber featured an oscillating weight which would reply to the wearer’s hand gestures when holding the watch, in addition to his movement when walking.

Often emulated but never duplicated by other brands, the dial – cut from a piece of 18k gold – has a few different types of engraving styles on this 7147 model. Most unique is that in the off-centered subsidiary seconds dial, while the rest of the inner dial has a clos de Paris-style motif. Blued steel pomme-style hands are perfect in size and offer excellent visual contrast against the silvered dial.

On the wrist, the Breguet Watches Napoleon Classique 7147 wears larger than its 40mm-wide case size might suggest. This is due to a few elements. First, the case is relatively thin compared to its diameter. Even with an automatic movement, the Breguet Classique 7147 is just 6.1mm thick (water resistant to 30 meters… but hey, it’s a dress watch). Next is the relatively thin bezel, which helps maximize the presence of the dial, something that always helps make a watch look bigger. Last are the thin, straight lugs which jut out helping to make the case feel larger on the wrist.

While I don’t usually prefer 18k white gold or other colors of gold, in this instance I do (though I would like it a lot more if Breguet offered it in steel – which they never will). I wouldn’t say no to the Breguet Classique 7147 in 18k rose gold (in which it is also offered) but the 18k white gold case – in my opinion – matches the look of the dial and hands a bit more nicely. Don’t miss the tiny hand-engraved “secret” Breguet signature located on the dial on either side of 12 o’clock.

The oscillating weight was spring-loaded so it returned to its original position after each motion, hence pushing up two going-barrels and stopping when the springs were completely depressed. In other words, we shouldn’t envision today’s bi-directional, centrally mounted twisting rotors but instead a hammer-like bit crafted from thick metal. As a result of this amazingly detailed Breguet Watches Pronunciation archives (more on these a bit later on in this article), we know that the first fully operational automatic Breguet view was offered to the Duc d’Orléans at 1780. Breguet created and sold some sixty examples from 1787 to 1823 and, it’s assumed, another twenty five or thirty in the years between 1780 and 1787 (documentary documents are mostly absent in this ancient seven-year period).Automatic winding added to the listing, let’s continue moving in chronological order: in 1783 followed the gong that has been used in nearly all minute repeater watches since. About a century after the first hour repeater watches had been devised, Breguet was fascinated by the idea of enhancing the chiming sound and effectiveness of the musical mechanics. His studies and experiments came to fruition in 1783 when he made the first striking repeating watch to be operated not by a bell but with a gong spring.His first designs were based on a rectilinear shape and mounted crosswise on the back plate, but soon enough started using a coiled-up spring that would wrap around the motion, resulting in a longer and hence louder gong. This also afforded the advantage of substantially reducing the depth of watches that are striking, while at the exact same time making the tone more harmonious and discreet. Breguet (the newest) calls it “an exceptionally helpful invention that has been embraced immediately by most contemporary watchmakers. Breguet also invented multiple striking mechanisms, or cadraturs, for repeating watches, notably for the quarters, half-quarters and moments.”

I feel like I need to explain this each time because people get curious (and rightly so)… So what is the deal with the “Breguet 930” on the dial? What is this seemingly random number that changes on each particular piece of this and other Breguet watches? This is a useful feature but actually historic in origin. The idea is to look at this number on the dial and correlate it with one on the case (written on the back). If the two numbers match, you know the case and dial were supplied together. If the numbers don’t match then the idea is that the case and dial met each other at some point after the watch left the factory.

It was just last year that Breguet Watches Uk Prices gave us the first Classique 7147. Like the newest Classique 7147 ‘Grand Feu’ Enamel Dial watch, this was an easy time-only watch. The main dial displays the hours and minutes, and there’s a sub-dial that displays the running seconds in between 5 and 6 o’clock. It was noteworthy because of its very classic instance size and construction. Just 40mm wide and a mere 6.1mm slim, the case has an exquisite fluted middle case segment and the dial has been decorated with various kinds of guilloche finishes. The new Classique 7147 ‘Grand Feu’ Enamel Dial watch keeps much of its predecessor’s design features but includes a fresh dial that is no less captivating.The Breguet Classique 7147 ‘Grand Feu’ Enamel Dial watch comes with the same case as last year’s Classique 7147 watch. The bezel is curved and polished while the case middle is fluted. The lugs are thin and extended, and reminds me of their lugs from watches like the Nomos Tangente and Stowa Antea, only a whole lot more elegant and organic. These attributes give the case a very classic and refined look and feel.However, it is the dial that steals the show. The dial, as you might have already surmised from the watch’s title, is made out of grand feu enamel. Grand Feu translates directly to “Great Fire” and describes the procedure in which the dials are created. It’s a painstaking process which demands the dial maker to repeatedly add enamel substrate to the dial and then firing it from the oven to create the desired result. Producing the base of the dial alone generally takes up to 8 or 6 firings. This is why enamel dials are relatively rare in watches. They are extremely time-consuming to make and at any moment a mistake is made, the dial has to be thrown out and away from scratch.

Blissfully elegant on the wrist (clearly, this watch is my cup of tea) the Breguet Classique 7147 is suitable as a formal dress watch, but the right person can even pull it off with jeans given its relatively demure yet composed look and decent size. Flip the watch over on its back and you’ll be greeted with a sapphire crystal exhibition window looking into the in-house made caliber 502.3SD automatic movement. Using a 3/4 rotor (sized somewhere between a full-sized and micro-rotor), the movement is handsomely hand-decorated but appreciably modern in construction.

Operating at 3Hz (21,600bph), the movement has 45 hours of power reserve. Personally, I would have preferred a 4Hz movement (Breguet makes plenty of those), but the movement does benefit from having a silicon balance spring as well as silicon pallets that contribute to overall accuracy as well as reliability over time. Moreover, the movement is just 2.4mm thick, which for an automatic (or any movement) is clearly within “ultra-thin” territory.

So yes, I like this watch. It’s not the last timepiece I’d want to own, but for the right person it could serve 90% of their dress watch needs. It also offers swathes of details you just cant find too many other (or any) places which helps make it worth the price premium. As I mentioned earlier, Breguet products two versions of the Breguet Classique 7147 as the reference 7147BR/12/9WU in 18k rose gold and the reference 7147BB/12/9WU in 18k white gold. Price is $21,000 USD and $21,500, respectively. breguet.com

Breguet is a Swiss luxury watch and has been founded in 1775. Today, Breguet is possessed by the Swatch Group (Blancpain, Harry Winston, Omega, Longines, Swatch) and is one of the most historical manufacturers. Breguet has been credited with many inventions, like the 1810 Breguet wrist watch as the world’s first such product, and Abraham-Louis Breguet’s invention of the tourbillon.The Breguet hands would be the grim pomme hands just discovered on Breguet watches. Many stars, sports stars and explorers prefer Breguet watches over other brands. Notably features of a Breguet watch are coin-edge case, guilloché dial and at times the most difficult complications of watchmaking.The Breguet Classique 7787 is an opinion not many other brands could eliminate calling “classique.” It has a silicon escapement and balance spring and, more immediately evident, a dial so throughout the area, most conventional manufactures would throw the design and its designer outside the moment the first sketches were presented. And at a Breguet, it all just works, somehow.I am an absolute fan of Breguet and, I’ll go so far as to say, I believe every watch buff out there to be one too — only maybe not to the exact same extent. While I can scarcely tolerate watch brands re-releasing their previous stuff — honestly, I personally completely despise these Vacheron Historiques, such as — Breguet is among the very few whose previous is vivid, fascinating, and quirky enough, that pretty much all they have to do is continue paying an honest tribute for this. To get a Breguet that by definition comes with tasteful, yet powerful invention, just examine the double-balance chronograph 7077 for one of the best modern Breguet watches which stand for everything a 21st century Breguet should.