![Perelachaise-Breguet-p1000357](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/Perelachaise-Breguet-p1000357.jpg)
Abraham-Louis Breguet (10 January 1747 – 17 September 1823), born in
Neuchâtel, then a
Prussian principality, was a
horologist
Horology (; related to Latin '; ; , interfix ''-o-'', and suffix '' -logy''), . is the study of the measurement of time. Clocks, watches, clockwork, sundials, hourglasses, clepsydras, timers, time recorders, marine chronometers, and atomic ...
who made many innovations in the course of a career in watchmaking industry. He was the founder of the
Breguet company, which is now the
luxury watch
A watch is a portable timepiece intended to be carried or worn by a person. It is designed to keep a consistent movement despite the motions caused by the person's activities. A wristwatch is designed to be worn around the wrist, attached by ...
division of the Swiss
Swatch Group
The Swatch Group Ltd is a Swiss manufacturer of watches and jewellery. The company was founded in 1983 by the merger of ASUAG and SSIH to move to manufacturing quartz-crystal watches to resolve the quartz crisis threatening the traditional Sw ...
.
In his lifetime he was considered the leading watchmaker of his day, and he built up a clientele that included many leading public figures and members of the European nobility.
Alongside his friend and contemporary
John Arnold, Breguet is now widely acknowledged as one of the greatest horologists of all time. One of his famous ancestors was Jean Breguet (who died in 1593) a Protestant pastor in Neuchâtel very much influenced by the ideas of
John Calvin.
Life
Breguet was born in
Neuchâtel to Jonas-Louis Breguet and Suzanne-Marguerite Bolle. Breguet's father died in 1758 when he was ten, and his formal schooling ended when he was 12. Breguet's mother remarried Joseph Tattet, who came from a family of watchmakers. Tattet had a showroom in Paris; the family tried for some time to entice the young Breguet into the trade, to no avail, but he eventually took to it with great interest and in 1762, aged 15, he was sent to be apprenticed to an unknown Versailles master-watchmaker. At this time the Court had a great influence on the trade and the best watchmakers established themselves around Versailles.
The young Breguet soon "astonished" his master with his aptitude and intelligence, and to further his education he took evening classes in mathematics at the
Collège Mazarin under Abbé Marie, who became a friend and mentor to the young watchmaker. Through his role as tutor to the dukes of Angoulême and de Berri, Abbé Marie was able to arrange for Breguet to be introduced to
King Louis XVI of France
Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...
, and the king's interest in mechanics led to many royal commissions for the rising watchmaker, including a ''perpetuelle'' (
self-winding watch
An automatic watch, also known as a self-winding watch or simply an automatic, is a mechanical watch where the natural motion of the wearer provides energy to wind the mainspring, making manual winding unnecessary if worn enough. It is distingui ...
), with which the king was especially pleased. Unfortunately, Marie met a tragic end, either through murder or suicide, and soon after Breguet lost both his mother and his step-father, leaving him to support himself and his younger sister. How he managed this in the period between his parents' deaths and the establishment of his business is unknown.
Breguet was allowed to marry in 1775 after finishing his apprenticeship. He and his bride, Cécile Marie-Louise L'Huillier, set up their home and the
Breguet watchmaking company; its first known address was at 51, quai de l'Horloge in the
Île de la Cité
Île de la Cité (; English: City Island) is an island in the river Seine in the center of Paris. In the 4th century, it was the site of the fortress of the Roman governor. In 508, Clovis I, the first King of the Franks, established his palace ...
in Paris (by the 1920s this location was designated as #39). Ca. 1812 the firm's address was 79, quai de l'Horloge du Palais, although Salomons speculated that this might have been merely a change of number and name, not of the actual location. By the year of Breguet's death in 1823, the firm also had a shop at 4, place de la Bourse, which is known because both addresses appear on the label of watch #4004. The firm later moved to
Rue de la Paix
The rue de la Paix (English: Peace Street) () is a fashionable shopping street in the center of Paris. Located in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris, running north from Place Vendôme and ending at the Opéra Garnier, it is best known for its jew ...
and in the early 20th century to 2, rue Édouard-VII.
Breguet invented innovative
escapement
An escapement is a mechanical linkage in mechanical watches and clocks that gives impulses to the timekeeping element and periodically releases the gear train to move forward, advancing the clock's hands. The impulse action transfers energy ...
s, including the
tourbillon
In horology, a tourbillon (; "whirlwind") is an addition to the mechanics of a watch escapement to increase accuracy. It was developed around 1795 and patented by the Swiss-French watchmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet on June 26, 1801. In a tourbill ...
, automatic winding mechanisms, and the overcoil (an improvement of the balance spring with a raised outer coil). Within ten years Breguet had commissions from the aristocratic families of France and even the French queen,
Marie-Antoinette
Marie Antoinette Josèphe Jeanne (; ; née Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last queen of France before the French Revolution. She was born an archduchess of Austria, and was the penultimate child ...
. Cécile died in 1780. He met
Abraham-Louis Perrelet in Switzerland and became a Master Clockmaker in 1784. In 1787 Abraham-Louis established a partnership with Xavier Gide, which lasted until 1791.
Ca. 1792 the
Duke of Orléans went to England and met
John Arnold, Europe's leading watch and clockmaker. The Duke showed Arnold a clock made by Breguet, who was so impressed that he immediately travelled to Paris and asked Breguet to accept his son as an apprentice.
As Breguet's fame gradually increased he became friendly with revolutionary leader
Jean-Paul Marat, who also hailed from Neuchâtel. Salomons' biography records that Marat and Breguet were at the house of a mutual friend one day when an angry crowd gathered outside, shouting "Down with Marat!", but Breguet contrived their escape by disguising Marat as an old woman, and they left the house arm in arm, unmolested. In 1793 Marat discovered that Breguet was marked for the guillotine, possibly because of his friendship with Abbé Marie (and/or his association with the royal court); in return for his own earlier rescue, Marat arranged for a safe-pass that enabled Breguet to escape to Switzerland, from where he travelled to England. He remained there for two years, during which time he worked for
King George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...
. When the political scene in France stabilised, Breguet returned to Paris.
In 1795 Breguet returned to Paris with many ideas for innovations in watch and clock making. He set up business again in Quai de l'Horloge and quickly established a reputation among the new wealthy classes in the Empire. Breguet did not staff his workshops in the traditional way, with unskilled apprentices, but instead sought out the finest available watchmakers in Paris, whom he employed to make watches to his own designs.
At the 1798
Exposition des produits de l'industrie française
The Exposition des produits de l'industrie française (Exhibition of Products of French Industry) was a public event organized in Paris, France, from 1798 to 1849.
The purpose was "to offer a panorama of the productions of the various branches of ...
Breguet was given an honorable distinction, the highest award, for "a free escapement with constant force, applicable to the improvement of both astronomical clocks and longitude clocks. This clock has the very singular effect of resetting the time in a watch."
Circa 1807 Breguet brought in his son, Antoine-Louis (born 1776) as a business partner, and from this point, the firm became known as Breguet et Fils. Breguet had previously sent his son to London to study with the great English chronometer maker, John Arnold, and such was the mutual friendship and respect between the two men that Arnold, in turn, sent his son, John Roger, to spend time with Breguet. Breguet met another watchmaker
Louis Moinet
Louis Moinet (1768–1853), inventor of the chronograph, was born into a prosperous family of farmers in Bourges, France, was a French horologist, sculptor and painter.
History
During his studies, he quickly distinguished himself for his master ...
, recognised his worth at once, and the two men worked closely together. From 1811 on, Moinet became Breguet's personal adviser.
Breguet became a member of the
Bureau des Longitudes in 1814 and the following year gained an official appointment as chronometer-maker to the
French Navy
The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...
. He entered the
French Academy of Sciences in 1816 as a full member, and received the
Chevalier of the Legion of Honour
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...
from the hands of
Louis XVIII
Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. He spent twenty-three years in ...
in 1819. Breguet's name is one of the
72 names inscribed on the Eiffel Tower. In 1822 the future engineer
Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel (; 9 April 1806 – 15 September 1859) was a British civil engineer who is considered "one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history," "one of the 19th-century engineering giants," and "on ...
, then aged sixteen, studied for some months with Breguet in Paris. Brunel had a French father so he spoke perfect French.
According to Salomons' biography, Breguet was known for his kindness and good humour. It is recorded that if a workman came to Breguet with a finished piece of work and an invoice for payment, and Breguet was satisfied with the work, then if the invoice ended in a zero, Breguet would add a tail to the zero to make it a '9', thereby enabling the workman to be paid nine francs more than he had asked for. He was also known for his encouragement of his young apprentices, often advising them "Do not be discouraged, or allow failure to dishearten you."
The business grew from strength to strength, and when Abraham-Louis Breguet died in 1823 it was carried on by Louis-Antoine. After Antoine-Louis retired in 1833 (he died in 1858) the business continued under Abraham-Louis' grandson
Louis François Clément Breguet (1804–1883); his great-grandson Louis Antoine (1851–1882) was the last of the Breguet family to run the business. Although he had two sons and a daughter, they did not enter the business, so he took on noted English watchmaker Edward Brown of Clerkenwell to look after the Paris factory. Brown eventually became his partner and, after Breguet's death, the owner and head of the company. His sons Edward and Henry Brown headed the firm into the 20th century and after Edward retired in the early 1900s, Henry became the sole proprietor.
Works and influence
Breguet made three series of watches, and the highest numbering of the three reached 5120, so in all, it is estimated that the firm produced around 17,000 timepieces during Breguet's life. Because of his minute attention to detail and his constant experimentation, no two Breguet pieces are exactly alike. Following his introduction to the court, Queen Marie-Antoinette developed a fascination for Breguet's unique self-winding watch and Louis XVI of France bought several pieces. His achievements soon attracted a wealthy and influential clientele that comprised a veritable "Who's Who" of the period:
Louis XVI
Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...
and his
Queen Marie-Antoinette,
Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...
,
Joséphine de Beauharnais
Josephine may refer to:
People
* Josephine (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name)
* Josephine (singer), a Greek pop singer
Places
*Josephine, Texas, United States
*Mount Josephine (disambiguation)
* Josephine Cou ...
,
Louis XVIII
Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. He spent twenty-three years in ...
,
Alexander I of Russia
Alexander I (; – ) was Emperor of Russia from 1801, the first King of Congress Poland from 1815, and the Grand Duke of Finland from 1809 to his death. He was the eldest son of Emperor Paul I and Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg.
The son o ...
,
George IV of the United Kingdom,
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish people, Anglo-Irish soldier and Tories (British political party), Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of Uni ...
.
Legend has it that it was the ill-fated French queen herself who commissioned Breguet's masterpiece, the "
Marie Antoinette" (No. 160), which is now widely regarded as one of the most important and valuable timepieces ever made. In fact, it was commissioned in 1783 by a member of the Marie-Antoinette Guards, possibly as a gift for the queen, and it took almost twenty years to complete—work stopped for around seven years (1789–1795) during the period of Breguet's exile—and it was not finished until around 1802. Even by the standards of the day, it was an astronomically expensive piece; the commission specifically called for every watch function and
complication known at that time and the use of the most valuable materials (including gold, platinum, rubies and sapphires), with no limit placed on time or cost. Breguet company records indicate that the factory costs eventually came to the colossal sum of 30,000 francs – more than six times the cost of Breguet's other major work, (No. 92), which was sold to the Duc De Preslin for 4800 francs. The "Marie Antoinette" remained in the possession of the Breguet company until it was sold to Sir Spencer Brunton in 1887, eventually finding its way into the collection of Breguet expert
David Lionel Goldsmid-Stern-Salomons
Sir David Lionel Goldsmid-Stern-Salomons, 2nd Baronet (28 January 1851 – 19 April 1925) was a British scientific author, barrister and pioneer of road transport.
Early life
The son of Philip Salomons of Brighton, and Emma, daughter of Jaco ...
in the 1920s.
Breguet's most remarkable piece anticipated the wristwatch by a century; he designed this, together with his friend John Arnold, for
Caroline Bonaparte
Carolina Maria Annunziata Bonaparte Murat Macdonald (French: ''Caroline Marie Annonciade Bonaparte''; 25 March 1782 – 18 May 1839), better known as Caroline Bonaparte, was an Imperial French princess; the seventh child and third daughter of Ca ...
, Queen of Naples, in 1810. Many honours recognised his enormous contribution to horology. Each watch from his workshops demonstrated the latest horological improvements in an original movement, mostly fitted with lever or ruby-cylinder escapements that he perfected. Breguet took refuge in Switzerland from the excesses of the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...
. He returned to Paris overflowing with the ideas that produced the Breguet balance-spring, his first carriage clock (sold to
House of Bonaparte), the sympathique clock and its dependent watch, the tact watch, and finally the tourbillon, patented in 1801.
Although Breguet is probably best known for his luxury watches and carriage clocks, he also made a number of important scientific clocks. In 1818 Lieutenant-General
Thomas Brisbane
Major General Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane, 1st Baronet, (23 July 1773 – 27 January 1860), was a British Army officer, administrator, and astronomer. Upon the recommendation of the Duke of Wellington, with whom he had served, he was appoint ...
, a keen amateur astronomer, purchased a Breguet mean-time regulator clock (No. 3180, 1815–1820). It is thought that Breguet originally made the clock for the French Commission of Longitude, but sold it to Brisbane for use in his observatory at
Largs
Largs ( gd, An Leargaidh Ghallda) is a town on the Firth of Clyde in North Ayrshire, Scotland, about from Glasgow. The original name means "the slopes" (''An Leargaidh'') in Scottish Gaelic.
A popular seaside resort with a pier, the town mark ...
in Scotland. It cost Brisbane the considerable sum of 2,500 francs, and the fact he chose to buy French rather British, even in the nationalistic political climate of the early nineteenth century, gives some idea of how well regarded Breguet was internationally. Brisbane brought the clock to Australia in 1821 and it was installed in Australia's first astronomical observatory at
Parramatta
Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...
. The
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
government purchased the clock from Brisbane when he returned to England in 1825 and it remained in use there until the Parramatta observatory closed in 1847. It was put into storage for a decade before being reinstalled in the new government observatory at
The Rocks, and was one of the few instruments that the new Government Astronomer, Rev. W. Scott, felt was good enough to use in the new observatory. It remained in use there for another 70 years, until it was replaced in 1912. The clock is now part of the collection of the
Powerhouse Museum
The Powerhouse Museum is the major branch of the Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences (MAAS) in Sydney, the others being the historic Sydney Observatory at Observatory Hill, and the newer Museums Discovery Centre at Castle Hill. Although often de ...
in Sydney.
The Salomons Collection
British philanthropist, scientist and MP Sir
David Lionel Goldsmid-Stern-Salomons
Sir David Lionel Goldsmid-Stern-Salomons, 2nd Baronet (28 January 1851 – 19 April 1925) was a British scientific author, barrister and pioneer of road transport.
Early life
The son of Philip Salomons of Brighton, and Emma, daughter of Jaco ...
(1851–1925) developed a lifelong passion for horology and he became one of the leading authorities on Breguet and his timepieces. In 1921 he published the seminal volume, ''Breguet 1747–1823'', the first major book on the subject, which included a biography, an analysis of Breguet's key inventions, listings of major pieces, and a detailed timeline of production, using examples from his own unique collection for illustrations.
Over his lifetime, Salomons amassed the world's largest private Breguet collection, which ultimately grew to 124 pieces, including what are considered to be the two greatest examples of Breguet's watchmaking work – the "Marie Antionette" and the double-faced "Duc de Praslin" watches. In 1924 Salomons donated the "Duc de Praslin" (pictured at left) to the Musée des Techniques du Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers in Paris, but it was subsequently stolen. Fortunately, after three months of tinkering with the watch, the thief was apprehended when he took it to a renowned Parisian watch specialist for repair.
![1785 Breguet watch](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/1785_Breguet_watch.jpg)
After Salomons' death in 1925, his daughter Vera donated 57 of his best Breguet pieces, including the "Marie Antoinette" and a "Sympathiques" clock to the
L.A. Mayer Institute for Islamic Art in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
, which was founded by her brother. Salomons left the remainder of the collection to his wife, who eventually sold them at auction, although according to one account, she was initially rebuffed when she approached
Sotheby's
Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...
, because the staffer with whom she dealt could not believe that someone "off the street" could possibly have amassed such a collection. In 1980, British master horologist
George Daniels (widely regarded as the most important watchmaker since Breguet) catalogued the Breguet watches and clocks in the museum and published a study on them.
Three years later, on the night of 15 April 1983, the Mayer Institute was burgled and 106 rare timepieces, including the entire Salomons collection, were stolen. The audacious multimillion-dollar theft was Israel's largest-ever robbery – by this time, the "Marie Antoinette" alone was valued at US$30 million. There was a substantial insurance payout, but the case remained unsolved until August 2006, when the perpetrator was revealed as Namaan Diller, a notorious Israeli burglar who had fled to the US after the break-in.
Just before he died in 2004, Diller had confessed his crime to his wife, Nili Shamrat, and in August 2006 she attempted to sell a batch of the stolen items (including the "Marie Antoinette" watch and a Breguet "Sympathique" clock) back to the museum, although her initial asking price of $2 million was eventually cut down to just US$35,000. When police searched the couple's Los Angeles home, more of the missing items were found, and documents recovered led them to safes and storage units in France, the Netherlands and Israel; by 2008 all but ten of the items Diller stole from the Mayer Museum had been recovered.
2011 ''montre à tact'' discovery
In 2011 a member of the public brought in a pocket watch to be assessed by the experts of the BBC TV series ''
Antiques Roadshow
''Antiques Roadshow'' is a British television programme broadcast by the BBC in which antiques appraisers travel to various regions of the United Kingdom (and occasionally in other countries) to appraise antiques brought in by local people ( ...
'' at
Blair Castle in Perthshire, Scotland. ''Roadshow'' expert Richard Price stated that the timepiece was an early Breguet ''montre à tact'' ("tactile watch"), dating from 1801.
The watch was enclosed on both sides by discs covered with a blue translucent enamel over a
Guilloché
Guilloché (; or guilloche) is a decorative technique in which a very precise, intricate and repetitive pattern is mechanically engraved into an underlying material via engine turning, which uses a machine of the same name, also called a r ...
base machined in a chevron pattern. The front face was fitted with a single arrow-shaped hand in silver, encrusted with small diamonds, and the case was surrounded by twelve large diamonds enclosed by a wavy gold band, which was faced with lighter blue enamel. The enamelled back hinged open to reveal a gold cover plate and a smaller two-handed watch face. The mechanism cover bore the engraved signature of Breguet and also bore the mark of Recordon, his London agent at the time (suggesting that it was originally made for an English client). The gold cover plate protected the mechanism, which bore another signature by Breguet, and the watch number.
Price then revealed that a similar watch, in much worse condition and with all the gems stripped from it, had recently sold for over UK£20,000. He declared the newly discovered Breguet to be the greatest watch he had ever seen in his 28 years with the programme, and assessed its value as at least UK£50,000, although it may be worth considerably more – another example sold for US$288,000, while a ''montre à tact'' of very similar design, commissioned by
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
's wife
Joséphine de Beauharnais
Josephine may refer to:
People
* Josephine (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name)
* Josephine (singer), a Greek pop singer
Places
*Josephine, Texas, United States
*Mount Josephine (disambiguation)
* Josephine Cou ...
for her sister
Hortense, was sold by
Christie's in
Geneva
, neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier
, website = https://www.geneve.ch/
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...
for US$1.3 million in 2007.
Breguet invented the ''montre à tact'' in 1799. Although these single-hand "tact" watches are sometimes called "blind man's watches", few blind people of that era could have afforded such luxury items, and these timepieces were designed for Breguet's wealthiest clients. The ''montre à tact'' (touch watch) enabled them to tell the time without removing the watch from their pocket because, in that period, it was considered highly impolite to consult one's watch during a social gathering.
The device also enabled owners to tell the time in the dark. This was done by turning the front disc clockwise until it went no further (because of the cam inside) and then feeling at which hour marker (indicated by the surrounding circle of jewels) the watch hand was positioned. In the case of the 2011 discovery, the 12 o'clock position was marked by the chain attachment. The watch was also fitted with a small internal dial with two normal hands so that the exact time could be read when the case was opened.
Timeline of Breguet's works
* 1775–1780 Improved the automatic winding mechanism – his perpetual watch.
* 1783 Invented the gong for repeater watches (bells were used until then).
* 1783 Designed the apple-shaped (''aiguilles à pomme'') hands, known as 'Breguet' hands. These hollow, eccentric "moon" tip hands are a variant of the hands first used by
Jean-Antoine Lépine
Jean-Antoine Lépine (L’Pine, LePine, Lepine, L’Epine), born as Jean-Antoine Depigny, was an influential watchmaker. He contributed inventions which are still used in watchmaking today and was amongst the finest French watchmakers, who were c ...
, the only difference is that Lépine's hands were not eccentric. Since their invention, Breguet hands have graced watch and clock dials alike until today.
* 1787 Adopted and improved the lever escapement. Abraham-Louis Breguet used it in its definitive form from 1814 (this form is still in use).
* 1793 Developed a small watch showing the
equation of time
In mathematics, an equation is a formula that expresses the equality of two expressions, by connecting them with the equals sign . The word ''equation'' and its cognates in other languages may have subtly different meanings; for example, in F ...
.
* 1790 Invented the 'pare-chute' anti-shock device.
* 1794 Invented a retrograde display mechanism.
* 1795 Invented the Breguet spiral (flat spiral balance spring with overcoil).
* 1795 Invented the "Sympathique" ('sympathetic') clock, a master carriage clock which rewinds and sets to time a detachable pocket watch.
* 1799 Invented the ''montre a tact'' ("tact") watch that could be read by feel in the pocket or the dark.
* 1801 Patented the tourbillon escapement, developed circa 1795.
* 1802 Invented the
echappement naturel, a double-escape wheeled chronometer escapement that needed no oil.
* 1821 Developed the "inking" chronograph, in partnership with
Frédérick Louis Fatton.
Generally speaking, Abraham-Louis Breguet was distinguished by the highest attention paid to aesthetic watch design.
In 2009 the
Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
in Paris presented a major exhibition of Breguet's work, arranged chronologically, with 146 exhibits in eight sections that covered every phase of his career. Highlights included some of Breguet's most complicated watches:
* No. 45, which displays both the Gregorian and the Republican "decimal" calendars (Breguet made only three Republican calendar timepieces)
* No. 1160, the replica of the famous No. 160 "Marie-Antoinette",
* ''Perpétuelle'' self-winding watches
* multiple original tourbillons, including an unusual large-scale demonstration tourbillon later purchased by King George IV of the United Kingdom
* examples of the "pare-chute" shock-protection system, constant force escapements
* a superb ''Sympathique'' watch and clock set from the personal collection of Queen Elizabeth II.
See also
*
Breguet (watch)
Breguet is a Swiss-French luxury watch, clock and jewelry manufacturer founded by Abraham-Louis Breguet in Paris in 1775. Since 1999, it has been a subsidiary of the Swiss Swatch Group. Headquartered in L'Abbaye, Switzerland, Breguet is one of ...
*
Horology
Horology (; related to Latin '; ; , interfix ''-o-'', and suffix ''-logy''), . is the study of the measurement of time. Clocks, watches, clockwork, sundials, hourglasses, clepsydras, timers, time recorders, marine chronometers, and atomic clo ...
*
Jean-Antoine Lépine
Jean-Antoine Lépine (L’Pine, LePine, Lepine, L’Epine), born as Jean-Antoine Depigny, was an influential watchmaker. He contributed inventions which are still used in watchmaking today and was amongst the finest French watchmakers, who were c ...
References
External links
Official Breguet watchmakers website*
Breguet's History(in French and English language)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Breguet, Abraham Louis
1747 births
1823 deaths
People from Neuchâtel
Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery
Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur
French clockmakers
French engineers
Members of the French Academy of Sciences
German clockmakers
French watchmakers (people)
German watchmakers (people)