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Brief Brand History for

In 1775, Abraham Louis Breguet founded his now renowned watchmaking company. Due to his exceptional skill, Breguet soon became a watchmaker for royal families across Europe. He invented the first self-winding watch, the tourbillon, the gong spring, and the Breguet overcoil. His Marie-Antionette pocket watch, commissioned to have every known complication as a gift for the Queen of France, would become Breguet's magnum opus. The company continued under the Breguet family until 1870, when the Brown family acquired it. The Brown family managed Breguet until 1970. Breguet was bought and sold numerous times during the quartz crisis before Investcorp acquired the company. By this point, Breguet's signature design philosophy had been revitalized in part due to the guidance of watchmaker Daniel Roth. The Swatch Group would go on to purchase the Breguet Group in 1999.

Product Line Overview

Breguet watches are distinctive owing to the watchmaker's consistent use of classic design attributes. These include fluted casebands, Breguet hands, Breguet numerals, rose-engine turned guilloche dials, separate hour tracks, and hidden serial numbers. The company manufactures almost exclusively in precious metals.

Breguet's dress watch collections utilize these distinguishing features. The Classique Collection features elegantly traditional designs in more compact cases. The Classique Complications Collection utilizes these elements in watches with high complications. The Heritage Collection solely features tonneau shaped cases while the Queen of Naples Collection uses distinctive oval shaped cases. While not quite a dress watch, the Tradition still incorporates Breguet's classical designs. Inspired by Abraham Louis Breguet's Souscription watches, the contemporary design has exposed movement components, including the gear train and balance wheel.

Although primarily known for its dressy style, Breguet has a number of sportier collections. The Marine Collection is defined by bulkier cases which feature crown guards. The collection draws upon Abraham Louis Breguet's contract to make chronometers for the French Navy. The Types XX through XXII come from the company's work for the French naval air arm in the 1950s. These watches take clear inspiration from aviation and feature automatic chronograph movements.

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