In 1865, Victor Hugo, the most notable French writer of the Romantic era, pays tribute to Breguet in his poems book « Les Chansons des rues et des bois » by writing: « At times the heart plays tricks and lets us down. The vigilant are right. For God (the mighty Breguet) gave us faith, and seeing it was good, improved it with a watchful eye ».
"He takes out his watch, a Breguet, (…) an instrument from the bench of the greatest of watchmakers."
John Fowles The French Lieutenant's Woman, 1969
The British writer John Robert Fowles (1926-2005) completed the initial draft of his first work, The Collector, in barely four weeks. Published in 1963, it soon achieved best-seller status. It was followed by The Aristos, a collection of philosophical essays and assorted thoughts, then by The Magus, which proved immensely popular with his readers. His most commercially successful novel does however remain The French Lieutenant’s Woman, published in 1969.
In the 1970s, Fowles focussed on poetry, publishing Poems in 1973. He has not stopped writing since, his latest book of essays, Wormholes, dating from 1998.
