The House of Breguet

A.-L. Breguet, born in Neuchâtel in 1747, set up his own business on the Quai de l'Horloge, Île de la Cité in Paris. He had recently married and moved into a building overlooking Quai de l'Horloge on one side and Place Dauphine on the other. He became the owner at the end of the Revolution and passed it on to his heirs.

One of the Queen's guards ordered a watch incorporating all the complications and improvements known at the time.

The watchmaker took refuge in his native country until 1795, and despite the distance, he managed to run what remained of his workshop. 

Sold on a subscription basis - a quarter of the price is paid when the order is placed - this creation is distinguished in particular by its single hand. 

One of Breguet's most famous customers, Napoleon Bonaparte bought a repeater watch, a travel clock and a perpetual watch that year.

This watch can be read by touch. An arrow on the outside of the case reproduces the position of the hour hand. After “feeling” the position of the arrow, the wearer can find their bearings thanks to markers located directly above the hours.

Ali Effendi, then Minister for the Navy, commissioned the finest possible repeating watch for the Ottoman Emperor, Selim III.

With 34 clocks and watches purchased between 1808 and 1814, Caroline Murat, Napoleon's youngest sister, became A.-L. Breguet's most important customer. This special relationship led to the creation of the first watch designed specifically to be worn on the wrist.

He appreciated Breguet's creations and encouraged their sale in Russia. He also ordered a series of pedometers to measure the marching pace of his troops. 

After his appointment to the Bureau des Longitudes in Paris in 1814, A.-L. Breguet was given the official title of Watchmaker to the French Royal Navy by Louis XVIII. This was the most prestigious title a watchmaker could receive, since the very notion of marine watchmaking implied scientific knowledge.

A.-L. Breguet died during the night of 16 to 17 September, aged seventy-six years and eight months. His only son and associate, Antoine-Louis Breguet, born in 1776, took over the management of the company and continued his father's work.

His passion for electricity made him one of Europe's leading specialists in the field, to the detriment of traditional watchmaking, which he gradually lost interest in.

The young Queen purchased a small watch with an off-centre dial wound by a knurled button.

The great composer owned a simple date watch that his wife continued to maintain after his death.

Almost a century after it was founded, the watchmaking company left the Breguet family and its birthplace on the Quai de l'Horloge. Another family, the Browns, would take over for exactly one hundred years. Three generations and four owner-managers succeeded one another.

Sir Winston Churchill's uncle purchased an exceptional minute repeater chronograph with split-seconds, which later belonged to his famous nephew.

Throughout his life, he visited Breguet, either to make purchases or to have the watch he wore all his life, N°765, serviced.

The timepiece owned by the famous pianist was first made in 1822. It later belonged to Prince Scherbatoff.

Ettore Bugatti chose Breguet to produce chronographs with a tachometer function for the centre of the steering wheels of his luxurious “Royale” automobiles.

Still a Parisian brand, Breguet moves into 28 Place Vendôme. It was the first watch brand to set up shop on this iconic square, and remains there to this day, having occupied several different addresses.

From 1970 onwards, new watches with complications were developed and made available in several countries around the world. 

A Swiss workshop in this well-known watchmaking valley was opened in addition to the one in Paris. The links with Breguet's country of origin had always been close since the company's origins and were now considerably strengthened.

Bahrain-based financial company Investcorp acquires Breguet. With a view to expanding its production facilities, in 1991 it acquired Nouvelle Lémania, a watch manufacturer specialising in top-of-the-range movements and complications, and Valdar, a manufacturer of components. Together with Breguet, they formed a small watchmaking group. Nouvelle Lémania gradually became the Breguet Manufacture as it supplied more and more finished movements to Breguet.

Breguet moves into a renovated building equipped for its specific needs. Today, this is the company's head office and all production activities are carried out from the Manufacture in L'Orient (Switzerland). 

Breguet becomes the fifteenth Maison to join Swatch Group under the leadership of Nicolas G. Hayek, who becomes its Chief Executive Officer. With a genuine passion for the brand, he dedicated the necessary human and financial resources to restore it to its former glory and place it once again at the pinnacle of Fine Watchmaking.

Following the death of his grandfather, he took over the running of Breguet and has continued to raise the company to the highest level ever since.

After the acquisition by Swatch Group in 1999, the expansion of the Manufacture Breguet continued until 2015.