Breguet Novelty : Classique Grande Sonnerie 1905
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Breguet announces the Classique Grande Sonnerie Métiers d’Art 1905. A highly complicated pocket watch featuring Métiers d’Art craftsmanship, it is equipped with a grande and petite sonnerie as well as a minute repeater with magnetic regulator for all striking scenarios, with a regulator-style time display. All powered by a tourbillon. This special timepiece, in Breguet gold with Bleu de France accents, will only be produced on request.
A Grand Complication for the 250th anniversary of the Breguet manufacture
The name of A.-L. Breguet is closely associated with a number of inventions that have remained at the forefront of contemporary watchmaking for over two centuries: the gong spring (1783), the shock absorber (1790), the Breguet balance spring (1795) and the tourbillon (1801), among others.
The Classique Grande Sonnerie Métiers d’Art 1905 celebrates these major inventions, incorporating them into a movement comprising 532 components – the first of its kind that Breguet has produced in over 20 years. This authentic Grande Complication features a Grande Sonnerie mechanism and an on-demand minute repeater, as well as a tourbillon and a regulator-style display to emphasise its quest for precision. First assembled in the raw, then fully decorated and put into operation, it requires more than six months of assembly.
The quintessence of the Breguet spirit, it features exceptional finishes derived from the master’s heritage: guilloché, grand feu enamel, engravings and a secret signature made with a pantograph. This piece is protected by two patents that echo two inventions by Breguet: the gong spring and the gold gong spring.
Another distinctive feature is its Bleu de France colour, emblematic of Breguet’s adopted country, which won over the court of Versailles. This shade, introduced at the instigation of Louis XIV, can be found on the shop fronts of Place Vendôme, including that of Breguet, where this timepiece was officially unveiled.
Classique Grande Sonnerie Métiers d'Art 1905
The end of an exceptional year
In 1775, A.-L. Breguet opened his workshop on the Quai de l’Horloge in Paris. The manufacture that now bears his name celebrates the heritage of the great watchmaker, who was personally associated with the most important milestones in his craft. His aesthetic codes (guilloché, engraving, fluted case, hollowed-out hands, etc.) and techniques (tourbillon, perpetual winding, chronometric seconds, shock absorber, spring-loaded gong, etc.) have left an indelible mark on the industry, a quarter-millennium that followed his work.
The quest for precision
The Classique Grande Sonnerie Métiers d’Art 1905 encapsulates much of this extraordinary journey. It encompasses four major components. First, the quest for precision. To this end, the timepiece is equipped with a tourbillon. The process was patented by Breguet in 1801 and has never really been surpassed.
Since being transposed to the wristwatch, having originally always been designed by Breguet for pocket watches, the Classique 1905 accurately recalls with an obvious sense of historical consistency. Today, it is visible at 4:30 with a blue upper bridge. The balancing of the cage by weights is faithful to the process invented by Breguet himself.
The timepiece also features a regulator-style display. It has three independent hands on three different sectors: the off-centre hour, the central minute, and the second at 4.30 o’clock via the tourbillon. This arrangement contributes to excellent readability and precision, with each indication having its own area and reference points. This guarantees the reading precision, in line with Breguet’s fundamental quest.
A timeless aesthetic
Second component: the affirmation of Breguet codes. Many maisons have drawn inspiration from them, but the Classique 1905 aptly recalls the talent of their creator. This is true of the dial decoration. As early as 1775, Breguet disregarded the ornamental trends in watchmaking, many of which struggled to break away from the ornate spirit of the Baroque period. Instead, the great watchmaker established a clear, luminous, simple and refined style. He demonstrated with exceptional skill that precision, legibility and elegance could be combined in a coherent and harmonious whole.
To achieve this, the Classique 1905 takes its cue from the master watchmaker, with a dial divided into sectors. Each sector has its own finish to accentuate its legibility and individuality. At 12 o’clock, the hours are off-centre. The Breguet hand sweeps over a grand feu enamel dial. The Arabic numerals are in petit feu black enamel. The master’s signature is twofold: visible at the top, secret at the bottom, engraved flush with the enamel by a pantograph. The central minutes touch a finely guilloché pattern. The widespread use of this art in watchmaking is also associated with Breguet. The motif engraved here using a traditional guilloche machine is a horizontal Quai de l’Horloge, which can also be found on the side of the case.
It is inspired by the shapes of two Parisian islands surrounded by the Seine, Île Saint-Louis and Île de la Cité, where Breguet’s first workshop was located. The Quai de l’Horloge still exists today in the 1st arrondissement of Paris. Discerning enthusiasts will note the exceptional length of this blued central hand, which hovers over a dedicated minute track. The seconds can be read on the blued hand fixed to the centre of the tourbillon cage.
Ode to the arts and crafts
he third component of the Classique 1905 celebrates the artistic crafts so dear to the Breguet manufacture. The work is crafted in Breguet gold and engraved by hand. The Seine and its course are represented by a Bleu de France enamel engraving. This colour is attested on enamel tact watches from the early 19th century; this colour, still present today, belongs to the history of France and especially to the history of Paris. The inside of the lid bears the individual number of the piece, engraved by hand.
It should be noted that Breguet’s craftsmen have taken the decoration to its peak by guilloché-engraving the edges of the covers with a Quai de l’Horloge motif. The three-dimensional geometry of the edges of the covers is not usually guilloché but polished or engraved, as decoration machines can only produce patterns on flat or slightly curved components. Here, Breguet has developed a unique guilloché technique that allows three-dimensional components to be decorated.
The back of the watch is entirely guilloché (Quai de l’Horloge) and enamelled (Bleu de France). When opened, it reveals a full view of the movement. To reinforce its horological mastery, it is constructed in reverse: instead of having the striking mechanism on the dial side (where it takes its information), it has been moved to the back. Breguet’s watchmakers have therefore designed a movement whose aesthetic appeal is as important as its technical excellence.
The complete quadrature of the minute repeater and grande sonnerie mechanism can be seen. Each component is decorated by hand: drawn lines, bevelling, stretching, encapsulating. The guilloché work on the striking barrel bridge features the Petit Trianon motif, created especially for the 250th anniversary of the Manufacture, based on the interlacing patterns visible at the Palace of Versailles. Only the blue hammers are visible on the dial side.
This timepiece comes with a Breguet gold chain, the fastenings of which are also guilloché with the Quai de l’Horloge motif. Finally, it should be noted that the Classique 1905 will be delivered in an exceptional case, also unique, made from the last remaining wood available from Marie-Antoinette’s authentic oak tree. The venerable tree, under which the Queen used to walk, was planted in 1681 and survived until it was badly damaged by the great storm of 1999 and finally felled in 2005.
Crafted in marquetry and entirely handmade following the geometry of the French Pavilion at the Petit Trianon estate, each element was carefully selected from the heart of the wood, chosen for the natural variations in its colour as it ages. A true work of craftsmanship that extends the experience and philosophy of the Classique 1905. This case also features a resonance plate made from wood sourced from the Risoud forest, located in the heart of the Vallée de Joux, to enhance the sound of this watchmaking masterpiece. It is said that this wood is used in the construction of the finest violins, and that only one tree in ten thousand offers resonance of absolute perfection.
The pursuit of innovation
In 2025, the Breguet manufacture finally continued the tradition of innovation begun by A.-L. Breguet in 1775. This was the fourth component of the Classique Grande Sonnerie Métiers d’Art 1905, equipped with a magnetic regulator, the result of Breguet’s R&D.
The regulator’s function is to constantly smooth out the frequency of the hammers’ action, i.e. the tempo at which the notes are played. It must always be the same, regardless of the number of hours, quarters and minutes, and the energy level of the dedicated barrel. Most regulators are mechanical. The one in the Classique 1905 is magnetic and particularly ingenious. In many ways, this device resembles an electric generator.
Made of metal, the rotating arms are placed between networks of magnets fixed on either side of the regulator. As they rotate in this magnetic environment, current loops are induced inside the conductive arms. This is the principle of Foucault currents, discovered in 1851, a contemporary of Antoine-Louis Breguet and Louis-Clément Breguet. As it forms, this current opposes the magnetic field of the magnets. These current loops in turn induce a magnetic field that opposes the magnetic field of the magnets, thus creating an electromagnetic brake. As a result, the faster the rotation, the greater the resistance. Conversely, the slower the rotation, the weaker the opposition. The result is a device that ensures a rotation that tends to be constant.
The centrifugal force moves the regulator’s conductive arms outwards, placing them under the magnets, which tends to slow down the rotational movement. At lower speeds, springs pull the arms back inwards to reduce the intensity of the electromagnetic brake.
What’s more, the system is completely silent and contactless. It thus respects the three striking modes of the Classique 1905 (Grande Sonnerie, Petite Sonnerie and Minute Repeater, the latter of which can be activated on demand even when the watch is in Silent mode).
