Breguet Novelty : Marine Hora Mundi 5555
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Breguet unveils the 5th chapter in its 250th anniversary celebrations, a brand-new version limited to 50 pieces called Marine Hora Mundi 5555. The timepiece pays tribute to craftsmanship with a dial on two superimposed levels, one guilloché and the other sapphire. This special dial is inspired by NASA’s “Black Marble”, a nocturnal vision of the Earth.
250 years of mechanical art between Sky and Sea
By opting for a night view, the Hora Mundi 5555 celebrates a world in motion, where city lights remind us that the Earth never sleeps: a perfect nod to a watch designed for people traveling frequently.
Offered for the first time in Breguet gold, this Hora Mundi 5555 also uses a new dial decorated with phosphorescent enamel, the subject of a patent application. Each of the 50 collectors will be able to personalise the cities assigned to the 24 time zones.
Two superimposed dials
The new Marine Hora Mundi 5555 is based on the timepiece in the current collection: 43.9 mm case, 77F1 calibre with pre-programmable instant jump dual time zone, date, day/night indicator and synchronised city. But that’s where the comparison ends. Beyond that, everything about the Hora Mundi 5555 is new, starting with its dial.
What sets it apart at first glance is its deep, rounded effect. This is the result of an exclusive construction. It is in fact based on two elements. On the one hand, a gold base dial, decorated with a gradation from sky blue to navy blue - the merging of the “sky and sea” a sight that inspires the creation of the timepiece.
The base is then finely handmade guilloché with meridians and parallels. It is flat, yet offers the trompe-l’oeil of a truly curved Earth. The illusion is created by the guilloché lines representing the meridians and parallels, which converge towards the four cardinal points. This optical work provides the first component of the dial: its roundness.
The second component is its depth. The aim is to give the illusion of a viewpoint taken from space, as if the collector were observing the Earth from the thermosphere. To achieve this, Breguet has capped the guilloché dial with a translucent sapphire crystal.
The tradition and innovation of enamel paint
This sapphire dial brings together an unparalleled array of artistic skills. It is entirely hand-painted in three phases, on both sides. First, all the continents are painted in miniature enamel. As the sapphire crystal is also flat, the contours of the continents are refined as they approach the flange, transferred by pad printing in transparent petit feu enamel. Breguet craftsmen then enamel within these lines.
These continents are painted on the reverse side of the sapphire crystal. This is a particularly delicate exercise, since the Breguet craftsmen have to represent them in an inverted mirror so that they appear correctly once the sapphire crystal has been repositioned right side up. This layer of enamel paint is first fired at a very high temperature.
Secondly, the Breguet craftsmen turn the sapphire dial inside out and paint a series of clouds on the front, bringing life and realism to the composition. This cloudy layer is executed in enamel paint. It too is fired over a grand feu.
But while the contours of the continents are immutable, the clouds fluctuate - just as they would on the surface of the Earth, floating above the continents. Here, each Breguet painter gives himself room for personal creativity. Each Hora Mundi 5555 will therefore be a unique piece, with a touch of magic and mystery floating on the surface of the oceans, according to the inspiration of each Breguet craftsman...
Thirdly and finally, the cities that light up at night are also represented. To make them glow at night, the most common option is to use Super-LumiNova®. However, Breguet has opted for a miniature phosphorescent enamel painting. It’s a handcrafted but highly technical creation. This innovation is part of Breguet’s 250-year tradition.
77F1, reference for an exceptional calibre
The heart of the Hora Mundi 5555 remains the 77F1 calibre. This robust movement has powered the Hora Mundi collection since its creation (calibre 77F0 became 77F1 in 2022).
In addition to the time and date, it indicates a second time and date pair for the time zone of one’s choice, based on one of the 24 cities each representing a time zone.
Unique to Breguet and without equivalent on the market, it is based on the principle of a mechanical memory with instantaneous display. After setting the time and date with the crown at 3 o’clock in relation to a first city, simply set the second city and its time zone with the push-button crown at 8 o’clock.
The mechanism then calculates the time and date by means of a system of cams, hammers and an integrated differential. By simply pressing the pusher at 8 o’clock, the display switches on demand between the first and second time zones, automatically adjusting the date in both cases. An indicator at 4 o’clock specifies whether the time zone displayed is in the day or night zone.
The calibre 77F1 is protected by several patents. One relates to a timepiece comprising a dual time-zone mechanism; the second to the display of a time zone on demand via the main pointer; the third to the programmable and reprogrammable mechanical memory wheel for a timepiece; and the last to the device for displaying a time dimension via a trailing hand.
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