BREGUET Tradition Fusee Tourbillon With Silicon Balance Spring (REF. 7047PT/11/9ZU)

The Breguet silicon balance spring enhances the new Breguet Tradition timepiece

REF.7047PT/11/9ZU
The balance spring is one of a series of vital parts at the heart of the movement. Its regular oscillations give the movement its rhythm and regulate the flow of time. Crucial to the workings of a mechanical watch movement, the balance spring is also the most responsive in terms of improvements to timekeeping precision.

The balance spring is a very fine coil spring. Usually made of metal, it is vulnerable to shocks, magnetic fields and even the pull of gravity, which can cause warping. Made and marketed by Nivarox-FAR, a Swatch Group enterprise, the alloy traditionally utilized to make balance springs is designed to increase its rigidity as its temperature increases, offsetting in this way the balance’s increased inertia stemming from the latter’s heat expansion.

Long viewed as one of the key components of movement precision, the balance spring has benefited from a lot
of research and experimentation, with Breguet leading the way.

In 1795, Breguet conceived the “Breget overcoil” spring, today still the reference in terms of balance springs, the choice of the finest watch houses and craft watchmakers. A.-L. Breguet got the idea of altering the balance spring’s terminal curve by raising its end and bending it slightly as a way of improving its isochronism.

Another Breguet, Louis-Clément, in 1830 sought to prevail over magnetic fields by crafting balance springs in glass instead of metal. Breguet himself had made balance springs in gold to counter oxidation. One such cylindrical spring was fitted in the celebrated Marie -Antoinette watch; its shape was designed to improve considerably its isochronism by repoising its center of gravity.

In 2006, Breget introduced its first wristwatches with silicon balance spring and escapement. It combines the advantages and qualities of the earlier experiments. Silicon also possesses advantages of its own:

• Silicon is totally impervious to magnetic fields. Practical measurements have confirmed that when exposed to over twice the magnetic influence mandated by NIHS standards, silicon posted results 15 times better than the standard.
• The manufacturing operations of a silicon balance spring yield a broad variety of shapes, facilitating the highly accurate adaptation of its shape to precisely calculated models. The gap between two silicon coils can be varied according to the spring’s specific function because silicon springs are produced by direct in-depth etching of silicon wafers and not by spiral winding like metal springs.
• Silicon balance springs are lighter than metal ones and thus less prone to deformation caused by the pull of gravity. They are also less vulnerable to shock s and provide far superior resistance to corrosion.
• Components fashioned from silicon are subjected to a special process that greatly improves their resistance to handling and shocks.

These silicon components are already in industrial production and incorporated in four Breguet calibres which are themselves in volume production.

One of the challenges of using silicon balance springs is the determination of their temperature coefficient. It defines the watch’s capacity to maintain a steady rate whatever its running temperature. In this area, Breguet has benefited from a joint development with the Swiss Electronics and Microtechnology Centre (Swatch Group participation) and two other Swiss watch houses, for which a patent has been awarded.

After four years of service in various watch movements, Breguet can report satisfactory results with flat silicon balance springs. The next step was to turn out silicon balance springs featuring the celebrated ”Breguet” terminal curve. Actually putting a curve into a sliver of silicon represented no mean exploit in the world of watchmaking. The springs are usually cut from flat wafers and remain uniformly thin strips. Getting silicon, devoid of the malleability of metal, to form a bend rising up from the coil required a complete rethinking of the production process, a technical challenge brilliantly mastered by Breguet technicians. The Breguet silicon balance spring will now be adding its specific advantages to silicon’s on all Breguet movements, whatever their basic configuration.

Today, the new Breguet silicon balance spring is featured in the Breguet Tradition 7047 model with tourbillon and fusee-and-chain transmission. Inspired by the design of the first tourbillon -equipped pocket watches devised by Breguet himself, a platinum version is now available fitted with a movement fashioned in an anthracite-toned metal alloy. Its surface finish was obtained by a new and improved electrodeposition process using an alloy of precious metals of the platinum group with a hue darker than ruthenium’s.

The fusee-and-chain transmission connected to the barrel ensures constant force for as long as the watch is running. A number of patents applications involve the large tourbillon resonator at one o’clock on the watch face, one for a titanium balance and three relating to Breguet silicon balance springs. A further patent was awarded for a power-reserve indicator positioned directly on the barrel.

Displaying impressive technical sophistication, this timepiece is the pride of Manufacture Breguet . The company is and remains an undisputed pioneer in horological research and development. Not only does it have numerous inventions to its credit, it is also able to exploit its technical advances in timepieces available on the market without undue delay or quantitative limitations.

Its new silicon balance spring opens promising avenues of development for Breguet, sure to generate further surprising achievements in the years ahead.

Description of the Breguet REF. 7047PT/11/9ZU

Case round in 950 Platinum with finely fluted case-band. Sapphire case-back. Diameter: 41 mm. Rounded horns welded to the case, with screw pins securing the strap. Water-resistant to 3 bar (30m).

Dial in silvered 18K gold, hand-engraved on a rose engine off-centered at 7 o’clock. Individually numbered and signed Breguet. Chapter ring with Roman numerals. 60 -second tourbillon positioned at 1 o’clock. Open-tipped Breguet hands in polished steel.

Movement hand-wound mechanical movement clad in an anthracite gray alloy of platinum -group metals, with tourbillon regulator. Numbered and signed Breguet. Cal. 569. 16 lines, 43 jewels, 2.5-Hz frequency. Power reserve of 50 hours with power reserve indication on the barrel drum. Torque regularity
throughout the operation of the watch provided by fusee-and-chain transmission. Upper bridge of the tourbillon carriage in titanium.
Breguet-shaped thin bar (barrette) in nonmagnetic stainless steel. Straight-line lever escapement. Breguet balance in titanium with four adjustment screws in gold. BREGUET balance spring in silicon. Adjusted in 6 positions.

Anti-Counterfeiting Campaign at the SIHH

1. Anti-Counterfeiting Campaign at the SIHH: Fake Watches Are For Fake People!

The Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie and the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry has unveiled its anti-counterfeiting campaign at the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie 2009. more »

2. Smithsonian Uncovers Secret Message Inside Abraham Lincoln’s Watch

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History announced it has found a “secret” message engraved in President Abraham Lincoln’s watch by a watchmaker who was repairing it in 1861 when news of the attack on Fort Sumter reached Washington, D.C. more »

3. BASELWORLD 2009 boosts the global watch and jewellery industry

After eight successful days, BASELWORLD 2009 closed its doors, once again reaffirming its position as the leading international watch and jewelery trade show. On a site covering approximately 160,000 m2, 1,952 exhibitors from 45 countries showcased their latest products and innovations. Exhibitors and visitors alike spoke enthusiastically about their experience at the show and the business they did. Thanks to this sense of positi­vity, both exhibitors and visitors forecast new prospects for the industry as a whole. more »

de Grisogono Meccanico dG - Titanium and rubber

4. de GRISOGONO Meccanico dG

In fine watchmaking, you can decide to reinterpret existing concepts or choose to steer a pioneering course. Founder and CEO of de Grisogono, Fawaz Gruosi has deliberately chosen the second approach. With the Meccanico dG, the Geneva based manufacturer’s most recent entry, de Grisogono presents a design stemming from the purest watchmaking tradition and projects it into the future. With a total of 651 components, the Meccanico dG’s mechanical movement is one of the most complex ever made. A masterpiece of fine watchmaking, designed to display the time in two time zones, it ranks as the world’s first watch with a mechanical digital display as well as an analogue face. This world first – based on a de Grisogono patent – places a startlingly complex mechanism in a very contemporary design. more »

5. Exclusive Breguet Patronage of the Louvre

Exclusive Montres Breguet SA patronage for the remodelling of the Conseil d’Etat rooms and salon Beauvais, known as the Louis XIV wing, at the Louvre museum as part of the renovation of the museum premises devoted to 18th century furnishings. more »

Greubel Forsey DT30° Vision Red gold case Silvered-gold dial

6. GREUBEL FORSEY Double Tourbillon 30°

The watchmaker-inventors Robert Greubel and Stephen Forsey, based in their atelier in La Chaux-de-Fonds, wished to surpass the accomplishments of existing movements by plunging deeper into the subject and inventing a Tourbillon which significantly improves the functioning of a wristwatch.

After four years of effort, they created a Tourbillon within a tourbillon, in such a way that this new complication permanently compensates the gravity-related errors of rate in all wristwatch positions. more »

7. JAQUET DROZ Rouge & Noir

True to its vanguard spirit, Jaquet Droz presents three flagship timepieces from Baselworld 09 – with a Numerus Clausus of 88 – that highlight the absolute black of the Grand Feu enamelled dial, the black matt of the rubber and the red gold of the case. more »

8. HUBLOT Unico Technical Specifications

The UNICO movement, a chronograph developed entirely by Hublot’s Research & Development department, is now in its “functional prototype” stage until the end of 2009. more »

Vacheron Constantin Historiques American 1921

9. Vacheron Constantin Historiques American 1921 Wins Watch of the Year 2009 Prize

Just two years after being awarded the 2007 Watch of the Year Prize (for the Patrimony Contemporary Retrograde Date and Day model), Vacheron Constantin once again takes the top spot on the winner’s podium with the 2009 Watch of the Year Prize, this time for its ‘Historiques American 1921’ model. more »

What were the events that you think should have been included in this article? Please leave a comment and share with us your thoughts.

THE 2009 BREGUET MARINE ROYALE – ALARM WATCH WATER-RESISTANT TO 30 BAR

Breguet’s Marine collection draws its inspiration from the original designs created by Breguet himself for the French Royal Navy after his 1815 appointment as Horologist to the French Navy. Sturdy in design, Breguet Marine watches have for decades been reputed for their dependable performances. In 2004 Breguet launched a new interpretation of this product line, featuring a markedly more contemporary and sporty but ever elegant design. Following the launch in 2007 of the first tourbillon-equipped chronograph with silicon escapement, this year brings a groundbreaking new design: the Marine Royale alarm watch, water-resistant to 30 bar (300 m).

Breguet’s Marine Royale 5847 comes with an alarm device that can only delight both amateur divers and aficionados of exceptional complications. Underwater tests confirm that sound travels better through water than through air. Sound waves require material support and their speed increases with the density of the environment. Sound travels about four times faster under than above water. Furthermore, as the underwater milieu is generally far less noisy than the aerial one, the alarm’s sound is perceived with greater clarity underwater.

The alarm setting crown and on-off pushpiece, in gold, are sheathed in rubber for easier handling, adding a further touch of sporty elegance. The watch naturally possesses the usual diver’s -watch features, not least a one -way rotating bezel and luminous markers. The bezel’s unidirectional rotation is secured by a blocking pawl, visible and located between the two winding crowns on the case flank. Shaped like a wave, it recalls the watch’s essential functions. To improve its legibility even in the murkiest waters, its minute markers and hand along with the hour hand are coated with white luminous superluminova while the alarm markers glow blue. Represented by a blue triangular pointer at 10 o’clock, the alarm’s power-reserve indicator is also luminous.

Rounding out its attributes, the Marine Royale 5847 possesses a date indicator and a self -winding mechanism. Two versions are available : white or pink gold cases, with an 18 kt gold dial with black rhodium finish. Both are manually engine-turned with the collection’s dedicated wave pattern.

Technical Specifications

Case: round, in 18K rose gold with finely fluted caseband. Manually engine-turned caseback fitted with a sapphire crystal. Diameter: 45 mm. Rounded horns welded to the case, screw pins securing the strap. Wave -shaped ratchet at 3 o’clock serving to ensure the bezel’s one -way rotation. One-way rotating bezel with luminous marker. Rubber-covered alarm on/off pushpiece at 8 o’clock. Alarm setting pushpiece at 4 o’clock
sheathed in black rubber. Screw-locked crowns. Water-resistant to 30 bar (300m).

Dial: 18K gold with black rhodium finish, displaying a wave pattern manually engraved on a rose engine. Individually numbered and signed BREGUET. Chapter ring with applied pink gilt Roman numerals and luminous dots. Triangular hand at the center for setting the alarm time. Alarm power -reserve indication in an aperture between 9 and 11 o’clock. Alarm on/off indicator in a round aperture at 12 o’clock . Date at 6 o’clock. Facetted, open-tipped BREGUET hands in 18-carat gold, coated with a luminous compound.

Movement: self-winding mechanical, with alarm mechanism, numbered and signed BREGUET. Cal. 519R. 12 lines, 36 jewels. 45-hour power-reserve. Engine-turned 18K rose gold rotor. Frequency 4 Hz. Straight -line lever escapement. Balance-wheel with regulating screws. Adjusted in 5 positions.

Rubber strap.

Also available in 18K white gold and with a leather strap.

US Retail Price: $42,000.00

Source : www.swisstime.ch

BREGUET Classique Grande Complication

Minute repeater

Today still, the minute repeater ranks supreme among horological complications. Universally admired, its intricate construction has remained the preserve of a few master watchmakers with the skill and patience to fit and adjust its delicate parts. In 2008, Breguet came out with a new way of designing these technological marvels, fitting them with an entirely re-engineered movement incorporating new materials and featuring innovative positions for the gongs, gong rests and hammers. This patented technique is now in service on Breguet minute repeater no. 7639.

Its large 44.5 mm gold case houses a minute repeater movement and adds the prestige of baguette-cut diamonds. Ideal for conveying sound vibrations, diamond’s hardness and pureness further improve the watch’s sonority by reducing vibration loss to a minimum. Breguet has thus decided to introduce a fully diamond-set design whose setting is as perfect as the acoustic performance of its minute repeater.

The back of the BREGUET Classique Grande Complication

Watch 7639 emits a spectacularly pure sound that is certain to delight any connoisseur of ringing or chiming Grande Horlogerie. Including its bracelet attachments, crown and dial, the case is entirely set with diamonds that turn the watch into a fabulous gem. The crystal-clear sound had never been heard before in any minute repeater. The hand-wound movement visible through the clear sapphire case back has been entirely engraved by hand in a unique musical decoration.

Technical Specifications

REF. 7639BB/6D/9XV DD0D

Case: round in 18K white gold fully set with baguette-cut diamonds. Rounded horns welded to the case, screw pins securing the strap.

Setting: bezel, lugs, caseband, repeating-slide and crown set with 178 baguette-cut diamonds totalizing approx. 11.18 carats. Crown also set with one diamond (approx. 0.46 cts). Diameter 44.5 mm. Sapphire-crystal caseback.

BREGUET Classique Grande Complication

Dial: in 18K gold, entirely paved with 392 princess-cut diamonds set in an invisible way with up side down gemstones. Individually numbered and signed BREGUET. Open-tipped BREGUET hands in blued steel.

Movement: hand-wound, with minute repeater, entirely engraved by hand with musical decoration. Numbered and signed Breguet. 12 ½ lines. 31 jewels. Cal. 567/2. 40-hour power-reserve. Straight-line lever escapement. 2.5Hz balance-wheel with load screws. Breguet overcoil. Adjusted in 5 positions.

Folding clasp in white gold set with 42 baguette-cut diamonds (approx. 0.89 cts).

Breguet Marie-Antoinette Grande Complication pocket-watch ~ N°1160

The art of complexity

Marie-Antoinette was driven by a truly passionate desire for Breguet watches. Keen to possess any auspicious novelty, she had acquired a number of timepieces, including a perpétuel watch embellished with a self-winding device developed by Breguet. In 1783, one of her admirers ordered from the workshops in the Quai de l’Horloge, the most spectacular watch possible, incorporating the entire body of horological science of the time, as a gift to the queen. The order specified that gold should, wherever possible, be used instead of other metals, and that the complications should be both multiple and varied. Unconstrained by limitations of cost or time, Breguet had a free hand.

The queen never had the opportunity to admire the timepiece. It was not completed until 1827, 34 years after her death, 44 years after it was ordered and four years after the death of the founder. Breguet n°160, known as the “Marie-Antoinette”, entered into watchmaking legend from 1783. Its extreme complexity, its roots and its story, as fabulous as it is epic, have haunted the watchmaking landscape and the minds of collectors for more than two centuries. More recently, its destiny shrouded in mystery – stolen from a Jerusalem museum and lost for decades – has written a new page in the saga.

Nicolas George Hayek holding the Marie-Antoinette Grande Complication pocket-watch

In 2005, Nicolas G. Hayek set himself the challenge of reproducing it identically. He then heard about the fate of the oak of the palace of Versailles, the queen’s favourite tree, which had to be felled, and decided to give it a second life by fashioning from its wood the presentation case of the watch. Versailles offered the tree to Montres Breguet which, as a token of its gratitude committed itself to the restoration of the Marie-Antoinette domain. Just when the manufacture of the watch reached its end in 2007, the spoils of the 1983 robbery suddenly appeared as if by magic in Jerusalem. The saga continues. Montres Breguet has to date not yet had the opportunity to inspect them.*

Today presented in Basel, the queen of watches reveals a host of complications. Research among the archives and original drawings from the Breguet Museum and from other high institutions of culture like the Musée des Arts et Métiers (arts and crafts museum) in Paris, are the only available sources of information. Comparative examinations of contemporary antique watches, notably the Duc de Praslin watch, have revealed new factors concerning the styling and watchmaking techniques of the period. The research has brought to light skills that have today vanished and has enabled the manufacturing company to produce a timepiece that is in every respect faithful to its predecessor.

Reproducing and designing such a large number of complications on the sole basis of documents is against the odds and reveals the talent of the watchmakers at Montres Breguet. Each function and every decorative feature was minutely analysed. In the coachwork of the watch for example, the yellow gold of the 63mm-diameter case was cast in a special, more coppery alloy in order to match the period hue. The glasses for the dial and the case, made of rock crystal, allow the movement to display its finery and the marvels of its finish. The research has moreover brought to light a complication of the original watch: jumping hours.

As a self-winding watch with a minute-repeater striking the hours, quarters and minutes on demand, the new Marie-Antoinette has all the makings of a work of art. A full perpetual calendar displays the dates, the day and the months respectively at 2 o’clock, 6 o’clock and 8 o’clock. The equation of time at 10 o’clock proclaims the daily difference between solar time and the mean time told by watches. In the centre, the jumping hours – invented by Breguet – and the minutes are joined by a long independent seconds hand, while the small seconds are shown at 6 o’clock. The 48-hour power-reserve indicator 10:30 balances a bimetallic thermometer at 01:30.

The presentation box of the Marie-Antoinette Grande Complication pocket-watch ~ N°1160

The self-winding, “perpétuel” movement comprises 823 outstandingly finished components. The baseplates and bridges, the smallest gear-wheels in the trains for the underdial work, the dates and the repeater are fashioned in pink gold polished with wood. The screws are in polished blued steel; the points of friction, holes and bearings, set with sapphires. The smallest details demonstrate perfect execution and have been finished by hand. This masterly and unprecedented mechanism is furthermore fitted with a particular type of natural-lift escapement, a helical balance-spring in gold and a bimetallic balance-wheel. The anti-shock device – a double pare chute, another Breguet invention – gives protection against blows and shocks to the balance staff and to the shafts of the winding weights.

This masterpiece fit for a queen rests in a precious presentation box made of more than 3,500 pieces sculpted from the wood of the royal oak. It encloses a lavishly crafted inlay work of more than a thousand pieces of wood depicting the hand of Marie-Antoinette holding her rose – a detail inspired by the famous portrait of the queen. The outside of the box faithfully reproduces the parquet flooring of the Petit Trianon.

In as much as in those days Breguet intended to make this watch into a monument to the glory of 18th century horology, the brand has in 2008 performed a feat of prowess by bringing a legend to life and anchoring it in the 20th century.

*Note from the editor: This is a Breguet press release, prepared for the 2008 Baselworld. In the mean time the missing Breguet “Marie-Antoinette” n°160 was recovered by the police, together with other watches that were stolen during the burglary in 1983.

Breguet No. 5 Quarter-repeating, self-winding watch. 1789-94. Sold to Count Journiac Saint-Méard in March 1794. Collection Montres Breguet S.A. © Montres Breguet S.A.

Through this retrospective of the works of Abraham-Louis Breguet (1747-1823), visitors to the Louvre will discover the art of watchmaking at its apogee, evidenced by these unique precision timepieces, combining genius, virtuoso techniques and avant-garde aesthetics. Assembled in the exhibition are exceptional loans – watches, clocks and measuring instruments – alongside portraits, archival documents and patents that span Abraham-Louis Breguet’s entire career.

Abraham-Louis Breguet an inventor at the court of Louis XVI

Born in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, Breguet completed his apprenticeship and studies in France from 1762 onwards. In 1775, at the age of 28, he married and managed to establish his own business on the Quai de l’Horloge, Paris. Watchmakers of the French capital then competed with Geneva and London in the field of scientific and artistic innovation. Breguet explored and perfected these inventions and complications. But he was not recognized as a Master Watchmaker until 1784.

These intervening years saw the gradual development of the automatic (or self-winding) watch and a timepiece with a repeater (or chiming mechanism). The first self-winding watches were purchased by Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette and several high ranking personalities at the court of Versailles. This led, in 1783, to Breguet receiving a commission for an extraordinary watch incorporating all the innovations and complications known at the time. The end result would be one of the most famous of all Breguet watches, No. 160, also called the “Marie-Antoinette”, which, after several lengthy interruptions, was eventually finished in 1827, i.e. four years after Abraham-Louis Breguet’s death.

These watches immediately reveal the originality of his style, characterized by functional simplicity, technical mastery and flawless craftsmanship. His flat watch cases, easily legible numerals, rectilinear hands and guilloched dials made Breguet watches both unique works of art and discreet, practical, everyday objects, unlike the ornate, ostentatious timepieces made in the last quarter of the 18th century.

The Revolutionary interlude

During the Revolutionary period, Breguet made regular trips to England, where he shared the fruit of his research with the watchmaker John Arnold, while enlarging his clientele, which already included the Prince of Wales. In 1793, fearing the consequences of his former relationship with members of the Court and his moderate ideas, Breguet returned to Switzerland. He pursued his research, while striving to run what was left of his Parisian workshops from across the Alps.

On his return to Paris in May 1795, Breguet started up business again with new models, notably a simple watch with one hand, known as the “subscription watch” (an advance deposit of a quarter of the price was paid when the order was placed), launched with the aid of an advertising leaflet. This revealed the subtle balance between the researcher and the entrepreneur, who combined constantly updated unique models with functional timepieces. In 1796, Breguet invented a new type of travel clock that went on functioning during transportion. General Bonaparte purchased the first one to take on his Egyptian campaign.

Breguet No. 4009 Observation chronometer Forerunner of the modern chronograph. Sold in 1825 to Mr Whaley Collection Montres Breguet S.A. © Montres Breguet S.A.

A European reputation under the Consulate and Empire

Thus began a thriving period for the House of Breguet, in terms of both sales and inventions, which seemed to spur one another on. Pure research and applied art always fused in Breguet’s work. The first patent he registered for one of his inventions was in 1798 for constant force escapement (the mechanism of the watch is driven by a rigorous constant force). Shown at France’s First Exhibition of Industrial Products (1798), in a travel clock and a metronome, it won Breguet a gold medal. The following year his “tact watch”, which enabled the wearer to tell the time by touching the watch face, was launched on the market. At France’s Third Exhibition (1802), the House of Breguet attracted a military clientele on presenting its “deck watch” and “Longitude watch”, while in 1806, the public were introduced to the “tourbillon regulator” (device that neutralizes the effects of gravity on the workings of watch movements).

Although kept in the background by Napoleon I, Breguet received orders from the imperial court and his entourage. Always ahead of its time, the company also exported its timepieces through a network in and outside of Europe, having understood at an early date that its survival depended on becoming international. England, Spain and Russia were its principal foreign markets, but the political situation at the end of the Empire slowed down Breguet’s activity considerably. To compensate for the markets it lost, the company developed its sales in the Ottoman Empire by adapting its models to Turkish tastes.

Ultimate recognition during the Restoration

When the Bourbons returned to power, the House of Breguet saw a spectacular turnaround in its activity. Its European clientele reburgeoned and included loyal customers such as Tsar Alexander I of Russia and King George IV of England. Prestigious timepieces once owned by them will be on display in this exhibition. In France, Louis XVIII publicly displayed his respect for Breguet by appointing him Watchmaker to the Royal Navy in 1815 and awarding him a seat in the Academy of Sciences in 1816. At the Exhibition of 1819, as member of the jury, Breguet presented a retrospective of his clockmaking career, during which he had raised this precision craft to a degree of unprecedented excellence. The reliability and streamlined designs of his timepieces were far ahead of his era and already belonged to modernity.

This tradition lives on at Breguet today in innovative timepieces, thus confirming their precursory status that bears witness to European culture and history.

Visitors information

Opening times : daily except Tuesdays, 9am-6pm. Late-night opening until 10 pm on Wednesdays and Fridays.
Admission : access to the exhibition is included in the admission to the permanent collections of the museum: €9; €6 after 6pm on Wednesdays and Fridays. Free admission for under-26s from the European Union, under-18s, the unemployed, card-holders (Louvre jeunes, Louvre professionnels, Louvre enseignants and Louvre étudiants partenaires) and Friends of the Louvre. Free admission for everybody on the first Sunday of the month.
Further information
01 40 20 53 17 / www.louvre.fr

Weehawken, New Jersey (April 26, 2009) – The Swatch Group Ltd, the world’s largest watch company, announced today the expansion of an entirely new retail concept to the United States with the opening of the second Tourbillon Boutique on New York City’s Wall Street.

Tourbillon is a multi-brand watch and jewelry boutique network, bringing all the prestige brands within the Swatch Group together under one roof. The brands currently presented in the Tourbillon boutiques are Breguet, Blancpain, Glashütte Original, Jaquet Droz, Léon Hatot and Omega. In homage to the parent company’s namesake, a selection of exclusive watches and jewelry from the Swatch brand is also featured. Prior to the arrival of the New York City boutique, the Tourbillon network comprised of seventeen boutiques, first one in the United States in renowned South Coast Plaza, five within Swiss national borders (Crans-Montana, Montreux, St. Moritz, Lausanne, Lugano), eight others dotted across Europe (Amsterdam, Baden-Baden, Kitzbuhl, Mykonos, Nice, Porto Cervo, Portofino, Puerto Banus), two in Beijing, China and one in Singapore. The second Tourbillon boutique to open in the US will be located on Wall Street in the heart of New York’s financial district.

The Swatch Group is especially proud to continue its expansion in a time when so many are downsizing. After Omega boutique on Fifth Avenue, Tourbillon is the second Swatch Group owned retail store to open in New York City within this month. In this uncertain market, the Swatch Group is pleased to have the opportunity to create jobs and looks forward to another successful luxury venture.

The Tourbillon philosophy embraces the longstanding Swiss tradition of exceptional horological expertise. Tourbillon boutiques present extensive collections of each brand, offering consumers the broadest choice of premium watch models. Recruited from among the finest professionals in the sector, the carefully trained sales people are dedicated to providing customers with impeccable and highly personalized service. As ambassadors of the magnificent brands represented, Tourbillon associates cultivate a passion for the art of watch making and a devotion to sharing with clients the wonderful history of each brand.

About Swatch Group:

The Swatch Group Ltd is the largest manufacturer and distributor of watches and jewelry in the world. It is a synonym for emotional and luxury products of high quality and has its own worldwide network of distribution organizations. The Group is an expert in the manufacture of finished watches, movements and components. Its watch brands are Breguet, Blancpain, Glashütte-Original, Jaquet-Droz, Léon Hatot, Omega in the luxury and prestige segment; Rado, Longines, Union in the high end range; Tissot, Calvin Klein, Certina, Mido, Hamilton, Pierre Balmain in the middle range; Swatch, Flik Flak in the basic segment, and Endura.
www.swatchgroup.com

Louvre - Salles du Conseil d’État © Didier Plowy

Exclusive Montres Breguet SA patronage for the remodelling of the Conseil d’Etat rooms and salon Beauvais, known as the Louis XIV wing, at the Louvre museum as part of the renovation of the museum premises devoted to 18th century furnishings.

An impressive collective demonstration of French talent and capabilities, the Louvre’s collections of 18th century decorative arts are unrivalled anywhere. They rank as some of the most comprehensive ever assembled in a public institution, comprising an unmatched assortment of royal furniture, tapestries and jewellery, enriched all throughout the 20th century by the generosity of numerous donors.

Louvre - Salles du Conseil d’État © Didier Plowy

The presentation of these 18th century artistic and craft masterpieces has barely changed since 1960. Their collections’ rare and precious character, not to mention the priceless additions of the last half-century, call for a radical remodelling of the corresponding premises located in the Sully wing of the Louvre.

Two decades after the inauguration of the Louvre Pyramid, the reorganization of 18th century decorative arts collections will mark a new step in the Grand Louvre project. The renovation of the rooms of the Sully wing is designed to reconcile museological imperatives, the collections fitting in perfectly with the Louvre’s architecture, and their display, with special emphasis on facilities for the public.

Timepieces form a particularly exceptional aspect of 18th century decorative arts. The pieces representing the first third of the 19th century collected by the Lyons industrialist Claudius Côte and bequeathed by his widow brought the museum a magnificent selection of watches by Abraham-Louis Breguet. «Souscription» watches, repeater watches – such celebrated inventions and feats of manufacturing sealed his reputation as an outstanding horologist.

Breguet n°4009 - © Montres Breguet SA

I am therefore extremely gratified by the support which Montres Breguet has seen fit to bring to the remodelling of the Conseil d’Etat rooms and the Salon Beauvais, a significant aspect of the renovation of the premises devoted to 18th century furniture. Of particular importance, this partnership is for the Louvre both a natural association and a logical one.

I extend my deepest and sincerest thanks to Nicolas G. Hayek, Chief Executive Officer of Montres Breguet, for his generous contribution to a challenging project that will soon place in the best possible light a chapter in the history and cultural heritage of Europe.

Henri Loyrette
Managing President of the State Corporation of the Louvre Museum

Breguet Classique Grande Complication 5347 Double Tourbillon

Classique Grande Complication 5347 Double Tourbillon

The spectacular outcome of years of diligent development, the Breguet Double Tourbillon includes a hand-wound movement fitted with a pair of tourbillon regulators rotating on the hour axis. An aesthetic as well as a technical masterpiece, the watch features today a pink gold case 44 mm in diameter housing over 570 components, all painstakingly assembled by Breguet’s master watchmakers.

Working independently from one another, two tourbillons are coupled by means of differential gears and mounted on a rotating centre plate effecting a complete revolution in twelve hours. The differential device conveys the two tourbillons’ mean rate to the rotating centre plate and to the time-display mechanism. The rate of the watch is thus the mean rate of the two tourbillons, making its movement twice as precise as a normal one. The hour is shown by the bridge connecting the tourbillon regulators doubling as a watch hand, while the minutes are indicated by a standard hand at centre.

Impeccable finish and spectacular new engraving work on the back of the movement further underscore this exceptional timepiece’s appeal. A manually engine-turned mainplate, a chapter ring inscribed with Roman numerals, pink gilt Breguet hands, a movement with decorated bridges and bars and other parts beveled and polished further testify to an exceptionally handsome design of unrivalled beauty and refinement.

First introduced at the 2006 Basle Fair but initially available in insufficient numbers, this grande complication design with double tourbillon was in 2008 delivered to Breguet clients who had ordered the watch, often paying in advance. Despite an increase in recent orders joining as yet undelivered earlier orders, newly added manufacturing capacity has allowed Breguet to schedule delivery of the first pink gold models for the end of 2009.

Breguet Tradition 7027 in pink gold

Tradition 7027 in pink gold

Unique in the history of watchmaking and symbolic of Breguet’s own origins, the emblematic Tradition 7027 design returns in a two-color version. Its now-celebrated caliber 507DR displays the entire movement, built on either side of the mainplate though mostly on the front of the plate. Its pink gold case holds an anthracite grey movement that emphasizes its bridges and bars, in particular the escapement’s, fitted with its celebrated old-style “pare-chute” in hand-beveled steel. The movement proper has received a grey anthracite surface treatment, basically an improved electroplating technique, employing an alloy of precious metals of the platinum family darker in hue than the ruthenium traditionally favored by watchmakers.

The visual contrasts between the anthracite movement and the pink gold case add to the watch’s crisp contemporary good looks with a revolutionary touch or two, not least the time of day displayed on a lustrous black dial off-centered at 12 o’clock.

The Tradition 7027 is also available in pink gold with pink gold mainplate, bridges and bars or in a white gold case fitted with the new anthracite movement.

Classique Grande Complication 7839 ~ Haute Joaillerie Minute repeater

Another achievement of Breguet’s acoustic laboratory, the Classique Grande Complication 7639, “senior” companion piece to the 7637 design, adds the prestige of baguette diamonds to the minute repeater function. Ideal for conveying sound vibrations beyond the case, diamond’s hardness and pureness further improve the watch’s sonority by reducing vibration loss to a minimum.

Following the lead of major sound-system specialists whose loudspeakers now feature diamond conduction, Breguet has decided to introduce a fully diamond-set design whose setting is as perfect as the acoustic performance of its minute repeater.

Watch 7639 emits a spectacularly pure sound that is certain to delight any connoisseur of ringing or chiming Grande Horlogerie. Including its bracelet attachments, crown and dial, the case is entirely covered in invisibly set diamonds that turn the watch into a fabulous gem.

Read BREGUET New Watches in 2009 – Harmony and Refinement – Part 1, here»

Breguet’s most recent entries uphold its oldest and noblest traditions, discreetly displaying the signature features that set a Breguet off from all other watches made. Dials made of manually engine-turned gold, open-tipped blued steel hands, fluted caseband, unique production number – the Breguet personality comes to the fore at first glance. Every new horological and jewellery design by Breguet expresses the philosophy laid down a full decade ago by Nicolas G. Hayek: enhanced by advanced technologies and inspired by the world of culture – beauty first, beauty foremost.

This year in Basel, Breguet is introducing its latest alarm movement fitted in the new generation of Marine watches. A technological gem, the watch naturally displays the instantly identifiable Marine decorative wave pattern.

A pioneer in acoustic research, Breguet today confirms a technological advance it already enjoyed 225 years ago with its invention of the gong. A new alarm mechanism built into the diver’s watch as well as a new minute repeater are also joining the collection. The delicate art of diamond setting continues to flourish at Breguet’s, with a repeater watch that’s a marvel of technical virtuosity, impressively wedding Haute Joaillerie to Haute Horlogerie.

New entries are joining both the Classique and the Tradition collections this year. Their sweeping lines and decorative harmony are sure to captivate any admirer of fine watchmaking.

Breguet Marine Royale 5847

Marine Royale 5847 ~ alarm water-resistant to 300 m

Breguet’s Marine collection draws its inspiration from the original designs created by Breguet himself for the French Royal Navy after his 1815 appointment as Horologist to the French Navy. Sturdy in design, Breguet Marine watches have for decades been reputed for their dependable performances. In 2004 Breguet launched a new interpretation of this product line, featuring a markedly more contemporary and sporty but ever elegant design. Following the launch in 2007 of the first tourbillon-equipped chronograph with silicon escapement, this year brings a groundbreaking new design: the Marine Royale alarm watch, water-resistant to 300 m.

Breguet’s Marine Royale 5847 comes with an alarm device that can only delight both amateur divers and aficionados of exceptional complications. Underwater tests confirm that sound travels better through water than through air. Sound waves require material support and their speed increases with the density of the environment. Sound travels about four times faster under than above water. Furthermore, as the underwater milieu is generally far less noisy than the aerial one, the alarm’s sound is perceived with greater clarity underwater.

The alarm setting crown and on-off pushpiece, in gold, are sheathed in rubber for easier handling, adding a further touch of sporty elegance. The watch naturally possesses the usual diver’s-watch features, not least a one-way rotating bezel inscribed with a graduated 20-minute sector. The bezel’s unidirectional rotation is secured by a blocking pawl, visible and located between the two winding crowns on the case flank. Shaped like a wave, it recalls the watch’s essential functions. To improve its legibility even in the murkiest waters, its minute markers and hand along with the hour hand are coated with white luminous superluminova while the hour and alarm markers glow blue. Represented by a blue triangular pointer at 10 o’clock, the power-reserve indicator is also luminous.

Rounding out its attributes, the Marine Royale 5847 possesses a date indicator and a self-winding mechanism. The white gold version comes with an 18 kt dial with black rhodium finish while the pink gold version features an 18 kt pink gold dial. Both are manually engine-turned with the collection’s dedicated wave pattern.

Breguet Classic 7337

Classique 7337 ~ Date, moon phases and running seconds

The Classique 7337’s spare design derives directly from the early Breguet watches found today in the Breguet Museum on Place Vendôme in Paris.

Epitomizing Breguet’s timeless Classique collection, this elegant wristwatch shows the days of the week, the age and phases of the moon and the date. Hours and minutes are shown on an off-centered hour chapter in the Breguet style while at 5 o’clock the running seconds give the watch its asymmetrical allure. Inspired by the Museum’s no. 3833 antique watch, the date and the day of the week are positioned on either side of the indication of the age and phases of the moon, situated just above the off-centered hour chapter.

This memorable design comes in a 39 mm case with sapphire caseback fashioned in a choice of white and yellow gold and equipped with now famous extra-thin Breguet caliber 502 fitted with an auxiliary plate.

Breguet Classique Grande Complication 7637

Classique Grande Complication 7637 ~ Minute repeater

Today still, the minute repeater ranks supreme among horological complications. Universally admired, its intricate construction has remained the preserve of a few master watchmakers with the skill and patience to fit and adjust its delicate parts.

In 2008, Breguet came out with a new way of designing these technological marvels, fitting them with an entirely re-engineered movement incorporating new materials and featuring innovative positions for the gongs, gong rests and hammers. This patented technique is now in service on Breguet minute repeater no. 7637.

Its large, 42 mm white or pink gold case houses a minute repeater movement featuring running seconds at 9 o’clock and a 24-hour (day/night) subdial at 3 o’clock. The crystal-clear sound issuing from the case had never been heard before in any repeater without chimes. The gold gongs match the color of the case while the hard-metal hammers have been polished and beveled – no mean feat for such unyielding material.

The hand-wound movement visible through the clear sapphire case back has been entirely chased by hand while, in true Breguet style, the dial is manually engine-turned silvered gold.

Continue reading – BREGUET New Watches in 2009 – Harmony and Refinement – Part 2