Marine watches are inspired by the fundamental Breguet ethos. Although created in a contemporary style that helps to make sporty watches, the Marine models have all the beauty created by A.L. Breguet as chronometer creator to the French Navy. A water resistant watch that’s renowned for it’s pronounced crown guards, La Marine is a true icon of the Breguet oeuvre. With the heritage and tradition timepiece collections, Breguet continue to provide a slice of old-world engineering and aesthetic to the most discerning of collectors and aficionados.
Breguet looks to amaze watch lovers the world over with their delicate, time-honoured engineering ideas and stunning design. Breguet watches are generally split into male and female styles, with each style boasting a range of designs each with its own purpose and occasion.
Whilst the brand maintain a healthy selection of watches in the present day, Breguet’s legend is solidified by the high esteem in which the company’s antique and vintage pieces are held by auction houses and connoisseurs alike. Indeed, some of the most expensive watches ever sold were created by Breguet. Examples include the No. 2667 pocket watch which was sold for more than $4 million back in 2012 at Christie’s in Geneva, as well as the Breguet Sympathique Clock No.128 & 5009 which fetched a record $6.8 million at Sotheby’s New York.
Due to the brand’s pristine reputation for quality, style and technical prowess, Breguet timepieces have been worn by some of the globe’s most powerful figures since the company first started out back in the 18th century. Notable fans of Breguet watches include leaders such as Nicolas Sarkozy, Vladimir Putin and Winston Churchill. However it is not just politicians who appreciate the elegance and poetry of Breguet, with automobile pioneer Ettore Bugatti a known fan and the great Orientalist painter Horace Vernet equally enamoured with Breguet products.
In 2014, the exceptional patronage project amounting to several million Euros launched by Nicolas G. Hayek in 2009 reached completion under the watchful eye of his grandson, Marc A. Hayek. Undertaken at the beginning of the 1980s, the last stage of the work at the Grand Louvre consisted in renovating the rooms housing all the 18th century art collections. Closed to the public for nearly ten years, the estimated 2,500 m2 area that has been restored is now entirely revamped. The museography and educational presentations have also been completely revised. This redeployment of the collections allows the works to be integrated with a unique palatial architecture combining visibility and clarity. In this way, justice is done to the splendour of creations brimming with history and symbolising Europe’s rich cultural heritage.
In 2014, Breguet celebrated its partnership with the San Francisco Fine Arts Museums and announced a year-long project at the museum of the largest collection of Breguet antique watches ever to be shown in the Americas. The grand opening of this historic exhibition is slated for September 2015. Spanning fifty years of horological innovations by Abraham-Louis Breguet, the exhibition will showcase antique Breguet timepieces as well as instruments of measurements.
Best known for its marquee innovation, the tourbillon—a device that neutralizes the negative effects of gravity in pocket watches, the expansive exhibition will also feature a wide array of pocket watches, travel clocks, as well as rare prototypes. The collection will educate the viewer on the ingenious mind of a watchmaker who gave the world more than watches yet left a timeless legacy of innovative engineering.
All in all, La Marine is a heritage and tradition timepiece collection. Breguet keep on seeking to give a piece of classic engineering and design to the smartest of collectors and enthusiasts.
