Breguet Marine Watches

Since the launch of the Breguet workshop in 1775, Abraham Louis worked tirelessly to ensure the art of watchmaking was paramount. His timepieces became jewels for the Royals, one of them being the last king of France, Louis XVI.

Around 1777, Breguet designed a self-winding mechanism which had a barrel “remontoire”, but it became too complex to design. In early 1780, however, the watchmaker was already selling self-winding pocket watches, “perpétuelles”, which had a simplified arrowhead-shaped oscillating platinum weight.

In 1795, Abraham Louis invented the Tourbillon which he intended to enhance the accuracy of his pocket watch by countering the earth’s gravity. After it was patented in 1801, the precision mechanism came to be a brilliant breakthrough for his firm later on as seen in the brand’s La Marine Tourbillon models.

In 1815, Abraham Louis was recognized by King Louis XVIII as the chronometer maker of the Royal Navy of French. This made the watchmaker to create a set of standards that the current management of the brand has been able to uphold in the Marine collection. Three of these standards which are quite visible even today are the Breguet hands, fluted caseband, and the engine-turned dial.

Before Breguet was acquired by the Swatch Group in 1999, Investcorp (the previous management of the company) introduced the Marine collection as part of its sports watches. The watch’s design was designed by Jörg Hysek in 1990 and it featured an oversized square crown, alongside crown guards. This enhanced the brand’s history in the oceanic exploration, as well as the marine chronometer technology by watchmaker John Harrison.

Holding the legacy of the Breguet accomplishments and advancements, Le Marine collection features a highly purpose-driven makeup with reinforced cases and crown guards (excepting chronographs). Additionally, the encompassed watches also have enhanced waterproofness to ensure they are well-prepared for the in-water activities as well.

A couple of years after the introduction of the Marine collection, Breguet introduced the chronograph and World time versions. On 2005, the modern Marine line debuted with reference 5817 which has a sportier aesthetic and contemporary design. The watch is available in polished steel and a sapphire crystal at the front display and caseback. For its sporty look, the 39mm Breguet men’s watch has an engine-turned rhodium gold dial with silvered Breguet hands. On the middle silver-toned rim, Marine 5817 has black PVD coated Roman numerals while the chapter ring holds the dot/ rhombus minute markers.

For optimum proficiency, Breguet created Marine 5817 in 8 classy variants in steel or yellow/ rose gold case. The bracelet is either rubber straps or steel/ gold bracelet. Inside their cases, the rounded Marine series house Breguet caliber 517gg self-winding movement with a hand-engraved gold rotor.

In 2012, Breguet Company introduced a Time-zone timepiece (GMT watch) for the men who are always on travels. Although the introduction of GPS technology has rendered traditional dual-time complications obsolete in simultaneous two-timing, the beauty of Breguet watches is still pertinent. This is undeniably visible on Marine GMT 5857 which comes with a golden gold on the outer and inner casing. On its black rhodium guilloche gold dial, the 42mm Breguet men’s watch has a center rim with Roman hour markers and a chapter ring of dot/ rhodium indexes.

As a dual Time Zone watch, Breguet Marine 5857 series has a second Time reference subdial at 6 o’clock where the date aperture nestles. Different from the main center dial, the second time dial has Roman numerals and no second hand. For a characteristic sporty and ultra-luxurious taste, the prestigious Marine lineup has four variants, all waterproofed to 100-meter depth and with caliber 517F self-winding movement.

In the world of watchmaking, Baselworld 2018 was truly a Show for Breguet Marine. Alongside with the six variations of reference 5517, the Paris-born watchmaker also introduced Le Marine chronograph 5527 and Alarme Musicale 5547- each with 6 varieties.

For Breguet Marine Chronograph, the 6 encompassed references are either in titanium or white/ rose gold 42mm case. Unlike rest of the Marine models, their winding crown has no protector and their straps are either rubber or embossed alligator skin. For functionality, all the six references of Marine 5527 houses Caliber 582QA self-winding movement which runs for 48 hours nonstop providing chronograph functions and date.

For the Breguet Marine Alarme Musicale 5547, on the other hand, the 6 variants have a 40mm case in either titanium or gold. Similar to most of the Breguet watches, Reference 5547 has fluted caseband- a tradition that was introduced by the father of the Company, Abraham Breguet. Designed much of a sports watch, the versatile-sized Breguet men’s watch comes with either rubber or leather straps. None has a metallic bracelet. As a dual time watch, Marine Alarme 5547 has a second dial with Roman numerals at 3 o’clock. At 12 o’clock, the timepiece has a small bell aperture at 12 o’clock and it’s activated by a pushbutton at 7 o’clock. This feature makes the timepiece a great model for those men who cherish complication, timeliness, and luxury topping.

Borrowing their originality from their creator in the 18th century, Breguet watches have an extended background than most luxury brands. Check our blog for more of the golden timepieces that Queen Marie-Antoinette of France was so hooked on, that she even requested for one while imprisoned.