Abraham Louis Breguet
Encyclopedia
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, was a horologist who made many innovations in the course of a career
Career
Career is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as a person's "course or progress through life ". It is usually considered to pertain to remunerative work ....
in watch
Watch
A watch is a small timepiece, typically worn either on the wrist or attached on a chain and carried in a pocket, with wristwatches being the most common type of watch used today. They evolved in the 17th century from spring powered clocks, which appeared in the 15th century. The first watches were...
making in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. In his lifetime he was considered the leading watchmaker of his day, and he built up a clientele that included many leading public figures and members of the European nobility. Alongside his friend and contemporary John Arnold
John Arnold
John Arnold was an English watchmaker and inventor.John Arnold was the first to design a watch that was both practical and accurate, and also brought the term "Chronometer" in to use in its modern sense, meaning a precision timekeeper...
, Breguet is now widely acknowledged as one of the greatest horologists of all time.
He is the founder of the Bréguet
Breguet (watch)
Breguet is a manufacturer of luxury watches, founded by Abraham-Louis Breguet in Paris in 1775. Currently part of The Swatch Group, its timepieces are now produced in the Vallée de Joux in Switzerland...
company, which is now the luxury watch
Watch
A watch is a small timepiece, typically worn either on the wrist or attached on a chain and carried in a pocket, with wristwatches being the most common type of watch used today. They evolved in the 17th century from spring powered clocks, which appeared in the 15th century. The first watches were...
division of the Swiss Swatch
Swatch
Swatch is a brand name for a line of wrist watches from the Swatch Group, a Swiss conglomerate with vertical control of the production of Swiss watches and related products...
group.
History
Breguet was born in Neuchatel, Switzerland to Jonas-Louis Breguet and Suzanne-Marguerite Bollein; his ancestry was French but his family were Protestants so they fled to Switzerland after the revocation of the Edict of NantesEdict of Nantes
The Edict of Nantes, issued on 13 April 1598, by Henry IV of France, granted the Calvinist Protestants of France substantial rights in a nation still considered essentially Catholic. In the Edict, Henry aimed primarily to promote civil unity...
in 1685. Breguet's father's died in 1758, when he was ten, and his formal schooling ended when he was 12. Breguet's mother remarried to Joseph Tattet, who came from a family of watchmakers. Tattet had a showroom in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
; the family tried for some time to entice the young Breguet into the trade, to no avail, but he eventually took to it with great interest and in 1762, aged 15, he was sent to be apprenticed to an unknown Versailles master watchmaker. At this time the Court had a great influence on the trade and the best watchmakers established themselves around Versailles.
The young Breguet soon "astonished" his master with his aptitude and intelligence, and to further his education he took evening classes in mathematics at the Collège Mazarin under Abbé Marie, who became a friend and mentor to the young watchmaker. Through his role as tutor to the dukes of Angouleme and de Berri, Abbé Marie was able to arrange for Breguet to be introduced to King Louis XVI, and the king's interest in mechanics led to many royal commissions for the rising watchmaker, including a perpetuelle (self-winding watch), with which the king was especially pleased. Unfortunately, Marie met a tragic end, either through murder or suicide, and soon after Breguet lost both his mother and his step-father, leaving him to support himself and his younger sister. How he managed this in the period between his parents' deaths and the establishment of his business is unknown..
Breguet was allowed to marry in 1775 after finishing his apprenticeship. He and his bride, Cécile Marie-Louise L'Huillier, set up their home and the Breguet
Breguet (watch)
Breguet is a manufacturer of luxury watches, founded by Abraham-Louis Breguet in Paris in 1775. Currently part of The Swatch Group, its timepieces are now produced in the Vallée de Joux in Switzerland...
watchmaking company; its first known address was at 51 Quai de l'Horloge in Île de la Cité
Île de la Cité
The Île de la Cité is one of two remaining natural islands in the Seine within the city of Paris . It is the centre of Paris and the location where the medieval city was refounded....
in Paris (by the 1920s this location was designated as #39). Ca. 1812 the firm's address was 79 Quai de l'Horloge du Palais, although Salomons speculated that this might have been merely a change of number and name, not of actual location. By the year of Breguet's death in 1823 the firm also had a shop at 4 Place de la Bourse, which is known because both addresses appear on the label of watch #4004. The firm later moved to Rue de la Paix and in the early 20th century to 2 Rue Eduoard VII.
As Breguet's fame gradually increased he became friendly with revolutionary leader Jean-Paul Marat
Jean-Paul Marat
Jean-Paul Marat , born in the Principality of Neuchâtel, was a physician, political theorist, and scientist best known for his career in France as a radical journalist and politician during the French Revolution...
, who also hailed from Neuchatel. Salomons' biography records that Marat and Breguet were at the house of a mutual friend one day when an angry crowd gathered outside, shouting "Down with Marat!", but Breguet contrived their escape by disguising Marat as an old woman, and they left the house arm-in-arm, unmolested. In 1793 Marat discovered that Breguet was marked for the guillotine, possibly because of his friendship with Abbé Marie (and/or his association with the royal court); in return for his own earlier rescue, Marat arranged for a safe-pass that enabled Breguet to escape to Switzerland, from where he travelled to England. He remained there for two years, during which time he worked for King George III. When the political scene in France stabilised, Breguet returned to Paris. Ca. 1792 the Duke of Orleans went to England and met John Arnold
John Arnold
John Arnold was an English watchmaker and inventor.John Arnold was the first to design a watch that was both practical and accurate, and also brought the term "Chronometer" in to use in its modern sense, meaning a precision timekeeper...
, Europe's leading watch and clockmaker. The Duke showed Arnold a clock made by Breguet, who was so impressed that he immediately travelled to Paris and asked Breguet to accept his son as an apprentice.
Breguet invented innovative escapement
Escapement
In mechanical watches and clocks, an escapement is a device that transfers energy to the timekeeping element and enables counting the number of oscillations of the timekeeping element...
s, including the tourbillon
Tourbillon
In horology, a tourbillon is an addition to the mechanics of a watch escapement. Developed around 1795 by the French-Swiss watchmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet from an earlier idea by the English chronometer maker John Arnold a tourbillon aims to counter the effects of gravity by mounting the...
, automatic winding mechanisms, and the overcoil (an improvement of the balance spring with a raised outer coil). Within ten years Breguet had commissions from the aristocratic families of France and even the French queen, Marie-Antoinette. Cécile died in 1780. He met Abraham-Louis Perrelet
Abraham-Louis Perrelet
Abraham-Louis Perrelet, , born in Neuchâtel in Switzerland was a Swiss horologist.Perrelet invented a self-winding mechanism in 1770 for pocket watches...
in Switzerland and became a Master Clockmaker in 1784. In 1787 Abraham-Louis established a partnership with Xavier Gide, which lasted until 1791.
In 1795 Breguet returned to Paris with many ideas for innovations in watch and clock making. He set up business again in Quai de l'Horloge and quickly established a reputation among the new wealthy classes in the Empire. Breguet did not staff his workshops in the traditional way, with unskilled apprentices, but instead sought out the finest available watchmakers in Paris, whom he employed to make watches to his own designs.
Circa 1807 Breguet brought in his son, Louis-Antoine (b.1776) as a business partner, and from this point the firm became known as Breguet et Fils Breguet had previously sent his son to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to study with the great English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
chronometer maker, John Arnold
John Arnold
John Arnold was an English watchmaker and inventor.John Arnold was the first to design a watch that was both practical and accurate, and also brought the term "Chronometer" in to use in its modern sense, meaning a precision timekeeper...
, and such was the mutual friendship and respect between the two men that Arnold, in turn, sent his son, John Roger, to spend time with Breguet. Breguet met another watchmaker Louis Moinet
Louis Moinet
Louis Moinet , born into a prosperous family of farmers in Bourges, France, was a French horologist, sculptor and painter.- History :...
, recognised his worth at once, and the two men worked closely together. From 1811 on, Moinet became Breguet's personal adviser.
Breguet became a member of the Board of Longitude
Board of Longitude
The Board of Longitude was the popular name for the Commissioners for the Discovery of the Longitude at Sea. It was a British Government body formed in 1714 to administer a scheme of prizes intended to encourage innovators to solve the problem of finding longitude at sea.-Origins:Navigators and...
in 1814 and the following year gained an official appointment as chronometer-maker to the French Navy
French Navy
The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...
. He entered the French Academy of Sciences
French Academy of Sciences
The French Academy of Sciences is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French scientific research...
in 1816 as a full member, and received the Chevalier of the Legion of Honour
Légion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
from the hands of Louis XVIII in 1819. Breguet's name is one of the 72 names inscribed on the Eiffel Tower
The 72 names on the Eiffel Tower
On the Eiffel Tower, seventy-two names of French scientists, engineers and some other notable people are engraved in recognition of their contributions. This is according to the design by Gustave Eiffel. The engravings are found on the sides of the tower under the first balcony...
.
According to Salomons' biography, Bregeut was known for his kindness and good humour. It is recorded that if a workman came to Breguet with a finished piece of work and an invoice for payment, and Breguet was satisfied with the work, then if the invoice ended in a zero, Breguet would add a tail to the zero to make it a '9', thereby enabling the workman to be paid nine francs more than he had asked for. He was also known for his encouragement of his young apprentices, often advising them "Do not be discouraged, or allow failure to dishearten you."
The business grew from strength to strength, and when Abraham-Louis Breguet died in 1823 it was carried on by Louis-Antoine. After Louis-Antoine retired in 1833 (he died in 1858) the business continued under Abraham-Louis' grandson Louis Clément Francois (1984-1883); his great-grandson Louis Antoine (1851-1882) was the last of the Breguet family to run the business. Although he had two sons and a daughter, they did not enter the business, so he took on noted English watchmaker Eedward Brown of Clerkenwell to look after the Paris factory. Brown eventually became his partner and, after Breguet's death, the owner and head of the company. His sons Edward and Henry Brown headed the firm into the 20th century and after Edward retired in the early 1900s, Henry became the sole proprietor.
Works and influence
Breguet made three series of watches, and the highest numbering of the three reached 5120, so in all it is estimated that the firm produced around 17,000 timepieces during Breguet's life. Because of his minute attention to detail and his constant experimentation, no two Breguet pieces are exactly alike. His achievements soon attracted a wealthy and influential clientele that comprised a veritable "Who’s Who" of the period: Louis XVI and his Queen, Marie-Antoinette, Louis XVIII, King George IV of England, Napoleon Bonaparte, Marie-Antoinette, Tsar Alexander I of Russia, the Prince of Wales, the Empress Josephine, and the Duke of Wellington. Following his introduction to the court, Queen Marie AntoinetteMarie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette ; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I....
developed a fascination for Breguet's unique self-winding watch and Louis XVI bought several pieces.
Legend has it that it was the ill-fated French queen herself who commissioned Breguet's masterpiece, the "Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette (watch)
The Breguet No. 160 grand complication, more commonly known as the Marie-Antoinette or the Queen, is a case watch designed by Swiss watchmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet. Work on the watch was begun in 1782 and completed in 1827, four years after Breguet's death.The watch was commisioned in 1783 by an...
" (No. 160), which is now widely regarded as one of the most important and valuable timepieces ever made. In fact, it was commissioned in 1783 by a member of the Marie-Antoinette Guards, possibly as a gift for the queen, and it took almost twenty years to complete - work stopped for around seven years (1789-1795) during the period of Brequet's exile - and it was not finished until around 1802. Even by the standards of the day it was an astronomically expensive piece; the commission specifically called for every watch function and complication known at that time and the use of the most valuable materials (including gold, platinum, rubies and sapphires), with no limit placed on time or cost. Breguet company records indicate that the factory costs eventually came to the colossal sum of 30,000 francs - more than six times the cost of Breguet's other major work, (No. 92), which was sold to the Duc De Preslin for 4800 francs. The "Marie Antoinette" remained in the possession of the Breguet company until it was sold to Sir Spencer Brunton in 1887, eventually finding its way into the collection of Brequet expert Sir David Salomons in the 1920s.
Breguet's most remarkable piece anticipated the wristwatch by two centuries; he designed this, together with his friend John Arnold, for Caroline Bonaparte
Caroline Bonaparte
Maria Annunziata Carolina Murat , better known as Caroline Bonaparte, was the seventh surviving child and third surviving daughter of Carlo Buonaparte and Letizia Ramolino and a younger sister of Napoleon I of France...
, Queen of Naples, in 1810. Many honours recognised his enormous contribution to horology. Each watch from his workshops demonstrated the latest horological improvements in an original movement, mostly fitted with lever or ruby-cylinder escapements that he perfected. Breguet took refuge in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
from the excesses of the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
. He returned to Paris overflowing with the ideas that produced the Breguet balance-spring, his first carriage clock (sold to Bonaparte
Bonaparte
The House of Bonaparte is an imperial and royal European dynasty founded by Napoleon I of France in 1804, a French military leader who rose to notability out of the French Revolution and transformed the French Republic into the First French Empire within five years of his coup d'état...
), the sympathique clock and its dependent watch, the tact watch, and finally the tourbillon
Tourbillon
In horology, a tourbillon is an addition to the mechanics of a watch escapement. Developed around 1795 by the French-Swiss watchmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet from an earlier idea by the English chronometer maker John Arnold a tourbillon aims to counter the effects of gravity by mounting the...
, patented in 1801.
Apart from the very start of his career, Abraham-Louis Breguet almost always used the calibres of the celebrated Jean-Antoine Lépine
Jean-Antoine Lépine
Jean-Antoine Lépine , was a revolutionary and inventive French watch and clockmaker, who contributed with crucial inventions for watchmaking still used nowadays...
, which he transformed. His watches and clocks are widely regarded as some of the most beautiful and technically-accomplished.
Although Breguet is probably best known for his luxury watches and carriage clocks, he also made a number of important scientific clocks. In 1818 Lieutenant-General Thomas Brisbane
Thomas Brisbane
Major-General Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane, 1st Baronet GCH, GCB, FRS, FRSE was a British soldier, colonial Governor and astronomer.-Early life:...
, a keen amateur astronomer, purchased a Breguet mean-time regulator clock (No. 3180, 1815-1820). It is thought that Breguet originally made the clock for the French Commission of Longitude, but sold it to Brisbane for use in his observatory at Largs
Largs
Largs is a town on the Firth of Clyde in North Ayrshire, Scotland, about from Glasgow. The original name means "the slopes" in Scottish Gaelic....
in Scotland. It cost Brisbane the considerable sum of 2,500 francs, and the fact he chose to buy French rather British, even in the nationalistic political climate of the early nineteenth century, gives some idea of how well regarded Breguet was internationally. Brisbane brought the clock to Australia in 1821 and it was installed in Australia's first astronomical observatory at Parramatta. The New South Wales government purchased the clock from Brisbane when he returned to England in 1825 and it remained in use there until the Parramatta observatory closed in 1947. It was put into storage for a decade before being reinstalled in the new government observatory at The Rocks, and was one of the few instruments that the new Government Astronomer, Rev. W. Scott, felt was good enough to use in the new observatory. It remained in use there for another 70 years, until it was replaced in 1912. The clock is now part of the collection of the Powerhouse Museum
Powerhouse Museum
The Powerhouse Museum is the major branch of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences in Sydney, the other being the historic Sydney Observatory...
in Sydney.
The Salomons Collection
British philanthopist, scientist and MP Sir David Salomons (1851-1925) developed a lifelong passion for horology and he became one of the leading authorities on Breguet and his timepieces. In 1921 he published the seminal volume, Breguet 1747-1823, the first major book on the subject, which included a biography, an analysis of Breguet's key inventions, listings of major pieces, and a detailed timeline of production, using examples from his own unique collection for illustrations. Over his lifetime, Salomons amassed the world's largest private Breguet collection, which ultimately grew to 124 pieces, including what are considered to be the two greatest examples of Breguet's watchmaking work - the "Marie Antionette" and the double-faced "Duc de Praslin" watches. In 1924 Salomons donated the "Duc de Praslin" (pictured at left) to the Musée des Techniques du Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers in Paris, but it was subsequently stolen. Fortunately, after three months of tinkering with the watch, the thief was apprehended when he took it to a renowned Parisian watch specialist for repair.
Timeline of Breguet's works
- 1775-1780 Improved the automatic winding mechanism - his perpetual watch.
- 1783 Invented the gong for repeater watches (bells were used until then). Designed the apple-shaped 'Breguet' hands and 'Breguet numerals'. The hands still grace watch dials today.
- 1787 Adopted and improved the lever escapement. Abraham-Louis Breguet used it in its definitive form from 1814 (this form is still in use).
- 1793 Developed a small watch showing the equation of timeEquation of timeThe equation of time is the difference between apparent solar time and mean solar time. At any given instant, this difference will be the same for every observer...
. - 1790 Invented the 'pare-chute' anti-shock device.
- 1794 Invented a retrograde display mechanism.
- 1795 Invented the Breguet spiral (flat spiral balance spring with overcoil).
- 1795 Invented the 'sympathetic' in which a clock rewinds and sets to time a detachable watch.
- 1799 Invented the 'tact' watch that could be read by feel in the pocket or the dark.
- 1801 Patented the tourbillonTourbillonIn horology, a tourbillon is an addition to the mechanics of a watch escapement. Developed around 1795 by the French-Swiss watchmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet from an earlier idea by the English chronometer maker John Arnold a tourbillon aims to counter the effects of gravity by mounting the...
escapement, developed circa 1795. - 1802 Invented the echappement naturelEchappement naturelThe échappement naturel was the invention of Abraham Louis Breguet, one of the most eminent watchmakers of all time. Following the introduction of the detent chronometer escapement with a temperature compensated balance, very close rates could be achieved in marine chronometers and to a lesser...
, a double-escape wheeled chronometer escapement that needed no oil. - 1821 Developed the “inking” chronograph, in partnership with Frédérick Louis Fatton.
Generally speaking, Abraham-Louis Breguet was distinguished by the highest attention paid to aesthetic watch design.
In 2009 the Louvre
Louvre
The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...
in Paris presented a major exhibition of Breguet's work, arranged chronologically, with 146 exhibits in eight sections that covered every phase of his career. Highlights included some of Breguet’s most complicated watches:
- No. 45, which displays both the Gregorian and the Republican “decimal” calendars (Breguet made only three Republican calendar timepieces)
- No. 1160, the replica of the famous No. 160 “Marie-Antoinette”,
- Perpétuelle self-winding watches
- multiple original tourbillons, inlcuding an unusual large-scale demonstration tourbillon later purchased by King George IV of England
- examples of the “pare-chute” shock-protection system, constant force escapements
- a superbSympathique watch and clock set from the personal collection of Queen Elizabeth II.
External links
- Official Breguet watchmakers website
- Breguet's History (in FrenchFrench languageFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and English languageEnglish languageEnglish is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
)