Abraham-Louis Breguet - Works and Influence

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, George IV of the United Kingdom, Napoleon Bonaparte, Marie-Antoinette, Alexander I of Russia, Prince of Wales, Joséphine de Beauharnais, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. Following his introduction to the court, Queen Marie-Antoinette developed a fascination for Breguet's unique self-winding watch and Louis XVI of France bought several pieces.

Legend has it that it was the ill-fated French queen herself who commissioned Breguet's masterpiece, the "Marie Antoinette" (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, 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 from the excesses of the French Revolution. He returned to Paris overflowing with the ideas that produced the Breguet balance-spring, his first carriage clock (sold to House of Bonaparte), the sympathique clock and its dependent watch, the tact watch, and finally the tourbillon, 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, 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, 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 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 in Sydney.