BREGUET IN PARIS
For watch enthusiasts, Abraham-Louis
Breguet’s meticulous records are a gift that
keeps on giving. iW recently explored them
during a visit to the Breguet Museum at
Place Vendôme.
BY MICHAEL THOMPSON
Barely suppressing his glee, Emmanuel Breguet slowly
pulls open a drawer underneath a showcase on the second
floor of the Breguet Boutique in Place Vendôme. Open inside
the drawer are pages from the personal notebook of his fore-
bear, famed watchmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet. Visible
are statistics, rough architectural blueprints, scientific nota-
tions and even a cross section of a pocket watch movement.
Breguet, a seventh-generation descendent of the famed
watchmaker whose last name he shares, is a Sorbonne-
trained historian who began studying his family’s history
in depth when he started with Montres Breguet in 1993.
Currently head of patrimony and strategic development for
Breguet, his knowledge arrives from far more than family
lore, however. Much of his insight stems from poring over
the sales records kept by Abraham-Louis Breguet and his
company. The sales ledgers, stored in a custom-made vault,
give Breguet access to the dates and names of the original
owners of every timepiece made by the company.
PLACE VENDÔME
Breguet’s Place Vendôme historic collection, which opened
in 2000, is the largest of three Breguet museums worldwide.
As curator of all three collections, Emmanuel Breguet has
not only researched his family’s history, but he has method-
ically searched the globe for original Breguet creations,
purchasing hundreds of Breguet automatic and manual
watches, souscription sets, tact watches, simple or repeating
watches, some of the world’s oldest keyless watches, travel
clocks, marine chronometers and newer Breguet military
watches.
Many of those purchases are now among the 100 or so
pocket watches and clocks on display at the Paris loca-
tion. All are true historical treasures that can be considered
a record of the birth of modern horology. A visit here will
The Breguet Museum at 6 Place Vendôme. The historical collection inside is
curated by Emmanuel Breguet.
certainly thrill anyone with even the slightest interest in
the origins and development of chronographs, automatic
movements, travel clocks, tourbillons, minute repeaters,
and power reserve indicators—all aspects of modern
84 | INTERNATIONAL WATCH | WINTER 2018