BREGUET
iW Interview:
EMMANUEL BREGUET
HOW WOULD YOU CHARACTERIZE ABRAHAM-LOUIS
BREGUET’S APPROACH TO WATCHMAKING?
He was not specialized in just pocket watches or table clocks
or repeating watches. He did many, many things. From the
simplest watch to the most complicated, like the Breguet #160.
In the newly revised book I tried to make clear his different
facets and his genius. I wanted to describe his place in Europe
from the mid-18th to the mid-19th century. This was a very
complicated time, with the French Revolution, and with Napo-
leon. It was my vision as a historian to place A.L. Breguet among
these people and at this time
WAS HE SELLING WATCHES IN THE UNITED STATES?
He sold some watches at the very start of the 19th century in
America in Philadelphia, Boston and New York. In New York the
first Breguet was sold in about 1806. He had the idea to prospect
new markets. A.L. Breguet was from France, and remember
King Louis XVI helped America to create the United States.
Above: Emmanuel Breguet reading from his book.
Inside my book we have added many new pictures because
we have purchased many new pieces. We have added a new
section in the back that is a kind of glossary to his life. We’ve
also added more information about Mr. Hayek, as well as more
historical information about certain specific pieces the Breguet
company created in the early 20th century.
WHAT WOULD MR. BREGUET THINK ABOUT SMART
WATCHES TODAY?
He was an innovator. I have too much respect for him to
imagine what he would think of this today. I’m sure he would be
happy if he saw that watchmaking continues to be innovative.
For example of the way the Breguet company today uses sili-
cone and the magnetic pivot. Probably he would be very proud
because we have kept many of the same Breguet designs. We
are inspired by what he did. It’s an extraordinary legacy.
86 | INTERNATIONAL WATCH | WINTER 2018
IDENTIFYING A FAKE BREGUET
Abraham-Louis Louis Breguet was confronted with forger-
ies early in his career. It was a problem that only increased
as his fame rose. In the second half of the nineteenth cen-
tury, fake Breguet watches far outnumbered real ones. As a
general guideline, any Breguet pocket watch bearing an in-
dividual number greater than 5500 can be considered fake,
while any nineteenth century pocket watch signed "Breguet
à Paris" is likewise not the real thing. Furthermore, Breguet
never made any watches bearing the inscription "Spiral
Breguet." From 1880 to 1910, many manufactures added this
inscription in big letters to their pieces to lend them credibil-
ity, whereas Breguet never used such inscriptions.
–Source: Montres Breguet