Breguet's 250th Anniversary Launches Set New Global Benchmarks
It isn’t every day that we come across brands celebrating 250 years of existence and creating iconic products that are hailed as the holy grail. Breguet, the Swiss watchmaker founded by Abraham-Louis Breguet in 1775, also revered as the architect of modern horology, is celebrating its 250th anniversary of pursuing horological excellence with a series of global launches. Fresh off winning the prestigious Grand Prix de l’Aiguille d’Or (Golden Hand) for the Classique Souscription watch at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG), CEO Gregory Kissling, an industry veteran, sat down with us in Dubai to talk about a year packed with product milestones, historical tributes, and forward-looking strategy.
Breguet Reine de Naples 9935 and 8925How does it feel to win the Aiguille d’Or for the Classique Souscription watch?
For me, it’s an honour to serve the brand and to accept this award on behalf of the whole Breguet team—the designers, the watchmakers, the artisans—everyone who worked so hard to bring this piece to life. The watch may seem simple, but it represents the soul of Breguet.
Is it surprising that a single-handed, simple watch won, rather than a grand complication?
The Souscription timepiece is deceptively simple, but it carries a tremendous heritage. The original pocket Souscription watch genuinely saved the Maison after the French Revolution. Abraham-Louis Breguet had to rebuild the brand from almost nothing. While he spent nearly two years in Switzerland during the Revolution, he developed three major ideas that shaped watchmaking: the tourbillon, the sympathique clock (a paired clock-and-watch system that automatically resets the watch), and the souscription model, in which clients paid one quarter upfront. It was a brilliant idea as he avoided financing from banks, secured a loyal clientele, and essentially invented modern watch pre-orders. So, the Souscription isn’t just a product; it’s a symbol of how Breguet survived and reinvented itself.
For the 250th anniversary, it was the perfect place to start. Although simple, the amount of handwork behind the watch is astonishing. For example, the secret signature—Breguet invented this anti-counterfeiting feature—is reproduced today using the same tool used in the 18th century. Even the single hand takes over 90 minutes to craft: hand-blued, bevelled, and curved to follow the domed dial. For the first time, a Breguet wristwatch combines the traditional Souscription-style movement architecture with the brand’s signature Arabic numerals and design codes.
Tell us about the year-long launches planned for the 250th anniversary.
We started in Paris, the cradle of Breguet’s story. This is where the brand began its journey on Quai de l’Horloge and where three generations of the family worked for a full century before the Maison moved to Place Vendôme. We then moved to Shanghai to unveil the Tradition 7035, inspired by the famous tact watch of 1799 that used the Souscription movement. One of Breguet’s most renowned tact watches belonged to Empress Joséphine. It came with a guilloché and enamel cover set with diamonds. Our new piece echoes that with a Quai de l’Horloge guilloché, coated in translucent blue enamel. Flip it over, and you’ll see a platinum oscillating weight—a tribute to Breguet’s perpetual watch of 1780, arguably one of his greatest inventions. The third stop for us was New York, dedicated to Breguet’s aviation chapter. Few realise that the Breguet family didn’t just make pilot’s watches—they built airplanes and even co-founded Air France. The Type XX is part of that legacy. We honoured the pioneering 1930 transatlantic flight from Paris to New York with the Type XX Chronograph 2075. The case back shows the Breguet 19 TR aircraft used for this non-stop east-to-west flight. We released the new Type XX in two versions: a 250-piece edition with a silver dial and another with a black dial.
We launched the Tourbillon Sidéral 7255, a limited edition of 50 pieces, on June 26 in Geneva, the anniversary of the Tourbillon patent. The watch features an aventurine enamel dial, created using an extremely delicate enamelling process and a flying tourbillon—a first for the brand. Here, the cage is held only from below—no upper bridge—so it appears suspended in space. On the back, you’ll see an extraordinary guilloche pattern in solid gold. We created two new motifs inspired by Paris: Quai de l’Horloge and Petit Trianon, each linked to the architecture and gardens of the city.
Next, we launched the limited edition Marine Hora Mundi 5555 in London to celebrate Breguet’s historical ties with England and because Greenwich set the foundation for the global time zone system in 1884. It’s still the only GMT watch that switches instantly between two time zones without altering the display. Clients can personalise it with their preferred cities—a thoughtful touch for global travellers.
How many women’s watches did you launch for this landmark year?
Seoul was the next stop for the special launch of Reine de Naples, perhaps our most iconic ladies’ watch. It was first commissioned by Caroline Murat, Queen of Naples, in 1810. The original took more than two years to complete and introduced the famous oblong shape. We introduced two new models, Reine de Naples 9935/8925, with a newly developed bracelet inspired by Murat’s pearl jewellery, and dials combining mother-of-pearl and aventurine glass. We also launched a few high-jewellery haute horlogerie pieces in Dubai.
Tell us about the launch of the new Poinçon Breguet hallmark.
We released Breguet Classique 7235/ 7225 in Tokyo. The 7235 is deeply rooted in Breguet aesthetics, especially the legendary No. 5 pocket watch. On the case back of the 7235, you’ll see an engraved motif inspired by the Turgot map of Paris, one of the most detailed maps of the 18th century.
The 7225 is a technical masterpiece. Visually, it echoes historic Breguet tourbillons with two-second counters—running seconds and ‘observatory seconds’, the ancestor of the chronograph. But instead of a tourbillon, the movement uses a magnetic pivot, one of the most important modern technologies we’ve developed. For wristwatches, the magnetic pivot achieves what the tourbillon achieved for pocket watches, a consistent rate of stability in any position. That’s why we can guarantee ±1 second per day, our new precision standard. This watch is also the first to bear the Poinçon Breguet, our new internal hallmark that celebrates 250 years of expertise. It covers three pillars: An aesthetic harmony meeting haute horlogerie standards; precision (±1sec per day for scientific, ±2 secs per day for civil and sport and -2/+6 secs per day for evening and jewellery categories), acoustic signature, water resistance, and magnetic resistance (up to 600 gauss, ten times the Swiss norm); and a 100% Swiss-made watch head and buckle, and the guarantee that Breguet can repair any of its watches, no matter the age.
How do you conclude the celebratory launches this year?