Breguet Tradition Seconde Rétrograde 7035
In Conversation with Breguet
PRESS RELEASE | 1260 WORDS | 12 MINUTE READ
The Breguet Tradition 7035 showcases the brand’s timeless innovation, merging historic craftsmanship with modern elegance in signature Breguet gold and blue.
Image courtesy - Breguet
Interview with Gregory Kissling, CEO de Breguet
What do you like best about this new model?
What appeals to me most of all is the very essence of what makes the Tradition collection so unique: this plunging perspective into the heart of the movement, offering a direct insight to the complexity and refinement that Breguet infuses into each of its timepieces. This daring architecture almost lets you slip into the watchmaker’s skin, so faithfully does it reproduce the view he has when working on a watch. For me, this is where Breguet’s DNA lies: a strong, instantly recognisable visual identity that asserts its character even from a distance. This second anniversary timepiece perfectly embodies that spirit. A true tribute to Breguet’s heritage, it is distinguished by the use of our Breguet gold, for both the guilloché dial and the case, giving this timepiece a majestic and resolutely exclusive allure. It is also a logical continuation from the 2025 Souscription, as the Tradition is based on the Tact watch which was itself an evolution of the original Souscription watches.
Is this the first time that Breguet has offered a translucent enamelled guilloché dial?
This is not a first for us: we have already unveiled timepieces featuring enamelled guilloche dials. What is new, however, is the integration of the brand-new Quai de l’Horloge motif on the dial introduced earlier this year. This unprecedented alliance highlights the excellence of these two crafts, which are part of the brand’s codes, and celebrates a centuries old expertise.
Is it common for Breguet watches to have gold hands?
Like our founder, we strive to use precious materials whenever possible. Abraham-Louis Breguet himself equipped some of his most prestigious watches with gold hands. We have followed suite for some of our contemporary models. For these anniversary pieces, we wanted to pay special tribute to our gold, which was specially developed to mark the company’s 250th anniversary. Of course, we remain deeply attached to our blued hands, which are a visual signature of our brand, but this type of decision is always based on aesthetic coherence and legibility.
What is so interesting about using platinum for the oscillating weight on this model?
A.-L. Breguet was one of those visionary watchmakers who constantly pushed back the boundaries. Driven by a constant spirit of innovation, he never hesitated to experiment, including in his choice of materials. In fact, he was the first to introduce platinum into watchmaking, notably on the famous “Marie Antoinette” pocket watch. A dense and noble material, platinum offered the advantage of giving the oscillating weight a higher efficiency without increasing the volume of the component.
In the Tradition 7035, we have chosen to reintroduce this element, both as a tribute to the boldness of our founder and his pioneering spirit, and because the oscillating weight occupies an emblematic place in the aesthetics of the Tradition collection. What does the Tradition collection represent for Breguet? For twenty years now, this collection has been one of Breguet’s most emblematic lines. When it was launched in 2005, it represented a veritable revolution in the world of watchmaking.
Who else but Breguet would expose the movement components so audaciously on the front of the watch?
It was a daring move that did not go unnoticed and has since been adopted by a number of other brands. 250 years after its creation, Breguet continues to innovate...and to inspire.
Interview with Emmanuel Breguet, Head of Patrimony
Why and how did A.-L. Breguet create such a recognisable and new style?
Let’s go back to the time of our founder. At that time, watches were often overloaded with ornamentation, as if the prestige of a timepiece could be measured by the abundance and richness of its decoration. In fact, watchmaking lingered in a rather heavy Baroque style, no doubt out of convenience. Going against this trend, A.-L. Breguet sought from the outset to streamline the watch, to eliminate all superfluous decoration and above all to make it easier to read the indications provided by the watch. He therefore opted for radical sobriety, favouring white enamel dials in particular: what could be purer, more legible, especially with beautiful numerals, the numerals that everyone would soon call the “Breguet numerals”?
And what about guilloché?
The guilloché technique was also quickly adopted. This technique existed and Breguet had the idea of applying it to watch dials. In Breguet’s eyes, it had all the right qualities: its variations ensured optimal legibility, it gave a matt and silky appearance, and it was anti reflective. Finally, it meets one of the master’s essential criteria: it is ... elegant. At Breguet, elegance and refinement are at the service of functionality. The genius of A.-L. Breguet was, as observers of the time said, to unite beauty and utility! The same could be said of the hands he designed in the 1780s, the famous “Breguet hands”. A Breguet watch is always legible, even if it provides a great deal of different information: various dates, power reserve, equation of time, moon phases, sometimes a thermometer, etc.
What can be said about this very special form of oscillating weight?
The first appearance of this oscillating weight in Breguet’s work dates back to his first automatic watches, known as “Perpetuelles”, which brought him to the attention of the French court as early as 1780. An eloquent example can be found in the N°160 watch designed for Queen Marie-Antoinette. What was needed was a sufficiently efficient oscillating element to ensure the winding of a movement comprising hundreds of components and an exceptional number of complications. At the same time, Breguet wanted winding to take place naturally, simply by the body’s natural movements; his automatic watches did not need to be “shaken” at all, they simply needed to be worn naturally...
When did Breguet introduce platinum?
A.-L. Breguet introduced platinum at the very beginning of his career, between 1775 and 1780. As a good scientist, he understood and anticipated the remarkable properties of this heavy metal, which was not yet used in watchmaking at the time. Platinum was not widely used because its fusion required very high temperatures - around 1,800 degrees Celsius - and therefore special equipment. However, Breguet knew that platinum would make the difference and enable him to produce watches with an efficient automatic winding system. Thus was born the Breguet automatic system with a platinum oscillating weight fixed laterally. Breguet went on to make a few watches with platinum cases, but these would remain rare exceptions.
The new guilloché motif is called “Quai de l’Horloge”, in honour of the lane on the Île de la Cité where A.-L. Breguet set up his workshop. Why did he choose this location at the time?
When our founder left his native Switzerland to settle in Versailles and then Paris, he trained and studied for more than ten years. He then decided to open his own workshop to satisfy his need for entrepreneurship and to develop watchmaking according to his tastes and aspirations. At the time, the Ile de la Cité was not only the geographical heart of Paris, but it was also a veritable hotspot of the arts and crafts related to watchmaking. There were dial-makers, goldsmiths, enamellers, case-makers and many other trades essential to the manufacture of a timepiece. It was simply the place to be. Finally, the immediate proximity of the Pont Neuf, a major thoroughfare, made it a very easy place to get to. In fact, Breguet spent his entire life in this house, which he eventually occupied completely. He received countless personalities here...
Interview with Emmanuel Breguet, Head of Patrimony
Does Breguet’s Quai de l’Horloge house still exist? This large house still exists, with its double façade, one overlooking the Quai de l’Horloge and the other the Place Dauphine. It was simply extended by raising the height of the building in the second half of the 19th century.
This house, built in the early 17th century, has a considerable history. Four generations of Breguets lived here and made major inventions. The most extraordinary watches in the world were built within these walls; then countless scientific instruments were born and built here: electric telegraphs with dials, safety systems for the first railways, devices to measure the speed of light. And did you know that it was between two floors of this house, in 1877, that a telephone was first tested in France by Antoine Breguet (1851-1882) and his cousin Alfred Niaudet (1835-1883)? Later, the house was occupied by descendants of Abraham-Louis Breguet, including famous writers and politicians. Few houses have been home to such an intense intellectual life in such a wide range of disciplines for two and a half centuries!
For further information, visit breguet.com