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By Laurent Martinez

The wonderful thing about the love of watches and horology is that you learn something new every day. You can learn about amazing companies, industry insiders, collectors, watchmakers and watches by reading books and articles, listening to podcasts, watching YouTube videos, and of course, talking with fellow enthusiasts. 

Oftentimes, you hear the same names—the famous watchmakers that have left a legacy behind or big brands that everyone wants.

However, sometimes you come across an unfamiliar name that’s worth learning about.

I was recently listening to John Reardon’s Collectability podcast, which focuses on Patek Philippe, while also reading George Daniels’ book about Abraham-Louis Breguet. As you likely already know, Breguet is recognized as one of the very best watchmakers of all time; he was also an excellent businessman who was ahead of his time.

In the book, Daniels explained that many collectors may be disappointed to learn that Breguet only built a few timepieces himself. He actually had a team of exceptional watchmakers to whom he gave a lot of freedom to develop and manufacture watches and clocks. Breguet would then inspect each piece to validate the work before sending them to clients.

A friend of mine, who is a watchmaker specializing in servicing grand complication pocket watches made by A. Lange & Söhne, Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin and other high horology brands, told me that he wanted to show me a watch signed “Louis Raby” and find out if I knew that name.

Who was Louis Raby?

The truth is, little is known in detail about watchmaker Louis Raby. I reached out to the archive of Napoleon III The Empereur in Compiegne, France, hoping to get some information. Unfortunately, they could not tell me anything.

His name appears in Dictionnaire des Horlogers Francais published by Tardy as “Raby – succeda a A. Benoit a Versailles.” In 1867, “il exposa une montre en aluminum” (he exhibited a watch in aluminum), which was an extremely rare and difficult metal to use and work with during the nineteen century.

Between the author G. H. Baillie (who wrote the book Watchmakers and Clockmakers Of the World), publisher Tardy, and one other spelling variation (Rabi), it can be pieced together that Louis Raby was the third or fourth generation of a watchmaking family working in Paris for approximately a century and a half.

In the book The Art of Breguet by George Daniels, he describes Louis Raby as being one of Breguet’s most talented pupils, surpassing even the Master in the execution of his own pendule sympathique. More details can be read in that book on pages 90 and 180.

A Breguet Pendule Sympathique from 1814.

Fine finishing

After doing this research, I sensed that Louis Raby had a lot of credentials and that his work would be spectacular. My intuition was correct; when I saw the Louis Raby pocket watch in person, it was magnificent. Even my friend Don Loke, who was the former head of the technical department at Breguet, was speechless upon seeing the quality of the watch. He said it was, “one of the finest finished watches from the 1800s that I have ever seen.”

The Louis Raby piece in question is a splendid quarter repeater pocket watch with an instantaneous jump calendar with day, date, month, and moon phase. It is also the first pocket watch Don saw with a gold train through the repeating mechanism.

The level of quality and work on this 300-plus-part timepiece is outstanding. Don details the hard fire enamel white dial, followed by the blue enamel moon phase disk. In this video, Don presents the watch in detail including all parts of the movement. It is a real journey of beauty.

What makes these timepieces so valuable is a compilation of many things, but mostly name (provenance), complication, dial, screws, and quality. This was probably a pocket watch commissioned by the Emperor since the quality of the work is so remarkable. Don shares how he services a watch and the process he follows. It is a work of art. In the video he shows us how to put back the dial and hands – and the meticulous work it takes to do it.

I invite you to watch the video to not only discover this astonishing piece but also find how a watchmaker services a timepiece by walking us through the complexity and precision of timepieces. The video ends with the presentation of his next project and introduces us to his watch collection called D Loke, which includes his double escapement patent.

 

Laurent Martinez is the proprietor of Laurent Fine Watches, Greenwich, Connecticut. Read more by him at blog.laurentfinewatches.com or visit his store’s site at www.laurentfinewatches.com

 

The watchmaker’s new Queen of Naples Coeur 9825 is a rose gold valentine to love.

Breguet enhances the technicality of its annual ode to Valentine’s Day with a new invention that mimics a beating heart. The luxury watchmaker’s 2021 Reine de Naples watch, released in time for the lover’s holiday on February 14, features a minute hand in the shape of a heart that slowly expands or contracts as it makes its way around the elongated oval dial.

The new Breguet Reine de Naples Cœur.

The hand on this Breguet Reine de Naples Cœur (Heart) edition is centered at the 6 o’clock position. Mimicking a beating heart, the hand stretches as it moves across the top half of the dial, and become more rounded as the hand reaches the lower part of the dial.

To propel the unusual minute hand, Breguet devised an oval-shaped cam (shaped to mirror the case) located under the dial. The cam controls two independent arms that together make up the hand. Each rotating arm moves at a different speed, creating the illusion of a beating heart.

The red heart-tipped hour hand points to minutes along the hours indicators, which are set with small hearts every five minutes. The watch dial itself is sapphire and finished with translucent white lacquer. The hour is indicated by a dot of purple lacquer within a window just above the minute hand.

The Breguet Reine de Naples Cœur 9825, showing how the hour hand expands and contracts as it rounds the dial.

Breguet enhances the romance here with a generous use of rose gold for the 36.5mm by 28.45mm oval case and sets diamonds along the bezel and again around the dial just beneath the crystal. The sapphire-crystal caseback allows a view of the new automatic caliber 78A0 that features an in-line escapement with a silicon escape wheel and balance spring. Though we were not provided with pictures of the movement, Breguet has undoubtedly finished the caliber to its usual superlative level.

The brand notes that the Reine de Naples, one of the brand’s most successful collections, is inspired by Breguet model no. 2639 made in 1810 for Caroline Murat, Queen of Naples, who commissioned it.

Breguet will make twenty-eight Reine de Naples Coeur watches and will offer them at its own brand boutiques. Look for each watch to be presented in an envelope clutch bag finished in grained calfskin leather and dyed vermilion red to match the strap. Price: $46,100.

 

Each year we take a moment to note the anniversary of the first tourbillon, the whirling regulation device Abraham-Louis Breguet patented on June 26, 1801. Breguet’s invention helped make pocket watches more precise by counteracting many of the negative effects of gravity on timekeeping precision.

Abraham-Louis Breguet

As is the case each year, Montres Breguet has provided us with a few visual reminders of how Breguet’s invention eventually started more than two centuries of tourbillon development by watchmakers.

A Breguet tourbillon

That development, however, was surprisingly slow. Found primarily in pocket watches and the occasional clock, the tourbillon wasn’t adopted for serially produced wristwatches until the 1980s, though a few prototype wristwatches with tourbillons were developed by Omega in 1947 and even earlier by special order at other Swiss manufacturers and by the French maker LIP.

Breguet Tourbillon N°1188

Breguet also reminds us that Abraham-Louis Breguet created only thirty-five tourbillon watches, with fewer than ten known to survive (including the No. 1188, pictured above).

The Breguet N°2567

The House of Breguet possesses several additional historical tourbillon pocket watches, including No. 1176 sold by Abraham-Louis Breguet in 1809, and No. 2567 sold in 1812, along with original records that list every single Breguet historical creation.

Many original Breguet tourbillons can be found in the Breguet Boutique & Museum in Place Vendome, Paris.

Here are just a few recent Breguet tourbillon watches that bear witness to the legacy of the man who devised the device, and whose name is on the building.

For 2020, Breguet adorns the dial of its Extra-Thin Self-Winding Tourbillon with a touch of deep blue, by using the traditional grand feu enamel technique.
Engraved caseback of the newest Breguet Extra-Thin Self-Winding Tourbillon.
Breguet this year offers its Marine Tourbillon Équation Marchante 5887 with a rose gold case with a gold dial.
The eye-catching engraved caseback of the Breguet Marine Tourbillon Équation Marchante 5887.