Breguet’s grandest watch unveiled at Baselworld 2009 was the Classique Grande Complication 7637, a minute repeater with power reserve and day-night indicators. The watch is presented in a large, 42 mm case and utilises a “re-engineered” movement.
The calibre inside is not entirely new, it is an improved version of the long in tooth Lemania cal. 399 minute repeater movement found in the previous incarnation of the Breguet minute repeater. The Lemania cal. 399 is likely based on some vintage repeater calibre, with the design of the bridges and its 18,000 bph escapement being two clues; no one designs movements like that anymore, I cannot think of a minute repeater calibre designed in the past 5 years with such a bridge layout.
From the back the view is interesting for several reasons. The movement has a unique colour scheme; it is almost entirely silver in tone, including the balance wheel. And because the gold gongs match the colour of the case, they are not especially prominent, leaving the movement looking very silver and small in the large case.
The movement is decorated with hand engraving in the usual frilly baroque style. Breguet engraving has always appeared inconsistent to me, sometimes it is delicate and fine of the quality of Vacheron Constantin, and at other times it is not. This watch unfortunately does not sport the quality of work that one would expect for such an expensive watch; the engraved lines and shapes are not clean and consistent.
From what I understand the main change to the movement is solid gold gong. Whatever Breguet may claim it sounds similar to the previous Breguet repeaters – which were sometimes good but mostly sufficient – though this is perhaps louder. The sound is no clearer than before; the buzz of the regulator is still evident.
While I like the look of this repeater, despite its size which makes it look like a pocket watch with lugs, it is not a class-leading product; it is not one of the best sounding or finished repeaters out there. That is strange because Breguet is capable of making terrific products, the La Tradition tourbillon being a good example of a unique, inspired product that is competitively priced (a tourbillon is never cheap).
Another watch unveiled at Baselworld was another watch with aural qualities – the Marine Royale. It is a sports/diver’s alarm watch, in the great tradition of such watches as pioneered by the revered JLC Extreme World Compressor Alarm and other such pedigreed watches – the logic behind such watches is perhaps sound does travel better underwater while vision is impaired.
The Marine Royale is a bizarre combinations of design elements: a sharp, aggressive-looking bezel with a serrated edge, enormous buttons and crowns, combined with a guilloche dial, Breguet hands (even more bizarrely the minute hand has the ‘pomme’ filled with Luminova while the hour hand has the tip filled instead) and a charming but tiny quaver that indicates the alarm. Wow.
To accommodate all that styling the case is 45 mm. And it is heavy because it is available in rose or white gold. Nothing more needs to be said.
By SJX
From http://breguet.watchprosite.com/
Thank You.
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