The Breuguet Exhibition of Great Technical Developments: The Self-winding Watch, First Wristwatch, Repeating Mechanism and the Tourbillon
Breguet, "‘Marie-Antoinette’ watch," replica made by Montres Breguet S.A., 2005-2008. Automatic (perpétuelle) minute-repeater watch, complete automatic date, equation of time, power reserve, metallic thermometer, large independent seconds hand and small direct-drive seconds, gold case, rock crystals dial, gold and steel hands, diameter: 2 1/2 in. (6.4 cm, 64 mm). Courtesy of Montres Breguet.
Editor's Note: We've gone to the History and Timeline of Breguet, S.A., from the year 1775 for excerpts focusing on the inventions that led to the watches shown at the Breguet exhibition, Art and Innovation, at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco. The exhibit will continue until January 10, 2016.
Self-winding, 1780: What Abraham-Louis Breguet set out to achieve was at once simple and highly ambitious: a watch which would wind itself, without the aid of a key or any other external agency. In his customary fashion, Breguet never laid claim to either the idea or the term "perpétuelle", taking credit merely — if that is the appropriate word — for the invention of a system that was reliable and effective: an oscillating weight "à secousses" which responded to the wearer’s movements and ordinary walking. The oscillating weight, sprung so that it returned to its original position after each movement, pushed up two going-barrels, stopping when the springs were fully depressed.
Gong-spring, 1783: The leading horologists of the late 17th century vied to create a chiming watch that would allow the time to be known on demand in the dark. Around 1680 they produced the first repeating watches. Since then, a number of watchmakers have contributed to the development of the repeater, improving its accuracy from the nearest quarter-hour to the nearest minute.
Breguet Hands, 1783: Abraham-Louis Breguet was also fascinated from very early on by repeating watches. In 1783 he created the first striking repeating watch to be operated by a gong spring rather than a bell, universally used hitherto. Initially rectilinear in form and mounted crosswise on the back plate, the gong spring was soon coiled up around the movement. It had the advantage of considerably reducing the thickness of striking watches, while at the same time making the tone more harmonious and discret. An exceptionally useful invention, it was adopted immediately by most contemporary watchmakers. Breguet also invented multiple striking mechanisms, or cadraturs, for repeating watches, notably for the quarters, half-quarters and minutes.
Eccentric "Moon" Tip Watch Hands: The hands at this time, often short, broad and heavily decorated, added to the generally rather ponderous effect and difficulty of reading the dial. From his earliest days as a watchmaker, Breguet set out to streamline not only the internal mechanisms but also the external forms of his watches. As the hands are an essential part of the watch, both functionally and aesthetically, it is not surprising that this is another area in which Abraham-Louis Breguet left his indelible mark. To begin with he used gold English hands, until in about 1783 he invented a type of hand that was uncompromisingly new, made of gold or blued steel, and described variously as resembling a hollow apple or a crescent moon, the principle being that the points were hollowed out in eccentric fashion. Of extreme delicacy and irresistible elegance, the new shape was and immediate success. The term ‘Breguet hands’, like ‘Breguet overcoil’, soon entered the vocabulary of watchmaking.
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