Maker Info
Abraham-Louis Breguet
Abraham-Louis Breguet was born on January 10, 1747 in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. He was introduced to watchmaking and watch selling through his stepfather and uncles, who frequently went to Paris on business. At age 15, he moved to France. In 1775 he married and used his first wife's dowry to set up his own business on the Quai de l'Horloge near the Pont Neuf on the Ile de la Cité.
Key developments in Breguet's watchmaking career were:
1775 • Breguet opens his own workshop on the Quai de l’Horloge on the Île de la Cité in Paris.
1780 • Invention of the self-winding watch known as the perpetual or automatic.
1782 • Makes an automatic repeater watch for Marie-Antoinette,Queen of France.
1783 • Invention of the gong spring for repeater watches. Design of the characteristic hollowed out points known as "Breguet hands" and the Arabic numerals known as Breguet figures.
1784 • Breguet officially recognized as a master watchmaker.
1786 • Appearance of the Breguet guilloche dial.
1789 • Invention of the Breguet ratchet key and of a natural escapement functioning without oil.
1790 • Invention of the “Pare-Chute” shock-proofing method.
1792 • Construction of the mechanism for Chappe's optical telegraph.
1793 • Flees Paris for Switzerland during the turmoil of the French Revolution.
1795 • Returns to Paris. First recorded description of the “Pendule Sympathique”, a matching clock and watch that were fitted together to synchronise them when winding. The perpetual calendar, Breguet "overcoil," and ruby cylinder escapement were also developed.
1796 • Invention of the idea of the subscription ("souscription") watch. Construction of the first carriage clock.
1798 • Invention of the musical chronometer. Patent of constant force escapement.
1799 • Invention of the "tact watch."
1801 • Invention of the "tourbillon regulator."
1807 • Antoine-Louis Breguet (his son) joins the company. Watches are then signed as Breguet et Fils.
1810 • Creation of the first wristwatch in history, for the Queen of Naples, Caroline Murat (sister of the Emperor Napoleon l).
1813 • Appointed Horloger de la Marine in succession to Louis Berthoud. Important work is thereafter signed with this designation.
1814 • Abraham-Louis Breguet becomes member of the Office of Longitudes.
1815 • Abraham-Louis Breguet became Horologer to the French Royal Navy. Creation of the double spring drum watch and marine chronometer.
1816 • Appointed to the Academy of Sciences by King Louis XVlll.
1817 • Production of new tri-metallic thermometer.
1819 • Eyepiece for astronomical telescope with counter for measuring 10th of a second and estimating 100ths.
1820 • Double second watch, or observation chronometer, ancestor of the modern chronograph.
1822 • Inking chronograph. Publication of the firm's first commercial catalogue. Firm at this time known as Breguet et fils.
1823 • Abraham-Louis Breguet dies, and his son Antoine-Louis takes charge of the Breguet firm.
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Here are the generations of the Breguet family for reference. (See their individual records and the company records for more details.)
Abraham-Louis Breguet (1747-1823), watchmaker
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Antoine-Louis Breguet (1776-1858), watchmaker
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Louis-Clément-François Breguet (1804-1883), watchmaker, physicist
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Antoine Breguet (1851-1882), engineer
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Louis Breguet (1880-1955), aircraft builder
Jacques Breguet (1881-1939), aircraft builder
