Throughout 2025, several models will commemorate Breguet's 250th anniversary, starting with one that's out of the blue.
"We wanted to surprise people by presenting not a grand complication, as some might have expected, but a single-hand watch. Through the Classique Souscription 2025, we wanted to tell a story, our story," said the new CEO Gregory Kissling.
Today, operations take place at Breguet Manufactures in the Vallée de Joux and Le Crêt-du-Locle in Switzerland, while the story began in Neuchâtel, where Abraham-Louis Breguet was born in 1747.
In his teenage years, he left his hometown to pursue an apprenticeship in France. In 1775, the Breguet workshop opened its doors on Quai de l'Horloge, Île de la Cité in Paris.
The time is indicated by a single hand against a white enamel dial.
The French Revolution spurred his return to Switzerland, where he stayed for around two years. Back in Paris in 1795, A.-L. Breguet resumed his business and worked on numerous projects including the revolutionary Souscription.
Available as a pre-order from 1797, the large pocket watch with a diameter of 61mm and a white enamel dial had only one hand.
"We have taken the Souscription and adapted it to a wristwatch format, respecting as closely as possible the architecture of the original. The diameter has been reduced to 40mm, while maintaining a display accuracy of around one to two minutes, which is remarkable for a single-hand timepiece," Kissling said of the new model.
Breguet Gold also debuts on the occasion of the maison's 250th anniversary. Composed of 75% gold and enriched with silver, copper and palladium, the exclusive alloy with a subtly pink hue offers stability and resistance to discolouration over time.
The newly-designed 40mm case of the Classique Souscription 2025 shines in Breguet Gold and its back is adorned with the new Quai de l'Horloge guilloché pattern.
The case band of a Classique timepiece is normally fluted but this design references the original pocket watch with a delicately satin-brushed case middle while instead of straight, lugs have been curved to ergonomically hug the wrist.
Hand-wound calibre VS00 delivers a four-day power reserve.
The white enamel dial is protected by a sapphire crystal with a thinner and less domed "chevé" profile, fashioned by A.-L. Breguet. Elements on the dial include Breguet Arabic numerals and moon-tip hand that he designed in 1783.
"For the Classique Souscription 2025, we opted for the tradition of grand feu enamel for the dial, with petit feu for the Breguet numerals. The steel Breguet hand, which seems simple on the surface, is in fact complex in its design, refined by hand and flame-blued, in the purest watchmaking tradition," said the CEO.
Likewise, the secret signature is conventionally engraved into the enamel by means of a diamond-tipped pantograph with articulated arms. Depending on the light, the inscriptions "Souscription", the serial number and the secret signature appear discreetly between the centre of the dial and 6 o'clock.
Pantograph used to delicately engrave the secret signature.
Vice-president and head of patrimony Emmanuel Breguet noted that the secret signature was devised to combat counterfeiting.
"Beneath its simple exterior, the Souscription featured several innovations: a secret signature, a new ruby size to optimise lubrication, the definitive shape of the 'Pare-chute' shock-absorbing system, and a movement layout that improved repairability," said the seventh-generation Breguet.
The structural typology of the movements in the first Souscription pocket watches echoes on the new hand-wound calibre VS00 with a power reserve of four days.
New guilloché pattern Quai de l'Horloge.
Revealed by the sapphire-crystal caseback, its construction in gilded brass is in the same shade as Breguet Gold while the central ratchet wheel boasts an engraved inscription explaining the Souscription movement, taken from a brochure and faithfully reproduced in A.-L. Breguet's cursive script.
The innovative advertising pamphlet leaflet addressed a wider audience as the founder wanted to expand his target group beyond the elites.
"The apparently simple timepiece was also accompanied by a revolutionary subscription method. By paying a quarter of the price when the order was placed, customers enabled Breguet to organise its production and pay its craftsmen in advance. Needless to say, the Souscription was a great commercial success and a milestone in A.-.L Breguet's career," said the head of patrimony.
The legendary horologist housed his creations in a red Moroccan leather case, which inspires the Classique Souscription 2025's box bearing the inscription "BREGUET 250 YEARS".
