Breguet

Abraham-Louis Breguet, born in Neuchâtel, opened his workshop at 51 Quai de l'Horloge on the Île de la Cité in Paris in 1775. Over the following decades he introduced or refined much of the vocabulary of fine watchmaking: the self-winding "perpétuelle", the gong spring for repeaters, the "pare-chute" shock protection, the overcoil balance spring that bears his name and the tourbillon, patented in 1801. His clients included Marie-Antoinette, for whom the No. 160 grand complication was commissioned in 1783 and completed long after her death, and Caroline Murat, Queen of Naples, who commissioned a wristwatch from him in 1810.

After the family's involvement ended the brand passed through several owners; in 1999 it was acquired by the Swatch Group, which based manufacturing in the Vallée de Joux. Its design signatures — blued open-tipped "pomme" hands, Breguet numerals, guilloché dials, coin-edge casebands and a secret signature — run through the Classique, Marine, Tradition, Type XX and Reine de Naples collections.