Famous Watchmakers | XVIII | Abraham-Louis Breguet | Fondation De La Haute Horlogerie

Century

Abraham-Louis Breguet

Abraham-Louis Breguet © MHE

1747-1823
Swiss clockmaker, established in Paris.
Stayed in Switzerland and met Abraham Louis Perrelet.
Master Clockmaker in 1784
Member of the Bureau des Longitudes in 1814.
Watchmaker to the Royal Navy In 1815, Member of the Academy of Sciences in 1816, Chevalier of the Legion of Honour in 1819.
Apart from the very start of his career, Abraham-Louis Breguet almost always used Lépine calibres, which he transformed.

1775-80
Improved the automatic rotor or so-called perpetual watch.

1783
Invented the gong-spring for repetition watches.
Design of apple-shaped so-called “Breguet” hands and Arabic numerals called “Breguet numerals”.

From 1787
Adoption and improvement of the anchor escapement. Abraham-Louis Breguet used it in its definitive form 1814 (this form is still in use).

1790
Invented the “pare-chute” anti-shock device.

1793
Development of a small clock showing the time equation.

1794
Invention of a retrograde display mechanism.

1795
Invented the Breguet spiral (flat spiral).
Invention of the sympathetic pendulum which resets a special clock once the latter has been coupled with the pendulum mechanism.

1799
Invented the tact watch.

1801
Patent for the tourbillon escapement, developed circa 1795.

1821
Development of the “encreur” chronograph, in partnership with Frédérick Louis Fatton.
Generally speaking, Abraham-Louis Breguet was distinguished for the first attention paid to aesthetic watch design.