These watches set fire to SIHH 2019

Robb Report finds envelope-nudging, artisanal flair and ‘firsts’ in abundance at SIHH 2019 in Geneva.

By Nick Scott 04/03/2019

Fabienne Lupo, who runs the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH) – Geneva’s annual watch fair that started out, in 1991, as luxury group Richemont’s riposte to Baselworld – says that the annual event’s aim is “to become a kind of Davos of watchmaking”. It’s an audacious mission statement, given that the World Economic Forum literally sets out to make the world a better place: but the 29th SIHH event, which took place in January, showcased the extent to which watchmakers are rising to the challenge, when it comes to enriching the horological ecosphere.

As usual, many of the innovative masterstrokes found within the branded grottos at the Palexpo exhibition centre were mechanical in nature. Baume & Mercier wowed even the most finicky of horological engineering geeks present – and they weren’t short in number – by adding a perpetual calendar to the arsenal of complications (silicon hairspring, high-performance escapement, five-day power reserve) introduced last year to the new Baumatic range ($34,800). Also worth a look are the eight new Classima Lady Steel watches with new dial sizes and automatic quartz movements, the version with Classima mother-of-pearl quartz and a diamond-set bezel being the stand-out ($6200).


Richard Mille Marshmallow Series
Courtesy Richard Mille

Another impressive mechanical ‘first’ came from Jaeger-LeCoultre, whose Master Grande Tradition Gyrotourbillon Westminster Perpétuel ($1.274 million) features a minute repeater that eschews the traditional two-note ding in favour of the familiar four-note refrain sounded by Big Ben. Girard-Perregaux’s new 48mm bead-blasted titanium piece, the Bridges Cosmos (POA), offers a 60-hour power reserve thanks to an impressive new calibre that lies within, while A. Lange & Söhne’s Zeitwerk Date – a 10th-anniversary celebration piece – features a glass ring date, with printed numerals from 1 to 31, which circumferences the dial and nudges a notch further around it each midnight (around $141,700).

There was also plenty of inventive zeal with unconventional materials: sat atop Piaget’s Altiplano’s ultra-thin calibre is a meteorite dial – blue in the 41mm pink gold Tourbillon version ($188,000), grey in the 40mm pink gold version (from $41,600) – while RJ Watches’ ARRAW 6919, complementing a patented mechanism that displays a 3D moon rotating 360°, features materials scraped from the lunar surface (POA). And, moving from ultra-rare materials to problematically ubiquitous ones, Panerai presented its Mike Horn Edition Submersible, an edition limited to 19 pieces, each with a strap made from three recycled plastic bottles (around $32,000, or $64,000 for a special edition that includes training with Horn in the Arctic).

Two brands, in particular, showcased some serious R&D vigour with crystals: one being Audemars Piguet, whose new range, entitled Code 11.59, as well as three new in-house movements including an integrated column wheel chronograph with flyback function, features a sapphire crystal that is domed internally but vertically curved between 6 o’clock and 12 o’clock (POA). Take our word for it – it does far more for depth, perspective and legibility than it sounds like it should. Bovet also nudged the known crystal envelope, its Récital 26 Brainstorm Chapter One piece being entirely cased in sapphire crystal ($414,500).

Watches that wear their heart on their sleeve – we refer to ‘skeletonised’ or ‘openworked’ pieces – seem ever more abundant at both the annual fairs. Audemars Piguet’s aforementioned Code 11.59 collection features, among its 13 iterations, a Skeleton Tourbillon; Ulysse Nardin’s Skeleton X, meanwhile, takes a sporty, hyper-modern approach to the form (including a version in Carbonium®Gold, a material usually used in the aerospace sector; $31,050).


SANTOS DE CARTIER SKELETON WATCH
Courtesy Cartier

Perhaps the most surprising addition to the skeleton canon unveiled here, though, was a model being added, along with a chronograph, to Cartier’s Santos range, which enjoyed a successful re-launch last year. The slightly Batman-esque, all-black Noctambule model features Super-Luminova on its movement bridges, numbers and minute and hour hands ($37,500). The Révélation d’Une Panthère in white gold with diamonds ($385,000) – whose dial features a panther’s face made up of gold beads, which disperse to the bottom of the dial with a tilt of the wrist – was another stand-out when it came to the French house’s new offerings.

The many SIHH attendees with a strong penchant for dial decoration weren’t left disappointed – the delicate slate guilloche on Parmigiani’s Toric Chronomètre ($37,800) and Greubel Forsey’s lavishly micro-engraved Art Piece Edition Historique ($872,000) were stand-outs – but other brands showed a tendency towards zanier methods. That includes Richard Mille, whose nectarous new collection is made up of 10 models that articulate their creator’s affection for sweets, cupcakes, pastries and fruits (they were designed by ladies’ collection director Cécile Guenat, who is Mille’s business partner and friend Dominique Guenat’s daughter). While most of the collection, which features 3000 miniature sculptures, adheres to the brand’s familiar multi-layered, miniature toy-theatre look, the standout piece here – the RM 07-03 Automatic Marshmallow – is fronted by a gently ridged panel of elegant, pink and white, hand-enamelled swirls ($230,500).Panerai’s new 47mm Submersible Chrono Guillaume Néry Edition features a dial textured in grey to resemble a shark’s skin (around $30,400). (The special edition, $62,000, comes with a unique experience with Guillaume Néry, after whom the watch is named, in the ocean depths of French Polynesia).


Gruebel Forsey Art Piece Edition Historique
Courtesy Gruebel Forsey

Ulysse Nardin, meanwhile, has teamed up with Italian erotic comic book illustrator Milo Manara to create its new Classico Erotic series: 10 different pieces, depicting different stages of a Sapphic fling between a young woman and a mermaid (from $63,293). The watch-buying world’s penchant for blue dials, climbing to the crest of the zeitgeist for a few years, continues unabated: the ultra-thin Vacheron Constantin Les Cabinotiers Minute Repeater Perpetual Calendar in white gold ($1.24 million) being a fine example of ultra-modern classicism, and Audemars Piguet’s Code 11.59 featuring several iterations with rich azure frontages visible through that crystal sapphire trickery.

No watch fair is complete without an horological-automotive collaboration, thanks to predecessors such as Ball For BMW, the Pamigiani Fleurier Bugatti Atalante Flyback Chronograph and – of course – the Rolex Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph Daytona. Here, the openworked nature of the Excalibur One-Off by Roger Dubuis, produced in partnership with both Lamborghini and Pirelli (around $1.492 million), exposes marvels such as its flying tourbillon, modelled on the V-shaped engine block of a Lamborghini. (This one-off edition was sold immediately after launch.) The pick of the military heritage bunch – alongside all of Panerai’s output, by virtue of its brand-defining history as a supplier to the Italian Navy – was IWC Schaffhausen’s Spitfire Collection (from $6700 to $42,600), a tie-in with the house’s sponsorship of the forthcoming Silver Spitfire/The Longest Flight project.


Parmigiani Toric Chronometre Slate Guilloche
Courtesy Parmigiani

This mission will see two British aviation enthusiasts, Matt Jones and Steve Brooks, circumnavigate the planet, covering 43,500 kilometres over four months, in a silver Spitfire Mark IX. Also drawing on adventure as a theme was Montblanc, whose additions to the 1858 Collection with bronze cases, khaki dials and NATO straps are engraved with a ‘Spirit of Mountain Exploration’ design (around $4600 to $9300). The Richemont show it may well be, but since 2016, SIHH has been drawing an increasing number of smaller, artisanal brands to its special Carré des Horlogers zone within. And, among these tirelessly innovative independents, RJ was not the only one with a zest for experimentation.

F.P. Journe’s audacious Tourbillon Souverain Vertical (around $343,500 in red gold and around $349,000 in platinum), according to the company’s eponymous founder François-Paul Journe, actually improves on an invention that has been at the apex of horological precision for over 200 years. “I designed this vertical tourbillon so that its functions remain constant whether the watch lies flat or is placed on its side,” he says. Elsewhere in the Carré des Horlogers area, Christophe Claret presented its new Angelico: another tourbillon, this one inspired by 18th century marine chronometers, with a long detent escapement and cable-type fusee (around $334,500 in red gold, around $306,300 in titanium); MB&F launched a steel version of its sci-fi-ish HM6 (around $295,000), which has sapphire crystal domes in each of the four corners of its biomorphic case; Armin Strom ushered a sapphire version of its Dual Time Resonance – another watch with a fully exposed movement – into its repertoire (around $393,000); equally eye-catching was DeWitt’s Academia Hour Planet watch (POA), which has a beautifully textured globe embedded in its dial.


Speake Marin One&Two
Courtesy Speak Marin

Next door, Speake Marin’s One&Two collection offered up yet another openworked marvel: a travel watch combining a dual time indication and a retrograde date (around $23,000 in titanium; around $41,500 in red gold); small Belgian manufacture Ressence introduced its Type 1 Slim (around $23,595) – an exercise in pared- down futurism – while HYT possibly picked up the gong for the most outlandish revelation in its H20 Time is Fluid model, another exercise in hydraulic horology (around $161,500 in steel, around $175,000 in gold).

The Swiss Alp Watch Concept Black from H Moser & Cie – the brand that, two years ago, convinced the world to take a watch case made from Swiss cheese seriously – resembles an Apple smartwatch but, lacking any kind of time-based display, communicates the time aurally ($553,800). Ferdinand Berthoud presented the 2019 ‘Oeuvre d’Or’ iterations of its FB 1 Chronometer in white gold and diamonds (around $396,750) and rose gold (around $362,300).

Hautlence unveiled its HL Vagabonde Tourbillon ($37,800), whose bizarre-but-grows-on-you aesthetic was made up of a central disc, three satellites and a one-minute flying tourbillon at 6 o’clock, all overlapping, within a 18kt red gold lozenge case. Surely the most eye-catching mechanical conceit on display, though, belonged to avant-garde engineering mavens Urwerk.


Uwerk AMC
Courtesy Uwerk

The company’s ambitious flagship project, AMC (see Robb Report July-August 2018), marries two devices: the Atomolith, a 35-kilogram atomic clock within an aluminium case, and a mechanical watch that, when docked, is chronometrically aligned to the mothership ($3.9 million).Disruptive boutique brands notwithstanding, SIHH is predominantly a showcase for Richemont’s brands – but that doesn’t stop others getting in on the act, running their own mini watch fairs out of Geneva’s more upmarket hotel suites.

Thus did attendees who ventured away from the Palexpo get to take in models like the TAG Heuer Carrera Calibre Heuer 02T Tourbillon Nanograph.

Being piggy-backed like this is, of course, a compliment to organisers of a premium horological event that’s likely to become stronger and more relevant with the announcement that SIHH and Baselworld will begin coordinating dates so that they coincide from 2020. Given the creative zeal showcased here – the houses’ tireless capacity for rejuvenation and reinvention – it’d take a curmudgeon not to hope that the move provides the industry as a whole with a shot in the arm.

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How Off-the-Rack Suits Got Sophisticated Enough to Win Over Bespoke Guys

Ready-to-wear tailoring has never been better, and it offers even the most particular dressers a fast, easy platform for experimenting with their look.

By Aleks Cvetkovic 18/02/2025

The world moves fast—and for once, tailoring is moving a little bit faster.

Guys around the globe are rediscovering their love of suits, but many have determined that they can’t stomach the monthslong wait for bespoke. The good news? Ready-to-wear tailoring has never been better.

That’s in part because bespoke makers are beefing up their off-the-rack offerings. Anderson & Sheppard’s shop-in-store at N.Y.C.’s Bergdorf Goodman—the first outpost beyond its London flagship— opened in December with, among other things, a sharp wool-and-cashmere jacket in a delightful shade of teal. Huntsman’s recent fall-winter collection, billed as its most comprehensive assortment yet, offered everything from tuxedos to shooting breeches. Even Leonard Logsdail, Hollywood’s highly esteemed bespoke purveyor, is experimenting with hem-and-go models.

But non-custom tailors are upping the ante, too. Some of the best ready-to-wear suits on the market come from such brands, whose wholly distinctive points of view provide a welcome departure from the rigidity of many bespoke tailors’ house styles. The preponderance and diversity of such high-quality, easy-to-access threads has recast off-the-rack suits as the ultimate way to experiment with your look, not just a way for some to get dressed on the cheap. What’s more, it reflects the new reality that even people who suit up regularly might want to show up looking different on Thursday night than they did on Tuesday morning.

“Life nowadays is much more fluid,” says Chris Modoo, a London-based stylist who once worked as a tailor on Savile Row. “Things happen, invitations appear. You might get an invite for a black-tie party in the South of France for next Saturday.” Ready-to-wear is the obvious solution when you’re in a last-minute menswear quandary, but “it also means you can try new things.”

One maker worth a test-drive is Husbands Paris, founded by Nicolas Gabard, who sees his role as an “archivist of the past.” His look, inspired by stylish men such as Yves Saint Laurent, David Hemmings, and Gary Cooper, is unabashedly striking—think long, fully canvased jackets, broad lapels, structured shoulders, and wide-leg, high-waisted trousers. These wares are made in small workshops in Italy and Portugal, where craftspeople infuse them with high-end details such as hand-sewn buttonholes and silk bar tacks, a form of stitching that reinforces seams and pockets.

Thom Sweeney L.A. store Brett Wood

They’re the kind of touches any menswear enthusiast can appreciate—even if they’re the trees to Gabard’s style forest. Clothes like this are designed as a form of wearable self-assurance, enhancing what Gabard calls a “classically masculine” silhouette: broad shoulders, slim waist, narrow hips.

“Of course, tailoring has to fit well, but it also has to bring something else,” he says. “More and more [Husbands] customers want to be confident, powerful, and sexy in their outfit.”

When you want to look more suave than soigné, turn to the indie Milanese brand Massimo Alba, which is known for its chic casualwear but made its name with easygoing tailoring. “A great suit is not just about the way it fits but about the way it makes you feel,” says the eponymous label’s founder of his relaxed approach. “For me, the essence lies in balance, between structure and softness, elegance and ease. In my opinion, a suit should adapt to the wearer, not the other way around.”

Alba’s creations are cut from plush materials such as corduroy and flannel, featuring natural shoulders and only the lightest of canvasing in the chest, which results in a less-formal look. Which is not to say they aren’t workhorses: Daniel Craig wore one of Alba’s Sloop suits to dodge bullets in 2021’s James Bond film No Time to Die. “I always focus on fabrics that move with the body, details that whisper rather than shout, and cuts that allow for freedom,” Alba adds.

And freedom is precisely what this newfound inventory of great ready-to-wear tailoring provides. Modoo advises some clients to look to bespoke tailors for investment-level garments, such as morning suits, tuxedos, or the dark, serious stuff you might need for a funeral or odd courtroom appearance. “You know you’re going to wear these for 10 or 15 years,” he says. Let the new class of distinctive ready-to-wear step in when you want to try something that just wouldn’t make sense as a bespoke order. “Your pink-velvet blazer for the Christmas party? How well does that need to fit?”

London bespoke tailor Caroline Andrew is one of many who admits ready-to-wear has its place. Courtesy of Caroline Andrew

Fortunately, with so many options available, the fit is easier to dial in. You can expect most high-end operations to make a long list of changes, from ensuring that the seat of the trousers drapes appropriately to cutting working buttonholes on the jacket. For a peerless experience, you can always reach for garments from one of the many talented bespoke tailors offering ready-to-wear. At Thom Sweeney, such clothes are “all influenced by our bespoke cut,” says Thom Whiddett, who cofounded the brand with Luke Sweeney in 2007. “You try on [our ready-to-wear] jacket, and you immediately get a sense of the proportions and shapes that we put into a bespoke garment.”

That alluring sense of near-instant gratification is the point. For some, nothing will ever replace the distinguished feeling of slipping into a bench-made suit—and plenty are willing to wait for it.

“You have to mentally buy into the process and enjoy it,” says Caroline Andrew, a London bespoke specialist. “The journey is just as important as the finished product.” But ready-to-wear sets the time-strapped tailoring enthusiast down a different path: discovering new facets of your personal style at a record pace.

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Tom Brady Wears a Jacob & Co. Watch Decked in Yellow Sapphires to the Super Bowl

The $740,000 Caviar Tourbillon was an opulent choice for the former NFL star.

By 17/02/2025

Tom Brady was on the field tonight at the 59th annual Super Bowl game, and while the retired NFL hero—a seven-time Super Bowl winner (the most of any footballer in history)—wasn’t playing, he came dressed to impress with a $116,400 Jacob & Co. watch on his wrist.

Brady, who is a notable watch collector, recently sold off several of his timepieces at a Sotheby’s auction called “The GOAT Collection: Watches and Treasures from Tom Brady” this past December. Those timepieces ran the gamut from a Rolex Daytona Ref. 6241 to a unique Audemars Piguet Royal Oak with his name spelled out in diamonds across the salmon-colored tapisserie dial. His Rolex Daytona sold for over $1.5 million, and, in total, his auction raked in around $7 million. So, he’s well-equipped for a new watch purchase.

Whether or not he owns the six-figure sapphire stunner or it was a paid spot, the watch certainly stood out against his conservative but immaculately fit gray suit. “Tom Brady is the epitome of excellence, both on and off the field,” said Benjamin Arabov, CEO of Jacob & Co, in a press release sent out by the company shortly after Brady’s appearance. “We’re thrilled to see him wearing two of our most prestigious timepieces on the biggest stage in sports. The Billionaire Mini Ashoka and Caviar Tourbillon embody the precision, luxury, and innovation that define Jacob & Co. We’re honored to have him represent the artistry and craftsmanship behind every piece we create.”

Like much of Brady’s wrist candy, his 44 by 15.8 mm Caviar Tourbillon is not easy to come by. It is limited to just 18 pieces. It features hours, minutes, and a one-minute flying tourbillon in the JCAA43 movement with 216 components and 72 hours of power reserve. The movement itself is set with 338 brilliant-cut diamonds, while a total of 337 yellow sapphires adorn the case and dial. The clasp is decorated with another 18 baguette-cut yellow sapphires, and the crown comes with 14 baguette-cut yellow sapphires and one rose-cut yellow sapphire. As far as gem setting goes, this is one extraordinary piece, but it certainly seemed like a surprising choice for Brady, who was otherwise dressed like he just stepped out of a boardroom or a Ralph Lauren catalog.

Benjamin Arabov, son of Jacob & Co. founder Jacob Arabov, is now the CEO of the company. The 32-year-old recently took to Instagram to post that he was looking for a rebranding agency with experience in visual identity and packaging. As far as marketing goes, however, with Tom Brady, he’s golden.

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This Vintage Rolex Day-Date Has an Ultra-Rare and Coveted ‘Bark’ Design

The ultra-cool piece from Wind Vintage also comes in pristine condition with a desirable patina.

By Paige Reddinger 17/02/2025

Over the last four years there has been a resurgence in interest for 18-karat yellow gold watches. Much of that is due to fatigue over the long-running craze for steel tool watches, but it is also in part due to the rising value of gold (which shows no sign of slowing), rendering these once undesirable pieces increasingly worth collecting. Add to that the fact that, in some niche and stylish circles, unusual bracelet treatments, gem-setting, and interesting dials are becoming increasingly appealing and you have a new wave of watch collecting emerging. Steel sports watches are still the bread and butter for most dealers, but as pockets of interest in more unusual timekeepers, often from younger and fashion-forward collectors, continue to rise we’re seeing some really fun pieces pop up on the market. Case in point: This 1980s Rolex Day-Date in 18-karat yellow gold with a sapphire and diamond dial from Wind Vintage currently available exclusively on The Vault.

It wasn’t that long ago that dealers had a hard time unloading an all-gold gem-set piece. Eric Wind, the notable dealer and founder of Wind Vintage, says five years ago he would have sold this piece for around $23,000 to $28,000. The asking price today? $45,000. “It is very rare,” he tells Robb Report. “I think that was all clearly hand-done. Funnily enough, bark watches were not very desirable in the past. You know, even five to 10 years ago, they were very, very hard to sell. But, over the last three to five years, there’s been such an emergence and interest in jewellery and watches and work like that engraving and other kind of artistic forms that the watches took.” The style of engraving he is referring to on this watch can be seen on the bezel and middle links of the bracelet that is referred to as “bark” for its rough tree-like appearance.

“Bark” engraving on the bezel and bracelet of the Wind Vintage 1980s Rolex Day-Date
Courtesy of Wind Vintage

And while the bracelet is certainly a notable feature that will stand out in a sea of Submariners and Daytonas, the dial is also worth bragging about. Its diamond minutes track and sapphire hour markers are executed in what is known as a “string dial” because it looks like a string of pearls. “They’ve become very popular,” says Wind. “They were very expensive back in the 80s, just because of the cost of the stones, and there are just not many that exist on the planet.” Likewise, Wind says the canary yellow matte dial is not something he comes across often, having only seen a couple of others.

An up-close look at the patina and “bark” engraving on this 1980s Day-Date from Wind Vintage.
Courtesy of Wind Vintage

Part of what makes this watch so hard to find on the market is that pieces like this often didn’t survive past their ’80s heyday. “A lot of times these watches were so undesirable that dealers would replace the bezel inserts and put on fluted inserts, or smooth bezels or fluted bezels and melt down the bracelets or polish the center link so they looked like a standard Day-Date. Those dealers should have learned that what goes around, always comes around. Now with these interesting Rolex watches on the rise, they’ll become even harder to find.

A Wind Vintage 1980s Day-Date with “bark” engraving and a gem-set “string dial”
Courtesy of Wind Vintage

If you’re interested in the piece and want to speak to Wind about it IRL, he will be at Robb Report’s House of Robb event in San Francsico today during the NBA All-Star weekend.

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Soccer Star Kylian Mbappé Is Now an Investor in Watch Marketplace Wristcheck

Just like Jay-Z.
Published on February 7, 2025

By Abby Montanez 11/02/2025

Kylian Mbappé just went from brand ambassador to investor.

The celebrated French footballer, who currently plays for Real Madrid, has taken a stake in luxury watch trading platform Wristcheck, Hypebeast reported lat week.

Off the filed, the 26-year-old soccer star is a known timepiece collector and has served as an ambassador for Swiss marque Hublot since 2018. With this new partnership, the forward joins a growing group of influential backers, including Jay-Z. The rapper and business mogul took an equity stake in the Hong Kong-based company last summer as part of a recent funding round of $7.9 million.

“I’m thrilled to join Wristcheck as an investor through Coalition Capital,” Mbappé said in a press statement. “As a Hublot ambassador and someone passionate about watches and innovation, I see Wristcheck as a platform that truly understands the next generation of collectors. They’re reshaping the watch industry with a forward-thinking approach that blends technology, transparency, and creativity.” Mbappé did not immediately respond to Robb Report‘s request for comment on his new business endeavor.

Kylian Mbappé is an investor in online watch shop Wristcheck.
Tnani Badreddine/DeFodi Images via Getty Images

Launched in 2020 by renowned horophile and Instagram personality Austen Chu, Wristcheck offers a platform for collectors to buy and sell pre-owned watches that have been authenticated by Swiss-trained watchmakers. Since it was founded, the company has raised more than $21.6 million in funding from investors including the Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund, Gobi Partners GBA, and K3 Ventures.

Mbappé, meanwhile, has achieved remarkable success in his soccer career. He won the 2018 FIFA World Cup with France, becoming the youngest player to score in a final since Pelé. At PSG, he has secured multiple Ligue 1 titles and domestic cups. Individually, Mbappé has earned the Ligue 1 Player of the Year award and regularly features in top European scoring charts. And in 2020, he was ranked the world’s highest-paid player, surpassing rivals Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

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Sotheby’s Will Put on the Largest Auction of Breguet Watches in Decades This Fall

To celebrate the revered watchmaking house’s 250th anniversary, the sale includes rare collectibles belonging to living Breguet family members.

By Paige Reddinger 11/02/2025

Interest in Breguet has experienced a quiet resurgence among savvy collectors who appreciate the brand’s deep-rooted watchmaking heritage. This growing enthusiasm will soon take center stage with an upcoming auction that shines a significant spotlight on the storied Maison.

Founded in Paris 250 years ago, Abraham-Louis Breguet was one of the most influential watchmakers in history, best known for inventing the tourbillon and the automatic winding system—along with many other groundbreaking innovations. His legacy continues to inspire modern masters such as F.P. Journe and Philippe Dufour. You can see Breguet’s influence pointedly in pieces like F.P. Journe’s famous Chronomètre à Résonance timepiece, voted one of Robb Report‘s 50 Greatest Watches of All Time.

Now, Sotheby’s has announced “the largest sale of Breguet timepieces in three decades.” Though the auction won’t take place until November, the auction house is already working to build anticipation. In the meantime, it might be wise to brush up on the most coveted Breguet references.

Breguet 1827 Perpétuelle à Tact watch made for King George IV Breguet

What may pique collectors’ interest is the sale is being curated in conjunction with Breguet and Emmanuel Breguet, the vice president and head of patrimony, who happens to be a descendant of the original Monsieur Breguet. So far, the only timekeeper publicly associated (at least visually) with the auction is the 1827 Perpétuelle à Tact watch made for King George IV. Still, it hints at the historic level of pocket watches, wristwatches, and clocks that will be on offer. Abraham-Louis Breguet was a frequent supplier of high-end and state-of-the-art timepieces for royalty, including Marie Antoinette, Napoleon Bonaparte, and King George III.

Other highlights include an open-faced montre à tact (a watch that replicates the internal hour hand on the cover of the pocket watch via an arrow so that time could be read via touch) with a calendar and moonphase indications that was the inspiration for the Ref. 3330. A pendulette with alarm, perpetual calendar and repeater, and a two-color gold open-faced tourbillon watch is said to be a part of the sale, although no images were provided as of press time. More info on what will be in the sale will come this spring.

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