The Stewards of Breguet

Courtesy of Breguet

It its easy to forget the basics.  

The watch world today is, at times, a bit schizophrenic.  New brands born in an instant, old brands bought, sold, consolidated, regurgitated.  Sometimes the focus is on pushing the next thing.  A certain brand releases the next 5 limited editions - technological break-through pieces cunningly fashioned of "Unobtainium", all seemingly the same except for the signature of the celebrity on the dial.

Or the other extreme - each piece individually crafted and assembled by magical Swiss elves, the dials polished by the tears of Arcadian virgins.  

Perhaps we could simply talk about the watch?  

Granted - Breguet is owned by a large corporation.  And yes, they are one of several brands in the "stable".  And yes they have a seemingly endless amount of resources upon which to draw on.  All of this is true.

BUT -

when you look at, hold, and (if you're lucky enough) wear a Breguet - all of the noise fades away.  Yes, there is history, there is a story, and a marketing budget that would make the candidates running for the US Presidency drool with envy.  But to simply put it all down to money is disingenuous.  Despite what you might hear, there is plenty of money in the Swiss watch industry.  The challenge is to balance what is spent outside (marketing, etc.) with what is spent inside (R&D and quality control).  And with Breguet, I sincerely believe that at least in ONE area, the SWATCH group has struck the appropriate balance.

There are several brands that simply throw money around - branding with race cars, partnering with Hollywood stars, or big-time Ballers in the NBA.  But with all of that noise, you lose track of what the company actually MAKES - watches.

I will state this for one and all to read - the SWATCH group does a LOT of things that despite their claims, are in fact, very detrimental to the watch industry.  When it comes to springs (Nivarox), their approach has been not unlike a playground crack dealer -

"The first one's free, tell all your friends!"

They have built up a dependence and are now cutting the legs out from under a LOT of companies that they depended upon in the darker days - darker days which were not so long ago, and if certain financial analysts are to be believed could be back again in the not-so-distant future.

But you have to give them their due in other areas.  With Breguet they have proven themselves to be not just brand owners - but sincere and legitimate Stewards of A.-L. Breguet's vision.   To visit a Breguet boutique, to hold a Breguet watch - you can understand WHY they cost what they do, and why they are worth it.  These are not "of the moment" design impulses, these are real watches designed to last for several lifetimes.


Now if Swatch could show the same discipline with Blancpain and Jaquet Droz, they might be onto something!