Tradition 7057

WORLD WATCH AND JEWELLERY SHOW 2011 

BREGUET: A NEVER-ENDING QUEST FOR TECHNICAL INNOVATION

Despite the crisis that struck the entire watchmaking industry in 2009, the Swatch Group and Breguet – its flagship Fine Watchmaking brand – stayed the course as they succeeded in not laying off a single employee while continuing to invest in research and development. This proactive policy enabled them to introduce in 2010 a number of technically innovative pieces such as the Réveil Musical or the Type XXII watch, the first mass-produced mechanical chronograph with an escapement operating at a frequency of 10Hz – thanks mainly to silicon. These two models are the product of advanced research on the use of new materials that add real value in watchmaking. For example, Liquidmetal® was employed to create the Réveil Musical’s membrane, a component that transmits the pin barrel’s vibration to the combs and transforms it into sound audible to the human ear. This membrane also ensures that the watch is water-tight to a depth of 30 metres, despite the openings in the caseback that allow optimal propagation of the sound while the music is playing.

This ambitious investment policy has enabled Breguet to file over 100 patents during the past decade, since its purchase by the Swatch Group. It is also thanks to this policy, as well as to continual innovation, that the company is able to proudly present a revolutionary new model in 2011: the Classique Hora Mundi, the first mechanical watch with an instant time-zone display and a memory featuring synchronised date, day/night and city indications.  

TRADITION 7057– NEW VERSIONS

As traditional as it is innovative, Breguet’s Tradition is a visionary model that has now entered the very exclusive circle of iconic Fine Watchmaking creations. Three new versions of this timepiece, which has a 40 mm-diameter case middle, are being introduced in 2011. One has an 18-carat red gold case and a 507DR calibre with red gold-plated finish, the other two have an 18-carat white gold or red gold case housing a movement with a matt grey NAC finish. This type of surface treatment deposits a charcoal-grey alloy of precious metals from the platinum family by electroplating. Each of these three versions highlights in its own way – whether ultra-modern or more tradition – the technical architecture of this masterpiece of micromechanics; in fact, its construction is unique, as the arrangement on both sides of the central plate shows off almost all of the components – bridges, gears, escapement and the famous “old fashioned” pare-chute shock absorber in hand-bevelled steel.