BY HARLAN CHAPMAN-GREEN
When I first wrote about the Breguet Classique Souscription ref 2025 watch back in April, I said that the reason watches like these were so expensive was that they had such a level of depth in their details. Of course, in 2025, everything is crazily expensive, and luxury watches are no different. This new Breguet retails for USD48,700 / CHF45,000 / GBP45,700 / EUR55,400, which is a lot for a watch with only one hand. However, I’m delighted to tell you that, having now had some time with the Souscription, the details spring out at you in all the best ways.
I saw the Classique Souscription before the watch was announced as the overall winner of the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG),the ‘horological Oscars’ so to speak. Given the sheer number of amazing creations we’ve seen in the past year, I was a little surprised that the Souscription won the Aiguille d’Or.
The Classique Souscription is classy. It sits on your wrist as if it’s meant to be there. The 40mm x 10.8mm is perfectly sized for a dress watch released in 2025, and the colour of that Breguet Gold case works so well on my wrist. Coupled with a beautiful blue leather strap, the watch oozes class and sophistication. The case has a few differences from Breguet’s other Classique watches, for example, it lacks the coin-edging which is present on nearly all their pieces since their ownership by the Swatch Group. Do I miss those coin edges? Yes, I do, but I wouldn’t get hung up on their absence.
I can anticipate that there will be some comments mentioning how this watch represents the general current economic feeling of paying more for less. It is true that you are getting less on the dial side with the Classique Souscription, as, unlike most watches on the market, it has just one hand above the enamel grand feu dial. Said hand, being in the Breguet ‘pomme’ shape, is the hour and minutes hand, performing one rotation of the dial every 12 hours.
As you would expect, timing things down to the minute is not possible here, you can only tell the time down to the nearest five-minute interval on the Classique Souscription. Whether or not that matters to you is something for you to decide, when I think about it, I usually tell the time in five-minute increments and rarely use my watch to time things to the exact minute anyway.
Visible through the caseback is the manually-wound calibre VS00. To me, the movement is the reason why the one-handed Classique Souscription costs as much as it does. The movement was built to be reminiscent of the calibres found in the original Souscription watches Breguet made from the end of the 18th century to the mid-1820s. Nearly everything that you see in the movement is hand-finished, bar the text on the barrel plate found at the very centre. This text, the script from Breguet’s original advertisements for the Souscription, was laser-cut as the barrel plate is very thin, and they wanted to recreate the cursive text exactly as it appears.
The Breguet Gold plates and cocks of the movement feature the Quai de l’Horloge guilloché, introduced this year for the brand’s 250th anniversary. It’s quite a clean finish compared to the extraordinarily decorated movements in some of their other watches, but it’s a very high level of finishing. My photos don’t do it justice. To appreciate the true level of detail, you need a microscope like the one Breguet had in its boutique when I visited. The calibre VS00 runs at 3Hz for a total of 96 hours, and the hairspring is made of Nivachron, which is non-magnetic, and it has a Breguet Overcoil.
The Classique Souscription was an unexpected release from the brand to mark its anniversary. I believe the GPHG awarded its Aiguille d’Or to the Classique Souscription because of the sheer level of care taken to represent the original Souscription watches in a new light. Undoubtedly, had they simply put in one of their (excellent) self-winding movements from the regular Classique collection and called it a day, I wouldn’t be sitting here telling you about the time I reviewed an award-winning watch. Very few brands are lucky enough to have the length of history Breguet does, and next to no brands have the sheer level of innovation from their past to draw upon.
I think Breguet needs to continue referencing its past in new ways and offer authentic designs with real historical roots to attract new customers. And, if they could bring the prices down a bit and make sportier watches (with authentic historical designs), then perhaps they’d be doing better with the younger crowds.
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