BY HARLAN CHAPMAN-GREEN
As I’ve written for what feels like a thousand times this year, the Chinese New Year will soon be upon us. We’ve covered loads of “Year of the Dragon” themed watches already and they’ve all been very impressive. But two of the most impressive watches we’ve seen thus far have just been released by none other than Breguet, the house of innovations. It’s difficult to overstate the importance of Breguet when it comes to horology, this brand has done so much since its inception in 1775. It’s also a little unusual to see them go to the lengths they did for Chinese New Year. They don’t usually do that much for it, but for the Year of the Dragon, we’ve got two new watches.
Classique Dragon 7145
Breguet’s Classique dress watches are works of art by themselves, their coin-edged cases and enamel or guilloché dials are exquisite reminders of a craft that to most people has been consigned to the history books. The skills required to make dials like those aren’t learned overnight or through a tutorial guide on YouTube, they are a lifetime’s work. The new Classique Dragon 7145 combines engraving and enamelling at the highest level.
The red grand feu enamel dial is a base and matches with the 40mm x 6.9mm 18k rose gold case well. On top of that dial are some applied markers, but the main draw is the 18k rose gold dragon that’s been crafted and placed by hand. I’m not sure how long it took them to make that, I would imagine it would be several days of work to perfect the shapes, the dragon’s scales and the finishing.
Luckily, they won’t have to slave away at it forever, as this watch is limited to eight examples worldwide. It does have a self-winding 502.3 calibre movement with a silicon hairspring, but I wouldn’t blame you for being that interested in the movement when the dragon is there on the front. The RRP including VAT is £71,000.
Classique Complications Double Tourbillon Dragon 5345
When I got started in the world of watches, and I mean by writing on WristReview not just when I started Googling watches in general, it was A. Lange & Söhne’s Lange 31 that captured my imagination the most. But, a trip to the Bond Street boutique of Breguet introduced me into their world and I’ve been hooked ever since. It really does go to show what positive, friendly and attentive shop staff who genuinely care about the product they’re selling can do for your brand. Breguet’s Double Tourbillon then took place as my grail watch, as it does to this day, so imagine my excitement at this new model.
The Classique Complications Double Tourbillon Dragon is a celebration of the Chinese New Year, but also a celebration of design and engineering excellence. Yes, some watches have more tourbillons in them, and some other Breguet watches have more exquisite guilloché, but none of them have a dragon going around on the front like this one does. The calibre 588 N has 749 individual components, a lot of which go to the power system, which not only provides accurate timing but must also support the dial plate, the tourbillons, hands, the mainspring barrels (under the dragon) and the dragon are mounted to as it all performs one rotation every twelve hours. Despite that, it has a power reserve of 60 hours, and the engraving on the back of the movement is glorious.
All of this means the case is quite big. Well, quite is one way of looking at it, the watch measures 46mm x 16.8mm and is made of solid 950 platinum, I guess hoarding gold just isn’t good enough for this dragon. To purchase this watch, you have to be wealthy, but to understand it, you do have to be an enthusiast. This watch tells you the time in hours and minutes and that’s it. You’re not buying it because it’s got the most diamonds on it or because it does the most things, you’re buying it because you love haute horlogerie and to hell with anyone who doesn’t agree. Naturally, that comes at a price, this watch costs £700,100 including VAT, or $767,800 (mostly likely excluding sales tax). I believe this is also a one-off, too, and what a one-off it is.
Breguet’s set the benchmark now for brands doing Chinese New Year watches, but I’ve had some intriguing press emails in my inbox recently so there may be a challenger or two yet.
