Breguet: Tradition Seconde Rétrograde 7035

Faithful to the codes of the Tradition collection, Breguet unveils the new Seconde Rétrograde 7035BH, a variant specially designed for the 250th anniversary of the Maison. Its architectural face reveals the time on a guilloché dial in translucent grand feu blue enamel, the seconds via a retrograde hand positioned between 10 and 11 o’clock, and all the mechanical organs.

With this model, the Tradition collection incorporates for the first time two “in-house” colour codes: Breguet gold and Breguet blue. Gold, silver, copper and palladium are skilfully fused into an alloy that radiates a warm, golden glow: Breguet gold. This exclusive alloy, created by Breguet, was introduced earlier this year with the Classique Souscription 2025 watch. The 38mm diameter case fort heTradition 7035 has been crafted from this new alloy. 

The striking focal point of this model is the finely engine-turned dial, resplendent in Breguet blue. The chosen motive is the Quai de l’Horloge. Its tinted, translucent, grand feu enamel is of the same deep, blue as the retrograde seconds hand and screws, which are made of blued steel. In contrasting silver, the Breguet Arabic numerals, the minute track, with its stylised fleurs-de- lis, and the unique serial number at 4 o’clock stand out effortlessly against the shimmering azure of the enamel.

THE GUILLOCHAGE QUAI DE L’HORLOGE

A decorative technique that was often used on watch cases, guilloché has become an art in its own right. A.L. Breguet was the first to use this technique to delineate the different displays on watch dials, and it remains, to this day, one of Breguet’s core areas of expertise. Breguet currently owns the largest collection of working guilloché lathes in the world. These carefully renovated period machines can be used to create a wide range of motifs, from the most traditional, such as the Clou de Paris, to the most contemporary, the new Quai de l’Horloge design, which has been incorporated on the dial of this Tradition model. 

This new guilloché motif was inspired by the graceful lines of the Seine as it flows around the Île de la Cité, where A.L. Breguet’s workshop once stood, and the Île Saint- Louis, both in the heart of Paris. The precise contours of this motif are modelled on the Turgot map, a highly-detailed, perspective view of the city of Paris produced in the eighteenth century. For its time it was remarkably accurate: it included all the streets, buildings and even every tree in the centre of Paris. 

AUTHOR’S OSCILLATING WEIGHT

The back of the new Tradition 7035 reveals a golden landscape as fascinating as the front. The oscillating weight of the 505SR calibre with 50 hours of power reserve hovers above the bridges’ satin-finished surfaces, which provide an elegant contrast to the shot-blasted mainplate below. 

The crescent moon-shaped weight, made of vertical brushed platinum, is reminiscent of those used in A.L. Breguet’s time. He established the use of platinum in watchmaking, using it to optimise the automatic winding of what he referred to as his “perpétuelle” watches, one of the first innovations from this master watchmaker. 

Limited to 250 pieces, the new Bregeut Tradition Seconde Rétrograde 7035BH is paired with a beautiful navy blue alligator leather strap and accompanied by a celebratory “individually numbered” red leather case inspired by the Moroccan leather Breguet boxes of the time. (Price €. 50,400)