Classique Souscription 2025: Breguet in purity

In a 2025 full of anniversaries for the great watch brands, an important birthday stands out: that of Breguet’s 250th anniversary. The Maison that, better than others, interprets Haute Horlogerie in its purest form honours its founder’s mastery by celebrating its two and a half centuries of history with a timepiece in direct line with Abraham-Louis Breguet’s legacy. The new Classique Souscription 2025 embodies a passion and a vision born in 1775, blending ancient elements and aesthetics with modern materials and technologies. The result is a watch that is perfect in every respect, and philologically impeccable.

‘À SOUSCRIPTION’ WATCHES BY BREGUET

This philological adherence of the Classique Souscription 2025 to the history of Abraham-Louis Breguet can be seen both in the aesthetics and in the name. In Monsieur Breguet’s time, creating a watch was not always a lucrative business. The risk that a potential customer would not be able to pay for the piece he had ordered, once it was ready, existed and it was high. In that case, the watchmaker found himself working at a loss, having had to pay for the materials and worked many hours only to find himself with an unsold watch.

In order to avoid this risk, Abraham-Louis Breguet initiated several projects for ‘à souscription’ watches, a term that appeared as early as 1796 in the company’s sales records but applied for the first time to a single-hand model marketed from 1797 onwards. The principle of ‘souscription’ – or reservation – was simple: if a customer wished to buy a watch of that type, he had to confirm the order by paying a quarter of the final price in advance. With that money, Breguet’s workshop in Quai de l’Horloge could buy the supplies needed to manufacture the timepiece. Over a period of more than 20 years, Breguet produced around 700 watches under this system. After the French Revolution, the market expanded and opened up to a type of consumer who was still elitist but more ‘bourgeois’, able to buy watches that were no longer unique pieces.

An approach that is quite common today but which, for the time, was a stunt of what we might call ante-litteram marketing. A concept, the latter, that can also be extended to another novelty: Monsieur Breguet advertised that pocket watch through a promotional brochure that he conceived himself, emphasising both the technical design and the innovative sales method.

A DAZZLING DIAL

It was precisely from that single-hand pocket watch of 1797, which measured a whopping 61 mm, that Breguet drew inspiration for the Classique Souscription 2025 – which moves from pocket to wrist and from being decidedly oversized to a more contemporary 40 mm diameter. A timepiece that exudes the spirit of Abraham-Louis both from its dial, in grand feu white enamel, and from its transparent caseback – which gives full view of a movement that seems to have been assembled by Mr Breguet himself. 

The dial, in particular, is of almost unbelievable essentiality for the beholder. Coated in immaculate enamel, it is made using the ancient grand feu technique, a unique, complex and demanding decorative enamelling. The process involves the application of successive layers of enamel mixed with water onto metal discs, which are then fired at temperatures over 800° C. Each firing and polishing step requires extreme precision to achieve a perfectly smooth and homogenous surface. 

The craftsman spreads a flammable liquid substance on the two faces of the disc to which he applies enamel powder. During the baking process, the liquid catches fire and causes the powder to fuse with the dial. This operation is repeated several times, until a surface of homogeneous, smooth and intense colour is obtained, so brilliant that no final polishing is required. Breguet’s Arabic numerals on the hour markers, on the other hand, have been created in black enamel using the petit feu technique, which involves firing at lower temperatures, allowing a broader palette of colours to be used.

SINGLE HAND INDICATION

In the middle of the white dial stands the Classique Souscription 2025’s only hand. With its classic open and pointed shape, it is made of fire-blued steel and curved entirely by hand to follow the slight curvature of the dial. It is entrusted with indicating the time, thanks to the Arabic numerals mentioned above and, most of all, thanks to the circular chemin de fer, the sectorization of which is fundamental to read time correctly. Thanks to a specific graphic design, the hand marks both the hours and minutes simultaneously. Between one hour and the next, the chemin de fer is in fact subdivided into sectors of 5 minutes each – with the 15, 30, 45 minutes identified by a broader and more elongated index –, which are relative to the previous hour that the hand crossed.

Completing the dial’s essentiality: the Breguet signature at 12 o’clock, in the same black shade as the hour markers, and, above all, the secret signature. Introduced by Abraham-Louis himself in order to authenticate his atelier’s pieces and combat counterfeiting (already active in the 19th century), at the time it was made with small engravings located in specific spots on the dial and visible only from particular angles. On the Classique Souscription 2025, it is made thanks to a precise instrument with articulated arms: a diamond-tipped pantograph, which allows the enamel to be delicately engraved.

What’s extraordinary about it is that it is a pantograph from the Breguet era. Only an ancient and illustrious House like this is capable of owning such an instrument that is still in working order and, above all, working with craftsmen able to use it with the same mastery as they did two and a half centuries ago. The secret signature bears the writing ‘Souscription’, the serial number and the Breguet signature, all visible only under specific lighting conditions.

The dial is protected by a sapphire crystal with a so-called ‘chevé‘ profile. The choice of this particular glass is also a tribute to Abraham-Louis Breguet, as he was the first to use it. It is a thinner and less domed glass than those used at the Master’s time; it has a relatively flat surface, gently curved towards the caseband so that it blends harmoniously into the case. For Breguet’s time it was an unprecedented shape, and it entered the contemporary watchmaking vocabulary along with the numerals and hands bearing Abraham-Louis’ surname.

A GOLD CASE BY BREGUET

For the Classique Souscription 2025, Breguet approached the case in a new way. Compared to the Maison’s cases we are accustomed to, this one does not have a ‘coin’ fluted caseband, but a satin-finished one. This is a reminder of the watches of yesteryear, even though the 1797 Souscription that inspired the current watch had its case sides worked in the Clous de Paris style. Moreover, compared to other Breguet timepieces, the Classique Souscription 2025 has more curved lugs, which makes the overall shape more harmonious and enhances wearability, which is also facilitated by the case’s thickness, 10.8 mm, along with its diameter of 40 mm.

The real novelty, however, lies in the material. For the watch, the brand has in fact created ad hoc a new gold alloy, which it has called ‘Breguet gold‘. Specifically, Breguet gold, conceived and developed in the company’s workshops, is an 18-carat alloy – 75% of which is gold – enriched with silver, copper and palladium. It has a warm, slightly pinkish hue inspired by the gold used in the 18th century by watchmakers such as Abraham-Louis Breguet.

In addition to its brilliance, the Breguet gold is particularly resistant to fading and has a tone that remains stable over time, ensuring that the watch retains its elegance. What underscores the importance to Breguet of developing this alloy is the fact that, during the design phase and after selecting the ideal alloy, Breguet worked to ensure that it was suited to different watchmaking skills, particularly decorative finishes. Introduced in the Classique Souscription 2025, we expect Breguet gold to become the standard for the House’s flagship models.

CLASSIQUE SOUSCRIPTION 2025: THE CALIBRE

The case houses the new VS00 manufacture calibre with manual winding and 21,600 vibrations per hour, which the company has crafted from gold-plated brass in the same Breguet gold shade. The slightly domed sapphire crystal protecting it allows full vision. If you take the 1797 Souscription and open the caseback cover, you will see that the architecture of that calibre and the current one are virtually identical. The VS00, however, benefits from the most modern technology in terms of materials.

Like, for example, the Nivachron balance spring, made of a non-magnetic alloy composed essentially of titanium. Blued and finished with a Breguet curve, the balance-spring helps make the movement more resistant to temperature variations, magnetic fields and shocks, and gives the watch a power reserve of no less than 96 hours (equivalent to four days). The symmetrical bridges and mainplate frame the large ratchet wheel, which is engraved with the words with which Monsieur Breguet explained the design of the Souscription movement. Original words, taken from the promotional brochure he used to advertise his watch and faithfully reproduced in his characteristic cursive handwriting.

Moreover, the entire calibre and back are decorated with fine workmanship. Starting with a new type of guilloché motif introduced this year and named Quai de l’Horloge by Breguet. This new design is inspired by the curves of the Île de la Cité and the refinement of the Île Saint-Louis in Paris, and creates a harmonious rhythm in the decoration. In addition to the engraving of Breguet’s phrase, the movement is characterised by the fine sandblasting of the bridges and the plate, inspired by that of the calibres created by the Master.

NO DETAIL IS OVERLOOKED

For the Classique Souscription 2025, Breguet did not leave even the packaging to chance. It has designed an original and extremely elegant box in red Moroccan leather, the same leather used by Mr Breguet himself in the 18th century. It is inspired, as is the watch, by the 1797 box. It has a classically curved shape and inside covered in blue fabric, and it bears the individual numbering of the watch, which is displayed in a vertical position. This optimises space and evokes the spirit of pocket watches.

As in vintage boxes, the opening is push-button and the hinge is plated with Breguet gold. Gold that is also found in the engraving on the lid, with the inscription ‘BREGUET 250 YEARS’. A hint of the first Breguet logo, in the form of a coat of arms, adorns the underside. A navy blue alligator leather strap and a Breguet gold buckle complete the Classique Souscription 2025, which is on sale for €53,600.

By Davide Passoni