Want to check out the Breguet Ref. 1160 pocket watch that you've been hearing so much about? Didn't get a chance to see it while it was at the Breguet exhibit at the Lourve in Paris? Well if you are in Los Angeles or New York City at the right times in October, you'll have your chance to see this amazing replica. No, you won't get to see the original. That is going to be unavailable for the masses to enjoy out side of the vault display in Israel for a while I suspect.

If you are unfamiliar with the story, it is pretty simple and you can Google it for more details, though understand that no one really knows the whole story, so take what you read about the "later history" of the watch with a grain of salt. Breguet was commissioned almost 200 years ago to make the most complex watch in the world for Marie Antoinette. She died before it was completed, but Breguet eventually finished the Marie Antoinette Pocket watch after years of efforts. After passing ownership several times over the years, the watch eventually ended up as part of a pocket watch and clock exhibit at a museum in Jerusalem, Israel. There it was mysteriously stolen in the early 1980s, and just as mysteriously discovered again about 2 years ago. Which leads me back to the replica. Swatch Group (which owns Breguet) owner Nicolas Hayek wanted to make a replica of the Marie Antoinette watch that was faithful to the original. Only problem is that he didn't have the original to model it after. All that existed were some diagrams and photos. Ironically, soon after the replica was finished, the original turned up. I am sure the people who spent the few years painstakingly trying to reproduce the pocket watch were frustrated to say that least - that if they had only waited a bit longer they would have had the original to check out. Oh well!

Breguet is planning a quick tour of the Breguet Ref. 1160 to be shown at the Breguet Boutiques in LA and NYC this month (see details below). The one-off piece is NOT for sale, but you'll conveniently be at a Breguet store if you are feeling up to a new timepiece acquisition.

Beverly Hills
October 14 (10-2 pm)
October 15 & 16 (10-6 pm)
The Breguet Boutique
280 North Rodeo Drive
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
Telephone: (310) 860-9911

New York City
October 19 (2-6 pm)
October 20 & 21 (10-6 pm)
The Breguet Boutique
779 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10065
Telephone: (212) 288-4014

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

When I first mentioned that Breguet was going to have an exhibit at the Louvre I speculated that they might include as part of the collection the special Ref. 1160 pocket watch that was a painstakingly made (over three years of work) replica of the original Breguet Marie Antoinette pocket watch that was itself completed in the 1840s after almost 40 years of efforts. The exhibit does in fact display the Ref. 1160 pocket watch nicely and fans of the Breguet brand or horological history should check out the exhibit if they are in Paris up until the 6th of September. In addition to the Ref. 1160, there are a number of very interesting Breguet pocket watches, chronometers, clocks, and other items that you'll probably never get a change to see, all in beautiful restored condition.

For more information check out the mini site for the Breguet Louvre exhibit.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

This is something you should certainly see if you are in, or going to be in Paris at the right time. Breguet watches will be having a special exhibition at the splendid Louvre museum in Paris, France from June 25 until September 7, 2009. The special exhibit is will be known as the "Apogee of Watch Making" a pretty lofty title, for what is essentially a history of Breguet, but what a history it is! Abraham-Louis Breguet is often known as the father of modern watch making. A lot of what he developed in his lifespan in the latter half of the 18th century (up to 1823) is still used in many of today's luxury wrist watches, even though he never made a wrist watch during his life (just clocks and pocket watches). The exhibit will showcase historical pocket watches and clocks, watch making tools, art, and historical documents and watch-related patents. Breguet watches were, and are today extremely inventive and also beautiful. They are probably the "favorite-child brand" of Nicolas Hayek, leader of the Swatch Group that has Breguet under its brand umbrella. The exhibit of course was helped by a generous contribution from Breguet to the Louvre.

The exhibit will require a separate entrance fee and will be open regular hours, and until 10pm on Wednesdays and Fridays. For more information please visit www.louvre.fr or call 01 40 20 53 17 (France number).

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

This is probably the most aggressively styled Breguet Marine Royale watch to date, and is known as the Marine Royale Alarm for 2009. In addition to bold looks, this is the first Breguet watch in my opinion that could be characterized as a highly functional diver's watch. The main draw of the watch, aside from the lovely design and Breguet heritage, is the alarm complication. The mechanical alarm is specially designed to be optimally heard underwater - a difficult task for alarm watches. This is all done thanks to the Breguet. Cal. 519R automatic movement that uses a central hand to set the alarm - which itself has a specially calibrated chime. A window in the upper center of the dial tells you if the alarm is turned on or not. Other complications include a power reserve indicator, date, and the time of course. The large pusher located at 8 o'clock is used to turn the alarm on and off.

With a great deal of guilloche decoration throughout the watch, the 45mm wide 18k rose gold case has pushers applied with rubber for easier handling. A special claw between the crowns can be used to secure the rotating diver's bezel if necessary as to not accidentally move it. Aside from all of these handy features, the Breguet Ref. 5847BR/32/5ZU is a very capable diver with 300 meters of water resistance. In addition to the rose gold case, a white gold version is available with a dark gray colored dial. If you aren't keen on spending luxury prices for a watch with a rubber strap, you can opt for the alligator band.

With its iconic wave patterned decoration and mixture of Breguet class with diving utility, this new Marine Royale Alarm watch is easily the most interesting and notable sport oriented Breguet watch of the last few years. Price will likely be $30,000 - $50,000 when it is available soon.

Ariel Adams publishes the watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

In Russian politics, I've seen a trend sometimes that seems to translate into "with great responsibility comes great humility." Russian leaders are expected to connect well with the people. Current elected Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is generally well liked and considered more liberal than his friend and predecessor Vladimir Putin (according to Wikipedia). Interestingly enough, the same source reports that Medevdev earned an income of $80,000 in 2007 with a similar amount of money in savings. How is it then that he is seen in this picture wearing a watch valued at around $30,000?

Looking at a blown up image of the picture, I've detected that Medvedev is wearing a Breguet Moon Phase Power Reserve Ref. 3137BR /11/ 986. While his taste is good, it begs the question where the watch (or funds for it) came from. This particular Breguet model is based on a classic pocket watch dial design from Breguet. It features an automatic wound Breguet caliber 502DR movement with the hours, minutes, moon phase, and a power reserve indicator (no seconds). The watch case is about 36mm wide available in yellow or white 18k gold. Typical of all Breguet watch the dial features rich guilloche engraving while the gold rotor seen through the sapphire caseback is engraved beautifully with decorations fit for a king, I mean president.

Ariel Adams publishes the watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

The latest watch from Breguet is the Ref. 5837, a chronograph that includes a tourbillon. The beautiful 18K pink gold watch uses the manual-wind Breguet caliber 554.2T movement with 25 jewels and a power reserve of 50 hours. The watch has front and back sapphire crystals and is water resistant to 100 meters. The dial is black rhodium plated over 18K gold and is engine-turned in a wave pattern. The very handsome watch comes with a rubber strap. It's an attractive caoutchouc rubber strap with a gold clasp but I still think that elegant watch deserves a more elegant band.

[via Time Zone]

We've seen some gorgeous watches from Breguet before but this one is worthy of note . The Ref. 5347 is their latest "Grande Complication" and features two tourbillons which work independently of each other and turn around the dial every 12 hours. The in-house movement has 570 parts. The watch has a 44mm platinum case with front and back sapphire crystals. The watch sells for  300,000 Euros. As Alberto from The Purists noted in his review from Basel, this watch is really thick and therefore lacking some of the grace of other Breugets but given the intricacies of this watch, I think the artists of Breguet can be forgiven for needing a bit of room to work.