Choosing a sports watch once meant foregoing little luxuries, like hand-finishing, decorative details or in-house movements. It is only with the most exceptional manufactures that the sports category remains crafted with haute horlogerie finesse and Breguet does it impeccably with the facelifted Marine collection
Intended for men as much as women, the pieces are treated with an ingenious style of lacquer painting as well as the rarely encountered guilloche on mother-of-pearl. Marine Dame Ref. 9518 dazzles with a feature unique to Breguet: a wave-inspired guilloche motif applied all over the dial and repeated on the oscillating weight. Gorgeous under a loupe, this one-of-a-kind guilloche pattern ties the watch more closely to the marine environment while showing off the manufacture’s mastery of this ancient craft.
Yet if closer ties to the ocean are what you seek, Marine Dame offers another mesmerising version where the purity and brilliance of diamonds meets dark, rich and nuanced blue lacquer.
Indeed, with a full atelier of rose engine machines, Breguet leads the industry in handcrafted guillochage. It is also capable of an astonishing array of patterns from standard designs like Clous de Paris and vieux panier to more elaborate and arduous styles like moire drape and micro-guillochage. The fact that Breguet can create its own patterns is proof of its skilful artistry.
Unprecedented in the industry, this sporty chic model invokes the glimmering depths of the deep blue sea. Here, Breguet’s artisans mix different tones of lacquer, painting them by hand to create a dance of light blue against a dark blue backdrop. Thus every watch is a little bit different. It also looks ready for a holiday to Saint Tropez, especially when paired with a white rubber strap, although this watch looks equally charming on classic dark blue alligator leather.
The men’s pieces have levelled up their style game with full titanium cases and bracelets, offering a dressy yet sporty look. More importantly, titanium makes it ultra-wearable because steel – or worse, gold – has a tendency to weigh the wrist down.
But it’s the plethora of haute horlogerie features that distinguishes the Marine Ref. 5517 from all others: pomme hands, applied Roman numerals, a slate grey sunburst dial and alternating brushed and polished surfaces. But Breguet also offers slightly more with references 5527 and 5547, a chronograph and an alarm function respectively.
Although not new, the latter is one of Breguet’s most iconic complications, where the movement chimes a musical alarm. All three models are equipped with in-house movements featuring a reverse silicon in-line lever escapement plus a silicon balance spring offering superb chronometric performance.
For a company that cut its teeth supplying timepieces to the Royal French Navy, this is a worthy nod to Breguet’s future and a tribute to its past.
