Among the many watches unveiled during Breguet's 250th-anniversary celebrations in 2025, the Classique Grande Sonnerie Métiers d’Art 1905 stands out as one of its most ambitious creations of recent years.
Presented as a highly complicated pocket watch, it combines a grande sonnerie, petite sonnerie, minute repeater and tourbillon with an extensive display of traditional decorative crafts.
Produced only on request, the timepiece represents the first pocket watch of its kind developed by Breguet in more than two decades and brings together several of the inventions and principles closely associated with the founder’s legacy, including the tourbillon, the gong spring and the pursuit of chronometric precision.
Housed in a substantial 56.5 mm case crafted from 18K Breguet gold, the watch immediately distinguishes itself through its regulator-style display.
Hours are shown on an off-centre dial at 12 o’clock, while the minutes are indicated by a long central hand sweeping across a dedicated chapter ring.
The seconds are displayed directly on the tourbillon cage positioned at 4:30. This arrangement, historically associated with precision clocks and observatory regulators, enhances legibility by separating the indications into distinct zones.
The dial showcases several of the decorative techniques that have become synonymous with Breguet.
The hour display is executed in white Grand Feu enamel with black petit feu enamel Breguet numerals, while the central section features a hand-guilloché “Quai de l’Horloge” motif inspired by the geography of the Île de la Cité and Île Saint-Louis in Paris, where Breguet established his original workshop.
The traditional blued steel Breguet hands, visible signature and secret pantograph-engraved signature further reinforce the connection with the Maison’s historical aesthetic language.
The manually wound Calibre 508GS comprises 539 components and 43 jewels. Operating at 18,000 vibrations per hour (2.5 Hz), it incorporates a one-minute tourbillon equipped with a variable-inertia balance and a blued steel Breguet overcoil hairspring.
The movement offers a power reserve of 56 hours for timekeeping and 36 hours when operating in grande sonnerie mode.
The striking mechanism forms the centrepiece of the watch. It can operate in Grande Sonnerie, Petite Sonnerie or Silent mode, while an on-demand minute repeater remains available regardless of the selected setting. Particularly noteworthy is the magnetic regulator developed by Breguet’s research and development team.
Unlike conventional mechanical governors, the system uses conductive rotating arms operating within magnetic fields to generate eddy currents that create a controlled electromagnetic braking effect. The result is a silent, contactless regulator that maintains a consistent striking tempo while eliminating the characteristic buzzing noise often associated with traditional repeater governors.
Breguet has also chosen to reverse the usual architecture of the movement by positioning the striking mechanism on the back rather than on the dial side. Opening the rear cover reveals the complete repeater and sonnerie mechanism, allowing the owner to observe the racks, snails, levers and hammers in operation.
Every component is finished by hand with bevelling, straight graining, polishing and traditional decorative techniques. The striking barrel bridge is decorated with a specially developed “Petit Trianon” guilloché motif inspired by ornamental patterns found at Versailles.
The artistic craftsmanship extends well beyond the movement. The covers are executed in hand-engraved and enamelled Breguet gold, featuring the Seine and the Quai de l’Horloge rendered in Bleu de France enamel, a historic shade closely associated with French decorative arts and present on several historical Breguet creations.
The edges of the covers display a remarkable three-dimensional guilloché treatment, achieved through a technique specially developed by the Manufacture to decorate surfaces that would traditionally be polished rather than engine-turned.
The case middle is also hand-guilloché with the Quai de l’Horloge pattern, while the lower crystal bears a discreet “250 YEARS” inscription. Blue PVD-coated striking hammers and white-gold gongs treated with the proprietary BRG25 colouring create visual continuity with the deep blue accents visible throughout the watch.
Accompanying the pocket watch is a 18K Breguet gold chain measuring 414 mm in length and composed of 37 links, whose fastening elements are themselves decorated with the Quai de l’Horloge guilloché motif.
The presentation box continues the historical theme. Entirely handmade using wood sourced from the last remaining oak associated with Marie-Antoinette’s estate, it follows the geometry of the French Pavilion at the Petit Trianon.
Inside, a resonance plate crafted from wood originating from the Risoud forest in the Vallée de Joux is intended to enhance the acoustic qualities of the striking mechanism.
Bringing together a grande sonnerie, petite sonnerie, minute repeater, tourbillon, regulator display and an extensive array of decorative crafts, the Classique Grande Sonnerie Métiers d’Art 1905 serves as both a demonstration of contemporary watchmaking expertise and a tribute to the technical and aesthetic legacy of Abraham-Louis Breguet.
Requiring more than six months of assembly and finishing, it stands among the most complex and elaborate creations produced by the Manufacture in recent years. breguet.com
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