====== Breguet, Abraham-Louis ======
{{wst>image_r|Breguet,_Abraham-Louis|Abraham-Louis Breguet 1747-1823}}
{{wst>image_r|Breguet,_Abraham-Louis_02|Bust of Abraham-Louis Breguet at the Paris cemetery Père Lachaise}}
**Abraham-Louis Breguet** was a Swiss watchmaker. He is regarded as the most important watch maker and inventor in the history of time measurement.

===== Born in Neuchâtel, Switzerland =====
Abraham-Louis Breguet is born on 10 January [[1747]] in the Swiss town [[Neuchâtel]] (German Neuenburg, formerly Neufchâtel), which then belongs to the Kingdom of Prussia.

He completes an apprenticeship with his stepfather Joseph Tattet in Neuchâtel and from about [[1763]] in Versailles. He then works in Paris, probably with Ferdinand Berthoud and [[Lépine, Jean Antoine|Jean Antoine Lépine]], before he opens his own workshop there in about [[1775]]. Initially the focus is on the [[finissage]] of foreign [[ebauche movement]]s, but soon follows the production of [[pocket watch]]es with his own movements, in the style of [[Lépine, Jean Antoine|Lépine]].

In [[1784]] he is accepted into the guild as a master watchmaker and in [[1785]] he becomes purveyor of King Louis XVI. After the beginning of the revolution, in [[1793]], Breguet fled from France back to Neuchâtel. During a stay in London, contacts were made ​​to the chronometer maker [[Arnold, John|John Arnold]], from which developed a friendship. In [[1795]] he returned to Paris.

In [[1808]] his son [[Breguet, Louis|Louis]] enters the firm as a partner and continues it after Breguet's death. Since then the manufacture is named „[[Breguet|Breguet et fils]]".

===== Significant inventions which make watch history =====
In addition to plenty of quality and also highly complicated [[pocket watch]]es we owe to Breguet also many important inventions, such as the improvement of the [[automatic]] winding ([[1780]]), the free [[escapement]] "échappement naturel", the "Parachute" [[shock protection]] of the [[balance staff]] ([[1790]]), the ruby [[cylinder escapement]], the [[tourbillon]] ([[1801]]), and the bent terminal curve of the [[flat hairspring]] - later named [[Breguet hairspring]] after him ([[1795]]).

For the sister of Napoleon I. and Queen of Naples, Caroline Murat, Breguet built a watch that could be worn on the wrist, and thus created probably the first [[wristwatch]] in the world. It was ordered in [[1810]], paid for in [[1811]] and delivered in [[1812]] a very thin, oblong watch with [[repetition]], additionally equipped with a thermometer and connected with a bracelet of hair, in which a golden thread that was woven in. Caroline later bought another twelve of watches from Breguet (including eight more with repetition) and thus enabled him to experience an important economic upswing.

Abraham-Louis Breguet died on 17 September [[1823]]. The funeral took place one day later at the cemetery Père Lachaise.

===== The watch manufacturer Breguet =====
Breguet's spirit lives on today in the high-quality watches produced by [[Breguet|Breguet Montres SA]], the company named after him. This is because these watches still feature the same fundamental characteristics that can be traced back to Abraham-Louis Breguet:

  * A classic, often [[guilloché]] dial with Roman numerals,
  * [[Breguet hands]], and
  * a [[fluted]] case made of solid gold. 
 
The [[Breguet numerals]] are also well known as another frequently used stylistic feature.

Not to mention the top-notch quality, which places the models available today among the most expensive watches of all.


===== Literature =====
  *Breguet. Meisterwerke klassischer Uhrmacherkunst; Authors Osvaldo Patrizzi, Madeleine Patrizzi, Jean-Claude Sabrier; ISBN 3766710168
  *[[Watchmakers & Clockmakers of the World]]; Author Baillie, G. H.; ISBN 140679113X
  *Die Taschenuhrsammlung von Gerd Ahrens. Authors [[Christian Pfeiffer-Belli]], Peter Frieß, Josef M. Stadl, Wolf Brüggemann, Norbert Enders; Gestaltung Birgit Binner; ISBN 3766716689 or ISBN 978-3766716682
  *[[Das ZEITGEFÜHL-Uhrenbuch]]; Author [[Gerd-Lothar Reschke]]; ISBN 3-938607-61-0

===== Weblinks =====
  *[[http://www.breguet.com/en/content/view/full/2281|Breguet and Caroline Murat]]


{{tag>Biographies}}