In mechanical watchmaking, maintaining a balance between tradition and modernity is a continual challenge. Change too much to appease current tastes and watchmakers will be accused of abandoning their heritage. Too little and it will be seen as stubbornly outmoded. For a brand as old Breguet, which will soon be closing in on its 250th year, it has succeeded in navigating these tensions by keeping their aesthetics strictly neoclassical but their mechanics as current as possible.
The Classique Dame 8068 is a fine example of how Breguet does this dance of old-meets-new. To cater to the stylish 21st-century woman on the go, the brand has finally introduced interchangeable straps. Each boxed set will arrive with three straps. Both the white gold and rose gold models will come with a black satin fabric strap, but the former will receive teal blue and “Byzantium” purple alligator straps, while the latter gets peacock blue and raspberry pink ones. Each strap is fitted with a matching gold buckle.
The straps will also be easy to change, requiring just a press on the pusher under the strap to lift it up, remove and replace. Simply position the far end of the new strap level with the lugs in a 45 to 60 degree angle and it will click back into place. The whole process should take no longer than a few seconds.
Despite their unassuming round shape and relatively clean dials, Breguet’s Classique watches are still highly recognisable due to their extra-thin lugs and moon-tipped “Breguet hands” that sweep over a refined watch face. It’s a fool-proof formula for a dress watch, but the Classique Dame 8068 has some notable updates to the design that give it a bit more personality.
The crown, which was typically offered with a blue sapphire is now fitted with a cabochon diamond, a complement to the silvery glow of the 64 brilliant-cut diamonds set in the bezel and lugs. The mother-of-pearl dial, a regular element in women’s watches, gets a textural twist with another Breguet signature: extra-fine hand-guilloche.
Many Classique Dame references feature Roman numerals, but the 8068 is one of the few to have Arabic ones, again in Breguet’s trademark font. The brand’s logo now sits under 12 o’clock in a new oval cartouche.
Breguet is one of the few watchmakers that doesn’t offer quartz options for women, preferring instead to give them mechanical movements that are as meticulously made as the ones found in the men’s models. So inside the 30mm by 7.7mm case you will find the self-winding Calibre 537/3. Its 191 components include an in-line Swiss lever escapement, a silicon balance spring (prized for its corrosion-resistance and anti-magnetic properties), and a balance that oscillates at 3.5Hz. Thanks to a 45-hour power reserve and 30m of water resistance, the 8068 is well-equipped to handle the rigours of daily wear.
The rhodium-plated movement is also a thing of beauty. Its platinum oscillating weight is hand-engraved on a rose engine to give it a circular barleycorn pattern, while the rest of the components are decorated with chamfering or Cotes de Geneve.
Some of Breguet’s most magnificent creations have been made for history’s grandest ladies. It was Caroline Murat, former queen of Naples, that commissioned Abraham-Louis Breguet for a wrist-worn timepiece in 1810, making it (by many accounts) the world’s first wristwatch. When Marie-Antoinette requested a pocket watch with every imaginable function possible and an unlimited budget to make it happen, Breguet delivered the No. 160 “The Grand Complication” which boasted 823 parts and 23 complications. Even though most of us don’t have the bottomless pockets of royalty, Breguet’s legacy has endured, giving women timepieces that are as mechanically sophisticated as they are visually bewitching. In short, the kind of watches we deserve.