Founded by Abraham-Louis Breguet in 1775, Breguet is one of the oldest existing watchmaking brands. While it does offer a few sports watches, Breguet is broadly known for dress watch models such as the Classique line.

Width: 38.4mm

Lug-to-lug: 45.2mm

Thickness: 8.8mm

Lug width: 20mm

It offers 30 meters of water resistance.

The watch case is made of 18kt yellow gold, as is the buckle on the alligator strap. Screws are used to secure the buckle and the strap to the watch, rather than the typical spring bars. As for the case, it features cold-rolled coined flanks with lugs that are welded onto the case. The crown is branded.

Looking at the face of the watch, the first thing of note is the dial. It as made of solid gold, which is ultimately coated in silver and then coated again to prevent the silver from developing a patina. However, before that silver process the dial must have its patterns cut into it. A rose lathe was used to cut the dial, most notably in this example in the creation of the basket-weave pattern occupying the bulk of the dial face. Roman numerals for the hours exist near the chapter ring, with the 12 o’clock flanked by the secret Breguet signature on both sides. At the 3 o’clock position is a step-down aperture which displays the date with a silvered background to compliment the dial. The hands are steel and heated blue and are in the Breguet style.

The crown is not screw-down so in position zero it allows for hand-winding. In position one you can quick-set the date. In position two the watch hacks and you can set the time.

The watch has a display caseback which reveals the Breguet caliber 777Q movement. This is a 4 hertz unidirectional automatic movement that has 26 jewels and offers approximately 55 hours of power reserve. The balance, lever, and escape wheel are silicon. The rotor is gold and also cut on a rose lathe. The movement is hand finished and offers impressive cote de Geneve done via abrasive wheel. Screw and jewel sinks are mirrored on their rims and the screws are black polished. Mirrored anglage also appears along the edges of the bridges.

According to my timegrapher I get an average reading across all six positions of +7.3 seconds per day with a range of +2 seconds per day to +12 seconds per day.

My overall thoughts:

The positives:

• Stunning dial

• Well finished movement

• Comfortable to wear

The negatives:

• Rotor wobble is noticeable

My only real negative for this watch is the rotor. Beautiful to look at but as a unidirectional winding system combined with being a very thin watch the wobble when it spins in the non-winding direction is noticeable. As in, you can feel it pretty easily. In quiet rooms I can also hear it. I don’t like noticing the rotor on a watch. This is not the most extreme scenario (I’d rate it slightly better than I’ve experienced with Grand Seiko’s spring drive) but it is worth knowing about if this sort of thing bothers you.

But the positives are great. The guilloché work on the dial is incredible and this is arguably the most attractive dial I’ve ever owned on a watch. The hand-crafted and hand-finished aspects are really the standouts, especially when you consider how much these cost used versus so many other watches and their finishing at a similar price point. I wasn’t sure how well the watch would wear, either, but it is quite comfortable. The thinness of the watch does it a lot of favors in that regard but even the lugs seem to work well for me.