Breguet

Kano
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Breguet vs... what?

To get it done with the first - and less important - point: as for technical hair-splitting between 5-figures watches that can't keep time with a $10 China-made quartz, and are mostly made of gold that no matter how well-polished in the factory will be a scratch magnet anyway, I think that this is inconsequential at these levels.

Now, my personal experience and thoughts...

While idling around a watch boutique a few months ago, I made the mistake to ask to see a Breguet more closely. And then another model, and that one please? Oh yes , a catalog, very nice of you, thank you...

After a few days looking, and comparing, and caressing, and - I'll confess - coveting, I ended up with a YG 5237. Price was not a decisive point. I could have spent half as much or more above that mark, if I had had the same "that's the one" feeling.

There is a magic in the timeless classicism of Breguet's lines, that you hardly find elsewhere. Sense? Not much in it. The slender hands are a beauty to look at, but often hard to see in poor light. And when it's pitch-dark, just forget about what time it is since there is no luminous paste anywhere. The solid gold dial is covered in silver, hardly a case of nobler over mundane. Moreover this is done by hand: with a 10x loupe you can see the very slight imperfections that even a master's hand is bound to leave behind. Then you have to hand-wind the watch every morning, just as if automatic movements had not been around for ages.

But when you look at it, there it is... The finely engraved dial, the Roman numerals unchanged in centuries, the simplicity of the round case barely accented by the fine fluting, the exquisitely proportioned and soft-shined alligator band (not a flat platicy-looking affair like on so many other watches), the beautifully finished movement, all these marrying seamlessly into that magic touch I was referring to above.

That's one object that would not be out of place at a king's banquet in Homer's days, at a Roman Emperor's court, or on a Renaissance master's wrist. Men across the ages would recognize its lines of beauty. They would understand its workings - and marvel at the mastery behind it.

Patek? I'd buy one, but that would be a business decision. Lange? An excellent, cold, soulless time machine. VC? Yes, I like their style, but still not the right "click" for me.

My Breguet? That was an irrational, emotional decision. And if a high quality brand succeeds in creating emotion, it's on the right tracks.

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