Abraham Louis Breguet

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Abraham Louis Breguet

Abraham Louis Breguet (born January 10, 1747 in Neuchâtel , † September 17, 1823 in Paris ) was a Swiss watchmaker and mechanic . He made double astronomical clocks , double chronometers , sea ​​clocks , sympathetic pendulums and metallic thermometers .

biography

Statue of Abraham Louis Breguet in the Pere Lachaise cemetery

Breguet learned the watchmaking trade in Neuchâtel and Versailles , then studied mathematics in Paris and laid the foundation stone for the watch manufacturer Breguet, which still exists today, with the opening of a workshop in 1775 . In 1783 he was commissioned to manufacture a clock for Marie Antoinette . He made clocks for Tsar Nicholas , the Duke of Orleans, the King of England and for Napoleon , who is said to have recommended the master to his officers as well. In 1810 he built the world's first wristwatch for the Queen of Naples Caroline Bonaparte . From 1816 he was a member of the Académie des Sciences .

In addition to the tourbillon, Abraham Louis Breguet invented the “ Breguet hairspring ” and the “Parachute shock protection”. He developed a new escapement system : the " escapement naturel" and manufactured watches for the blind. He also invented the “Pendule Sympathique”, in which the pocket watch is automatically compared with an extremely precise “mother watch”.

The watches from his factory are still highly valued today and are marked with a special signature. Breguet is one of three foreigners who are immortalized on the list of 72 names on the Eiffel Tower , the other two are Charles-François Sturm and Joseph-Louis Lagrange .

His grandson Louis Clément François Breguet (1808–1883) continued the business in Paris and mainly supplied chronometers for astronomical and nautical purposes. He carried out studies on the speed of light and sound, on induction and the electric telegraph, and built a pointer telegraph that was widely used .

Inventions

The chronological list of Breguet's inventions:

1780 First automatic clocks , called perpetuals , with a flywheel and two barrels .

1783 Invention of the gong for repeater watches. Creation of the clock hands with pomme , the characteristic ring behind the tip, also known today as the Breguetziger , and the curved, Arabic Breguet numerals .

1783 Start of construction of the Marie-Antoinette watch (serial number 160) with "all known complications ". This pocket contained on its completion in 1827, an automatic, a lever escapement , a gold Breguet spring , a double Pare-chute - shock protection , a minute repeater , a perpetual calendar , an equation of time , a power reserve indicator, a thermometer , an independent central and a small coupled seconds hand and a transparent dial made of rock crystal as the forerunner of the skeleton watch .

1786 First guilloché dials .

1789 Invention of the lock key, the Breguet key and a natural escapement that works without oil .

1790 Invention of the pare chute - shock protection .

1792 Chappe optical telegraph mechanism built.

1795 First description of the sympathetic pendulum , a clock with two synchronizable movements . Development of the perpetual calendar . Invention of the Breguet hairspring . Final version of the ruby ​​cylinder escapement.

1796 Development of the one-hand watch, the subscription watch .

1798 constant force escapement patent (March 9th). Invention of the music chronometer, a clockwork that serves as a metronome .

1799 Sale of the first tactile clock where the time can be read by scanning.

1801 patent for the tourbillon regulator (June 26). This famous invention of 1795 was not commercialized until 1805.

1810 Manufacture of the first wristwatch for Caroline Murat , Queen of Naples. The clock no.2639 was completed in 1812.

1812 First dials with a decentralized hour ring.

1815 Development of the marine chronometer with two revolving barrels.

1819 Invention of the eyepiece for astronomical telescopes , which enables the measurement of "tenths of a second and even almost a hundredth of a second".

1820 Invention of the clock with double seconds, the observation chronometer , forerunner of the modern stopwatch .

literature

  • George Daniels: The Art of Breguet . Sotheby Parke Bernet, London 1975, ISBN 978-0-85667-004-6 .
  • Habsburg Fine Art Auctioneers: The Art of Breguet. An Important Collection of 204 Watches, Clocks and Wristwatches. [...] . Geneva 1991, ISBN 3-85895-911-1 (catalog of the auction of the same name, Hôtel des Bergues, Geneva, April 14, 1991).
  • Emmanuel Breguet, Nicole Minder and Rodolphe de Pierri (eds.): Abraham-Louis Breguet. The art of watchmaking conquers the world. Somogy, Paris 2011, ISBN 978-2-7572-0435-1 (catalog of the exhibition of the same name in the Swiss National Museum (Chateau des Prangins), June 10 to September 19, 2011).
  • Henri Buehler: Le pays de Neuchâtel: Horlogerie. Neuchâtel 1948.

Web links

Commons : Abraham Louis Breguet  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Helmut Kahlert , Richard Mühe , Gisbert L. Brunner : Wristwatches: 100 years of development history. Callwey, Munich 1983; 5th edition, ibid. 1996, ISBN 3-7667-1241-1 , p. 16.
  2. ^ List of members since 1666: Letter B. Académie des sciences, accessed on September 27, 2019 (French).
  3. ^ Breguet inventions in the National Museum. Retrieved September 8, 2012.
  4. ↑ Important inventions by Breguet in the watch wiki. Retrieved September 8, 2012.
personal data
SURNAME Breguet, Abraham Louis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss watchmaker
DATE OF BIRTH January 10, 1747
PLACE OF BIRTH Neuchâtel
DATE OF DEATH 17th September 1823
Place of death Paris