The Breguet Marine Collection, now on Integrated Gold Bracelets (Live Pics)

Entirely revamped a couple of years ago, the Breguet Marine collection is the brand’s modern tribute to A.L. Breguet’s time as Chronometer-maker to the French royal navy. No more deck clocks today but instead a high-end and contemporary sports watch, offered in titanium, rose gold, or white gold. This year, the brand gives its nautical collection an even sportier look, with integrated gold bracelets – following last year’s titanium editions – for the Marine 5517, the Marine Chronographe 5527 and the Marine Alarme Musicale 5547.

Breguet and the sea

The Marine collection is firmly rooted in the fundamentals of Breguet’s heritage. Back in the late eighteenth century, Abraham-Louis Breguet, the father of modern clock and watchmaking, determined the essentials in the art of fashioning timepieces: reliability and legibility.

In 1815, King Louis XVIII of France recognized the exceptional qualities of Breguet’s work and appointed him Chronometer-maker to the French royal navy. From that point on, the success of the royal expeditions was in part dependent on the reliability of his naval clocks – both a great honour and a heavy responsibility. In 1840, for example, a Breguet instrument was the first timepiece to reach the Antarctic, with the Jules Dumont d’Urville expedition.

A modern nautical collection

The modern Breguet Marine is the brand’s sportiest collection, alongside the pilot’s Type XX/XXI watches. While there is no real need for marine chronometers today, the brand retains its connection with the sea and expresses it with this collection – which has been around for some time now. In 2018, Breguet introduced its new take on the Marine watch by entirely redefining the case and the design of this nautical timepiece.

Alongside the ultra-complex Tourbillon Equation Marchante, the Marine collection is available in three iterations, the Marine 3-hand 5517, the Marine Chronographe 5527 and the Marine Alarme Musicale 5547. All share the same design codes and colour schemes, differentiated only by the movements beating inside. This collection is available in titanium with a grey sunburst dial, which has already been unveiled on an integrated metallic bracelet in 2019. Now it is time for the luxurious rose and white gold versions, equipped with handsome guilloché dials, to receive a sportier look.

Integrated gold bracelet

The real deal this year is the addition of an integrated bracelet to the Marine gold watches, either in rose gold with a silver dial or in white gold with a blue dial. Other than that, there is no evolution regarding the dial, the mechanics or the proportions.

Relying on the specific shape of this modern case, the first link of the bracelet is attached directly to the central container and follows the lines of this watch. The bracelet itself, with a 3-link construction, appears extremely well executed. First of all, it has depth and contrasts, with brushed surfaces on top and polished bevels on the sides of the links. The separations lines between the different decorations are neat and precise and the polished surfaces are done with great care, offering beautiful reflections.

Another interesting point about these bracelets is the way they are assembled. No side screws are used and instead, there is a more complex but hidden mechanism that allows, thanks to a screw on the back of the central link, to secure all the links together. The bracelet is closed by a triple and concealed folding clasp. Finally, thanks to practically absent lugs, the watches wear smaller than expected… even though the gold case and bracelet combination makes them quite heavy on the wrist.

GuillochÉ dials and in-house calibres

In lieu of the plain grey dial found on the titanium edition, the gold Marine watches are equipped with one of Breguet’s hallmark hand-guilloché dials. For this collection, the brand created a specific nautical pattern that complements the Marine theme with waves directly engraved on the solid gold base dial. The dials also incorporate Breguet’s moon-tipped hands, 5-minute markers and applied Roman numerals with luminescent material. The tip of the seconds hand forms a ‘B’ that stands for the ‘Bravo’ of maritime parlance, or for Breguet.

As you would expect from Breguet, inside the cases are in-house movements – a time-and-date, a chronograph and an alarm movement – all equipped with modern features such as a silicon escapement and balance spring. The movements have been decorated with a unique type of Geneva stripes that recalls the decking of a ship and a rotor designed like a ship’s wheel.

Price and availability

The new editions with rose or white gold bracelet of the Breguet Marine 5517, 5527 and 5547 will soon be available from boutiques and retail partners. The prices will be:

• 5517BB/Y2/BZ0 3-hand white gold – EUR 47,800
• 5517BR/12/RZ0 3-hand rose gold – EUR 47,800
• 5527BB/Y2/BW0 chronograph white gold – EUR 54,900
• 5527BR/12/RW0 chronograph rose gold – EUR 54,900
• 5547BB/Y2/BZ0 alarm white gold – EUR 58,800
• 5547BR/12/RZ0 alarm rose gold – EUR 58,800