Emmanuel is the seventh generation of the founder and has a history of economics and technology and now oversees the archives stored in the Breguet Museum in Paris, Place Vendôme, and the Breguet museums in Zurich and Shanghai. His history has served him well, and he tells Options in an exclusive interview that, like any other youth, he was not sure what subjects to study at Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV) University.
He remembers: “One day, I asked the teacher, what kind of subject can I do for my doctoral thesis? The teacher said, ‘your name is Breguet, and you asked me what you want to study?’.” Emmanuel adds that his teacher said it would be interesting to know more about his family. This brings us to the situation we find ourselves in today, sitting in a cafe in downtown Singapore as he tells the story of Breguet to the media and clients.
A hefty 451-page book, Breguet: Watchmakers Since 1775, serves as a guide that begins with a detailed history of the life and times of the founder Abraham-Louis Breguet to an extensive listing of the various watches ever created. This labour of love was written by Emmanuel Breguet in 1997 and was given a third update when Covid-19 forced the world to reexamine things.
Emmanuel says the lockdown gave him time to work on the archives and historical material about Breguet. In the course of more research, he discovered that the founder was not only a talented watchmaker but also a businessman — he had created a network distribution channel as early as the 1800s where more than 10 to 15 countries were receiving the Breguet timepieces. One vital piece of information Emmanuel discovered was flyers promoting the timepieces, the first type of advertising Breguet did.
