Perhaps one of watchmaking's most overlooked industry titans, few brands can claim as many mechanical innovations and iconic pieces of design as Breguet can. Be it their Breguet hands, Breguet numerals, the tourbillon, the Breguet overcoil, or others, the industry has benefited tremendously from Breguet's continuous technical innovation throughout the decades. Among its standout creations, the Classique Tourbillon 3355 'Squelette', which is also the watch offered here today, epitomises Breguet's pinnacle in contemporary watchmaking excellence and showcases a very special complication—the Tourbillon.
While we’re on the topic, I have to say that the tourbillon stands out as one of my all-time favourite horological complications. They are true mechanical marvels of horology and are incredibly dynamic, animated, and a sheer delight to both wear and behold. On that note, I think Breguet tourbillons deserve extra special attention, especially considering the remarkable legacy of the brand's founder, Abraham-Louis Breguet, who invented the complication in 1795. For context, the tourbillon is a complex horological mechanism enclosed within a rotating carriage, designed to counteract fluctuations and errors in timekeeping caused by gravitational forces acting on the moving components within a watch movement. Essentially, a watch's balance tends to oscillate at varying speeds depending on its position and orientation. By integrating a tourbillon into the mechanism, the balance and escapement are continuously rotated, effectively averaging out positional errors and thereby enhancing the overall accuracy of timekeeping.
The Breguet Classique Tourbillon 3355 ‘Squelette‘ represents a refined and sophisticated evolution in Breguet’s storied legacy of tourbillon wristwatches. If you are familiar with the lineage, the story begins with the groundbreaking debut of the 3350 in 1988, Breguet’s very first tourbillon wristwatch. That initial model featured a solid caseback, with the final digit ‘0’ in its reference denoting its closed construction. About a year later, Breguet introduced the 3357, which replaced the solid caseback with a full exhibition back, the ‘7’ in its reference signifying this important update. This offered collectors their first clear and unobstructed view into the intricacies of Breguet’s tourbillon movement. Then came the 3355 in 1993, available in two precious metals: 18-carat yellow gold and platinum 950, with the example offered here crafted in the latter. The 3355 marked a pivotal shift in Breguet’s aesthetic narrative at the time. With enhanced skeletonisation techniques, even finer finishing, and the brand’s signature neoclassical elegance, the 3355 fully embraced the visual drama and expressive spirit of the tourbillon, while preserving the technical sophistication that has long defined the house of Breguet.
Featuring a svelte 36mm x 9mm circular case, the 3355 is defined by its mid-case adorned with a milled coin edge pattern, known in Breguet parlance as carrure cannelée (meaning fluted case band in French). This intricate fluting is more than just decoration; it is a signature design element that dates back to Breguet’s earliest pocket watches. Its tactile and visual texture adds depth to the otherwise restrained case profile and is further complemented by a set of thin straight lugs with a gentle downward curve that hugs the wrist nicely, lending the piece a poised and highly refined architectural silhouette.
Aesthetically, the scintillating open-worked dial of the 3355 is nothing short of a showstopper. It is truly astonishing to observe the sheer level of detail and finishing techniques packed into such a compact and elegantly proportioned package. The solid gold ring on the primary timekeeping sub-dial at 12:00 is circularly brushed and hosts a black printed minute track, along with minimalist Roman numerals at 12, 3 and 9. These are complemented by a set of blued steel pomme de Breguet hour and minute hands. The running seconds at 6:00, by contrast, feature a partial scale that measures up to 20 seconds. Of particular note is the tri-armed blued steel small seconds hand mounted directly on the one-minute tourbillon cage at 6:00—an enduring piece of design flourish introduced during Daniel Roth’s tenure at Breguet, and one that continues to feature in the brand’s contemporary offerings. From an artistic and technical perspective, it is also worth highlighting the difficulty of finishing the sharp inner and outer angles found throughout the movement bridges, as achieving such crisp chamfers and bevelling requires a high level of skill and a deep understanding of traditional hand finishing.
The 3355 is powered by the manual-winding Breguet Cal. 558 SQ1, a movement originally produced by Nouvelle Lemania with the involvement of both Daniel Roth and François Bodet during their respective tenures at Breguet. This calibre is a direct descendant of the original 558 movements that debuted in the inaugural 3350, and it remains a pillar of Breguet’s modern tourbillon lineage. A closer look at the 7:00 position on the dial reveals a hand-engraved inscription on the bridge denoting the calibre. The Cal. 558 SQ1 features a lateral lever escapement, a balance adjusted in five positions, and a self-compensating Breguet overcoil balance spring. It offers a power reserve of approximately 50 hours on a full wind.
The Breguet Classique Tourbillon 3355 'Squelette' is a truly illustrative work of horological art, and it is not hard to see why. As the photos clearly show, Breguet held nothing back when it came to open-working and finishing. Every surface, angle, and detail has been executed with remarkable care and precision.
