Our first live auction of 2023, the PHILLIPS Geneva Watch Auction: XVII, takes place on May 13 and 14, at La Réserve Genève. The auction includes more than 200 of the world's finest watches – and though we are loath to boast, we truly think it's one of the best catalogs we've ever put together. We'll be highlighting a number of the most interesting lots and stories featured in the sale over the next month, including the rare 1962 Breguet dive watch seen here.
– By Logan Baker
Breguet has been creating timepieces for use around the oceans longer than most. Many collectors know that more than 200 years ago, on October 27, 1815, Abraham-Louis Breguet was awarded the title of the official watchmaker to the French Royal Navy.
The current Marine collection pays tribute to that illustrious history, but what if I told you that Breguet has a little-known chapter in its past that takes the company’s water-resistant watchmaking skills from ship-deck chronometers to deep below the surface? That’s right, Breguet once created a series of dive watches, and a single example is included in the Geneva Watch Auction: XVII.
When most people think of Breguet, they think of tourbillons, pocket watches, ultra-thin dress watches with intricate guilloché dials, or even potentially the masculine Type XX pilot chronographs – what they absolutely don’t think of is dive watches.
After all, Breguet was founded nearly 250 years ago, and their record of dive watch production is near zero.
In the mid-1960s, one decade after the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms was officially introduced as the world’s first dive watch with a rotating bezel, Breguet entered the market for the first time with a small run of fewer than 60 dive watches featuring a 37mm stainless steel case, an external rotating bezel with a black Bakelite insert, a screwed back, three hands, and a white date window at three o’clock. The classic Breguet wordmark is written in script across the dial at 12 o’clock.
The watches produced in this series had a number of dial variants (including both round luminous plots and bold Arabic numerals), but they all featured the same self-winding A. Schild 1581 caliber inside. Research indicates that the majority of the case numbers were primarily signed in the 16XX range.
PHILLIPS sold one previous example, with case number 1613 and a production date of 1963, during the Geneva Watch Auction: SEVEN, in May 2018, for CHF 131,250. The example available next week during the Geneva Watch Auction: XVII has case number 1629 and a production date of 1962; it has an estimate of CHF 40,000 to 80,000.
The only aesthetic difference between the two watches (outside slight variables in condition) is the first example to appear at PHILLIPS had hour markers indicated on the bezel insert at the poles (three, six, and nine), while the upcoming example uses larger pillow-shaped markers at those same positions.
These Breguet divers are compelling not only for their rarity and uniqueness within the Breguet archive but also for their general attractiveness. They have the classic look of a traditional mid-century skin diver – no crown guards, straight lugs, and the luminous Bakelite rotating bezel – but with classic Breguet elements, such as the cursive logo and a larger, lume-filled hour hand that almost appears to be a hybrid between Breguet hands and Rolex’s ultra-modern Mercedes-style hands.
The bezel has no minute markers, which would make it quite tough to operate as an actual dive watch, but is similar to other dive watches of the era such as the Fifty Fathoms and the Omega Seamaster 300 CK2913. The hour markers on the dial are mostly large and round with ample luminescent plots surrounded by a printed white circle, with the only exception being the 12 o’clock marker that takes a diamond shape.
Very few examples of these Breguet dive watches have publicly appeared, and they were largely unknown until a few collectors resurfaced them in the early 2010s with the assistance of Emmanuel Breguet, Head of Patrimony at Breguet and a descendant of Abraham-Louis Breguet.
Breguet ended up producing a few other small batches of dive watches in the 1970s, including an interesting flyback chronograph variant with an internal rotating bezel, but this first run from the 1960s is considered the most desirable by collectors.
The example included in the Geneva Watch Auction: XVII is accompanied by a certificate from Breguet confirming its authenticitity, with a production year of 1962 and a subsequent sale date of October 12, 1965, to a gentleman under the name of Mr. Rosenthal. Today's estimate of CHF 40,000 to 80,000 for the watch is a far cry from the 468 francs originally paid by Mr. Rosenthal when he purchased the watch.
You can learn more about and register to bid on this rare 1962 Breguet dive watch by visiting the online catalog for PHILLIPS Geneva Watch Auction: XVII.
About Phillips In Association With Bacs & Russo
The team of specialists at PHILLIPS Watches is dedicated to an uncompromised approach to quality, transparency, and client service. Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo holds the world record for the most successful watch auction, with its Geneva Watch Auction: XIV having realized $74.5 million in 2021. Over the course of 2021 and 2022, the company sold 100% of the watches offered, a first in the industry, resulting in the highest annual total in history across all the auction houses at $227 million.
About Logan Baker
Logan has spent the past decade working in watch-focused media, reporting on every aspect of the industry. He joined Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo at the start of 2023 as the department's Senior Editorial Manager. He splits his time between New York and Geneva.
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