Description

The present watch is an extraordinary horological discovery: a double-signed Breguet & Chaumet featuring a Hijri Islamic Calendar, a timepiece of such extreme rarity that only two examples are known to have been produced. Manufactured in 1982 during the transformative “Chaumet era” of Breguet, the Parisian jewelery and watch designer owned Breguet from 1970 to 1987. This watch represents the pinnacle of the brand’s revival under the direction of a young Daniel Roth, who was tasked with restoring Breguet to its historical glory.

Encased in 36.5 mm of 18k white gold, the watch displays all the hallmark signatures of the Maison: a coin-edge caseband, an offset time sub dial, and a lavishly hand-guilloché dial. However, its technical heart is what truly sets it apart. The Hijri calendar mechanism is engineered to track the Islamic lunar year of 354 or 355 days, where months alternate between 29 and 30 days. The month is displayed in the top aperture, the day of the week immediately below, and the date in the lower window—all rendered in Arabic script.

According to the Breguet Museum archives, this specific piece was delivered to Chaumet Genève in 1982. Given the complexity of the calendar and the precious metal integrated bracelet, it is widely believed that these two pieces were a special commission destined for the Royal Court of Morocco, the Late King Hassan II was known to be a man of exceptional taste who among other things commissioned watches from prestigious brands.

The watch is presented on its original 18k white gold integrated bracelet with a concealed clasp, maintaining a seamless, sculptural elegance. This Breguet/Chaumet is a “mission impossible” find for the serious collector—a rare intersection of religious tradition, Parisian jewelry history, and the dawn of neo-vintage independent watchmaking.

Breguet – bio

Breguet was founded by Abraham-Louis Breguet in Paris in 1775. From 1870 to 1970 it was owned by the English Brown family. In 1976, its then owner Chaumet closed the French factory, and moved production to the Vallée de Joux in Switzerland. In 1991 the brand’s Bahraini owner Investcorp created Groupe Horloger Breguet (GHB) including Valdar SA and Nouvelle Lemania S.A. The Breguet group has been part of The Swatch Group since 1999.

The brand, along with Vacheron Constantin, is one of the oldest surviving watch-making brands and a pioneer of numerous watch-making technologies, such as the tourbillon, invented by Abraham-Louis Breguet. It also produced the first wrist watch in 1810.