One Week With: Breguet Tourbillon 3350
Few manufacturers are as synonymous with a complication as Breguet is with the tourbillon. Patented by Abraham-Louis Breguet himself around the turn of the 19th century, its purpose was to combat the adverse effects of gravity within his pocket watches. Today, watches live on the wrist, with the antiquated complication becoming a talisman of great craft. A tourbillon demonstrates savoir-faire, and an embodiment of haute horology not just for Breguet but the entire industry.
Since the acknowledgement of the neo-vintage era, the appreciation of Breguet has increased amongst informed circles, with recognition for the brand's excellence during the 80s and 90s under the stewardship of the Chaumet brothers and the extraction of Abraham-Louis Breguet’s vision for the brand by Daniel Roth. In fact, many of the most celebrated references from this era have passed through this very website, with one model and one complication having seemingly risen to the top: the 3350 Tourbillon.
Rare white gold variant
Over the years of shooting images for WBLDN, I’ve been fortunate enough to handle quite a few examples on the 3350 in various metals, and I’ve never been able to get over how special they are in hand. From the finishing to the exposed view of the tourbillon, in my opinion, the watch defines the entire complication’s luxurious standing that mustn’t be overlooked anymore. After all, considering the model was £100,000 when it retailed, this thought process starts to make sense.
A personal tourbillon confession
Now, I’ll hold my hands up and confess I’ve never fallen head over heels in love with the tourbillon as a complication. I’ve always appreciated it for its historical importance and sheer beauty, and aside from instances from Audemars Piguet, haute watchmaking such as Greubel Forsey or as the ultimate flex hidden around the back of the watch, I’ve rarely lusted over one. That is mostly still the case–unless the tourbillon in question is made by Breguet.
The 3350 was first introduced in 1990 and stands as the very first tourbillon wristwatch by Breguet, with the not-so-secret secret behind its creation being one Daniel Roth. Roth was born into a long lineage of watchmakers, working at Jaeger LeCoultre and Audemars Piguet over the course of seven years before the owners of Breguet as of 1970, the Chaumet brothers, employed him as their new master-watchmaker. He was tasked with reviving perhaps the most historically significant watch manufacturer and thus spent an entire year dedicated to studying the techniques and archives of Abraham-Louis Breguet’s masterstroke before even considering his first steps. Before the 3350 arrived, Roth and the director of the brand, François Bodet, took another three years researching and developing the tourbillon.
As such, it will not come as a surprise to learn that Breguet perfected the 3350 right out of the gate. At 36mm, it's beautifully balanced. Its straight, soft lugs that protrude from the coin edge mid-case remain svelte, enabling its mid-sized proportions to fill larger wrists while simultaneously not overpowering smaller ones.
After spending a week with this 3350, it's clear there isn’t just one element that makes it stand out, but it's how numerous, noteworthy features interact and elevate each other without overpowering the other. Take its 18k yellow gold beautifully proportioned case. It is paired with a guilloché dial featuring Clous de Paris and barleycorn, but on this particular example it has a creamy tone. This softens the contrast between the case and dial, drawing out the brushed chapter ring for the Roman numerals and the 20 seconds of the one-minute tourbillon. And then there’s the sheer amount of heat bluing throughout this dial. The classic pomme hands, the large screws on the brushed tourbillon bridge, the smaller ones holding the tourbillon scale, and of course, the three tourbillon arms. Let alone the engraved base plate; more on that in a moment.
One word: Refinement
If you weren’t aware already, I don’t spend all my days writing about watches. I do, in fact, take very healthy breaks filled with shooting, editing, and publishing images of watches. When I’m not doing either, I try to learn more about watches, or I’m with people talking about… you get the idea.
Nevertheless, over the years of shooting all different types of watches, you get to know rather quickly which styles, dial colours, and case shapes will require a little more finesse to extract their potential. On the contrary, when shooting other watches, they will always, without fail, look incredible and frankly do half of your job for you: Breguet fall into the exclusive latter camp. In fact, I’d go as far as to say Breguet is the founding father of said camp.
Under natural light, the richness of the yellow gold is consistently visible, no matter the sun or cloud, the brushing on the chapter ring is always defined, and the guilloché dials are some of the sharpest I’ve ever shot. And don’t think this is just because they’re guilloché. I’ve shot many other dials from major legacy manufacturers that never look as refined as Breguet’s. This may sound like the ramblings of a watch photographer, but after a week on the wrist, those traits my camera loves translate to reality, making it a real challenge to show this dial looking even mediocre. Essentially, it's simply magnificent.
After living with the watch, another element I’ve come to admire is the unexpected visual depth. While the exposed tourbillon and engraved base plate are the most apparent instances of this, it's the view of the tourbillon bridge stretching down to the engraving and the 20 seconds tourbillon register with exposed screws that are fascinating to see. It’s as if you’re looking through the caseback of a watch at the movement and getting a glimpse of how a series of gears interact with each other.
Stylistically, the 3350 is naturally a dressy affair, but it doesn’t also just suit casual attire because of the juxtaposition of wearing something so traditional and refined with your favourite hoodie. Instead, it excels with any styling purely down to the merits of the watch itself. When I decide what watch to wear, I tend to lean towards those watches that complete a look rather than become to star, but the 3350 is starting to make me think I may have got this mindset completely wrong.
There’s no better way to admire those merits than by taking off the watch and examining the caseback, ideally with a loupe in the other hand. Adorned with lavish hand engraving, settings for the jewels, and a reverse view of the tourbillon, this filigree-type caseback more closely resembles a significant royal Gilded ornate heirloom than a watch.
There’s no other way of saying it, the current market rate for a 3350 is an exceptional deal at the moment. Available for an average of £35,000 in yellow gold, they are simply one of the areas of watchmaking today that’s mind-blowingly overlooked and with more elegant, classically focused watches becoming the zeitgeist once more, it's only a matter of time before the industry at large catches on to the brilliance of neo-vintage Breguet.