In watchmaking, as in any other ancient activity, there are many myths that we will gradually debunk

Most of us, of course, are familiar with the lines of the great poet Alexander Pushkin, who died after being wounded in a duel exactly 180 years ago:

Onegin goes to the boulevard
And there he walks in the open space,
Bye the ever-watchful Breget
Dinner won't ring his bell.

For some reason, again, most of us are sure that Eugene Onegin had a Breguet watch. But this is not a fact. In those days, all striking pocket watches were called breguet, and great master Abraham-Louis Breguet, with all his desire, physically could not provide even a quarter of the Russian nobility with his watches.

Here is what the “Big Dictionary” writes about this foreign words”:

Breguet – noun masculine(derived from the name of the French watchmaker Breguet, 1747–1823). Pocket watch, distinguished by great accuracy, chimed the hours, fractions of the hours and showed the dates of the month

The compiler of the “Dictionary of Foreign Words” included in the Russian language, A. N. Chudinov, in 1910 defined the word “breguet” as:

A watch with a special kind of key rotating on a gear; in the past they were in great use.

He mentioned the key quite correctly. Winding crowns as we know them appeared only in the second half of the 19th century, and they were invented by Jean-Adrian Philippe, whose name forms the second part of the name of the great house Patek Philippe

Why did all striking pocket watches come to be called Breguets?

I think because highest quality models that came from the hand of the great master. His fame was such that Breguet watch became the first victims of numerous counterfeits, and Breguet had to invent his signature unique guilloche patterns, which were applied to the dial not only to hide the unevenness of the surface, but also as protection against illegal copying. This is how any watch began to be called a Breguet.

Eponyms are words that received their names due to their inventors. The most famous of them: copier (rota-print copying machine), mac (cloak), Olivier (salad), sweatshirt (shirt with long tails), berdanka (gun), riding breeches (trousers), mausoleum, attic, open-hearth and many others

Among the watch eponyms, one can recall “bove”, from the Bovet company. This is still the name in Chinese for all watches that were once incredibly popular in the Middle Kingdom.

In general, Onegin could well have had a striking pocket watch in his coat pocket: Vacheron Constantin, Blancpain, Jaquet Droz, Ferdinand Berthoud, Freres, Perrelet, Jean-François Bautte (whose workshop was eventually renamed Girard-Perregaux) and models of others masters who worked in the first half of the 19th century.

released a unique model hours, dedicated to the great genius Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin.

While in morning dress,

Putting on wide bolivar,

Onegin goes to the boulevard

And there he walks in the open space,

Breguet still awake

Dinner won't ring his bell.

A.S. Pushkin, “Eugene Onegin”

Voiced poetry

The love of the Breguet watch brand and the great Russian poet Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin has always been mutual. The poet mentioned the name of the brand more than once in his works. For example, the name Breguet appeared twice in the poem “Eugene Onegin”.

Paying tribute to the genius of Pushkin, the watch house created an excellent model of the Reine de Naples chronometer, the dial of which is decorated with a portrait of Alexander Sergeevich. The decor of the dial is interesting because it is made in the shape of a cameo. Cameos were very fashionable in Pushkin's times. Also watch inlaid with dozens of small white diamonds and white gold. To top it off, they are equipped with a bracelet made of genuine white crocodile leather.

This product was produced in a single copy specifically for Russia. They will be sold in the mono-brand Breguet boutique.

HAT "BOLIVAR"

Putting on a wide bolivar,
Onegin goes to the boulevard.

Black cylinder with wide brim- this is what the most fashionable headdress of that time looked like. In the famous author’s drawing for the novel “Pushkin and Onegin on the Banks of the Neva,” the characters are wearing bolivars.

1) A.S. Pushkin, self-portrait with Onegin on the Neva embankment, 1824
2) Self-portrait of A. S. Pushkin in the margins of the draft manuscript of Chapter V of Eugene Onegin
3) Illustration from the French fashion magazine Journal des dames et des modes (1809)

In the 19th century, hats were often named after public figures, and with the help of hats people could express their political sympathies. In 1821-1823, when the poet began work on the novel, the most popular were the cylinders named after General Simon Bolivar, a national hero South America, leader of the struggle for independence from Spain. At that time, he was just liberating Peru, and in 1825 he became the head of the Republic of Bolivia, later named in his honor.

John James Chalon. Fashion store in Paris

His supporters wore the wide-brimmed hats that made their way into European fashion in the 1810s. The fields of bolivars, as the everyday writer Mikhail Pylyaev mentions, were so wide that sometimes it was impossible to pass through the narrow door. However, already in 1825, a Moscow fashion magazine indicated that bolivars were losing popularity. So the author dressed Onegin exactly according to the fashion of the early 1820s. And, in addition, he hinted at his political sympathies.

WATCH "BREGUETTE"

And there he walks in the open space,
While the watchful Breget
Dinner won't ring his bell.

The dandy Onegin did not need to take his watch out of his pocket to look at the dial - he just had to put his hand inside, press the spring, and the watch would ring the time. This feature of repeater watches (as they said then, “with rehearsal”), in particular those produced by Breguet, made them almost synonymous with alarm clocks. Pushkin mentions the Breguet several times in the text - first before dinner he says that “our stomach is faithful to the Breguet,” then before the performance he points out that “the ringing of the Breguet tells them that a new ballet has begun.”

Breguet pocket watch, before 1829
Breguet pocket watch, before 1806

The Breguet brand still exists today; it is one of the oldest in the world. Watchmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet was born in Switzerland, but as a teenager he moved to Paris, where he opened his first shop in 1775. Many of the technologies developed by him and his heirs are still in use today. Thus, in 1801, Breguet received a patent for the invention of the tourbillon - a special mechanism that compensated for the effect of gravity on the accuracy of watches. “Breguettes” were famous not only for their accuracy, but also for the fact that they did not make identical models. The buyer could be sure that no one else had the exact same watch as his.

A.L. Breguet. Drawing from a working album. 18th century

Breguet began to develop the Russian market in 1801, and already in 1808 a representative office of the fashion company was opened in St. Petersburg. Among the fans of the brand were the princes Golitsyn, Gagarin, Yusupov, and even Emperor Alexander I. It is not surprising that Onegin wears “breguet” in the front right pocket of his trousers (which were then called “pantaloons”).

Breguet's workshops on the Quai de l'Horloge on the Ile de la Cité in Paris (after 1775).
Breguet. Drawing. Official Breguet website.

It is curious that although buyers of Breguet products, of course, knew the correct pronunciation French surname, however, his company entered the Russian language in a literal reading - with the letter “t” at the end. Besides, it’s more convenient to rhyme this way.

RESTAURANT TALON

He rushed to Talon: he is sure
What is Kaverin waiting for him there?

Pushkin not only sends his hero to dine at Talon’s, he, in addition, puts a footnote to his surname with the text “Famous restaurateur” so that the reader is sure to pay attention to this surname. Perhaps Talon gave the poet a discount for this?

Gourmets at the table, or the Gastronomic Union. Caricature beginning 19th century. France

After all, Pushkin could have sent Onegin, for example, to Mr. Andrieu’s establishment at 15 Malaya Morskaya, where, according to Thaddeus Bulgarin, officials and ministers “had lunch.” Pushkin himself visited this restaurant several times, and it was there that he met Dantes.

However, the poet chose another fashionable place for Onegin, Pierre Talon’s restaurant on Nevsky Prospekt, where, according to the same Bulgarin, it was possible to “fully satisfy your gastronomic needs.” And indeed, Pushkin gives a whole list of specialties of this restaurant - roast-beef, truffles, Strasbourg pate pie, cheese, pineapple, champagne.

Nevsky 15, Chicherin's house, on a lithograph by I.A. Ivanov based on a drawing by V.S. Sadovnikov, ca. 1830.

The restaurant occupied Kosikovsky's house near the Police Bridge (Nevsky Prospekt, 15). Onegin “rushes” there: indeed, it was worth the haste, because at the beginning of 1825 Talon advertised in the newspapers that he was returning to France. True, immediately after his departure, another French restaurant opened in the premises - Feuillet. Pushkin visited there too.

"LEPAGE" PISTOLS

We rushed over. He tells the servant
Lepage fatal trunks
Carry him...

And here again Pushkin puts a separate note on the Lepage stamp, which reads: “Glorious gunsmith.” A coincidence?.. Especially when you consider that the poet definitely had pistols “from Lepage” - it was with them that he shot with Dantes, armed with German pistols by Karl Ulbrich. It is believed that this pair from Lepage was made for Pushkin on his order shortly before his death.

Lepage pistols, owned by A.S. Pushkin. Museum A.S. Pushkin

Master Lepage was truly “glorious.” The Le Page rifle company (later Fauré Le Page) was founded in Paris back in 1717, and remained in the hands of the same family for almost two hundred years - until 1913. The founder of the company was named Louis Pigny, but he bequeathed the business to his niece's husband Pierre Lepage, and it was under this name that the brand became famous throughout Europe. The skill of Pierre Lepage and his assistants attracted many clients, including the most upper strata society - they supplied weapons to both the French king Louis XV and the famous commander Moritz of Saxony.

Lepage pistols that belonged to Napoleon's son. Sotheby's

Pushkin is already talking about his contemporary Jean Lepage (Pierre's nephew). At first he was going to become a chemist, but then, when it became clear that his uncle would not have another heir, he took up the gun business. And so successfully that it was he who ordered weapons in turn from those who succeeded each other at the helm of power: Louis XVI, Napoleon (first consul, then emperor), Louis XVIII. Even during the Great French Revolution Lepage could not do without it - during the storming of the Bastille, his weapons were distributed to the people - as well as during the July Revolution of 1830.

Adam Victor. Distributing weapons to people near Lepage's store during the July Revolution of 1830

Although the company, which produced very high-quality, innovative and at the same time luxurious weapons, will continue to develop successfully even after the death of Jean Lepage, it is his name that is most often found on museum plaques and mentioned in literature. In a word, the fact that Lensky chooses this weapon for a duel is not surprising.

Vladimir Nabokov's commentary on Eugene Onegin occupies a plump volume of almost a thousand pages and provides an explanation of almost every word of the great novel. Most readers, however, became familiar with the text back in school years, without attaching importance to philological subtleties, but surely everyone will remember what kind of watch the main character had. “The Unsleeping Breget,” immortalized by Alexander Sergeevich (by the way, three times - a rare honor!), appeared on the pages of other works of world literature - from Balzac and Dumas to Kuprin and Jacob. Lenta.ru recalls quotes from classic texts that mention the famous brand, and shows those Breguet watches that literary characters might have owned.

The main thing that people at least somewhat familiar with technology know about Abraham-Louis Breguet is that he invented the tourbillon. Patent for new type The master received a regulator that levels the effect of earth's gravity on the clock mechanism on June 26, 1801 (or 7 Messidor of the IX year according to the calendar of Republican France). A native of Neuchâtel, a descendant of a French family, a Swiss expat who achieved fame and success in his ancestral homeland, Breguet also invented automatic watches and the first wrist watch(made by order of Caroline Murat, Queen of Naples, sister of Napoleon Bonaparte and wife of his brave Marshal Murat).

One of the components of Breguet's technical and marketing success was the introduction of proprietary details that made the watch recognizable at first sight. These are blue blued Breguet hands with offset tips - “apples”, which appeared in 1783, a fluted case ring, by which both ancient and modern “Breguet” hands can be recognized even “in profile”, and a characteristic logo design. The Swiss's watches were as popular as Louis Vuitton bags are now, and they were shamelessly counterfeited. Showing business savvy, in 1795 the watchmaker came up with perhaps the first “identifier of authenticity” in history: a tiny secret signature engraved on the dial, visible only in bright light. In addition, each watch has its own number - using it you can check the provenance of watches from Napoleonic times and the “Breguet” contemporaries of Eugene Onegin, and at the same time the authenticity of modern models.

Around 1786, Breguet began making guilloche dials. He brought into fashion the engravings “diamond edge”, or “Parisian nails” (clou de Paris), “Parisian pavement” (pavé de Paris), “sun rays” (rayon de soleil), “barley grain” (grains d'orge ), “waves” (vagues), “wicker basket” (vieux panier), “checkerboard pattern” (damier), “fire pattern” (décor flammé) and many more motifs that are still successfully used by both Breguet and other brands.
Breguet is perhaps the only brand in the world that has three of its own museums: in Zurich - one of largest cities home country Abraham-Louis Breguet, in Paris - the “capital of the world”, where he achieved success, and in Shanghai - since his watches have been wildly popular in China for many years.

Alexander Pushkin, “Eugene Onegin”

4730 - quarter-hour repeater in a gold case with 22 platinum screws. It was purchased in 1829 for 4,000 francs by Princess Bagration; since 1836 it belonged to Nathaniel de Rothschild.

“Putting on a wide bolivar,
Onegin goes to the boulevard,
And there he walks in the open space,
While the watchful Breget
Dinner won’t ring his bell.”

Honoré de Balzac, "Eugenie Grande"

4821 is a small simple medallion watch. Case made of semi-precious stones, frame made of gold, dial made of semi-precious stones, offset hands, escapement with a ruby ​​pin. Sold on December 31, 1842 to Prince Demidov for 2500 francs.

“He took out a charming flat watch by Breguet.
- How? Only eleven more? I got up early."
(Translation: Yuri Verkhovsky)

Alexander Kuprin, "Breguet"

3519 - watch with double second hand. Mock repeater striking the halves of first class quarters, days of the week and month, guilloché gold case with hidden portrait of a young woman, miniature on ivory. Sold on March 8, 1822 to General Davydov for 4,500 francs.

“Yesterday Count Olkhovsky went to the landowner to play diabelok, otherwise landsknecht. It turned out that he won one and a half thousand in money, a Karak stallion and a gold Breguet watch. Olkhovsky immediately showed us this watch. Indeed, a good watch: with carvings, with decorations, and when you press the button on top, it very melodiously rings out how many quarters and what time it is. Antique watch."

Prosper Merimee, Letters from Spain

3066 is a first class half-quarter repeater watch with moon phase indication. Guilloche gold case, guilloché silver dial with wide aperture moon phase indicator. The watch was sent to the Duke de Frias on June 18, 1818 for 2,700 francs.

“The traveler begins to repent that he took so much money with him. He looks at the time on his watch and thinks he sees his watch in last time. How nice it would be to know that they are hanging calmly on his mantelpiece in Paris!”
(Translation: Nadezhda Rykova)

Alexandre Dumas, "The Count of Monte Cristo"

3825 - military counter for beating the marching step. Silver case, guilloché silver dial, calibrated from sixty to one hundred and twenty beats per minute. The watch was delivered on May 15, 1822 to General Brozin for the Emperor of Russia Alexander I for 1800 francs.

“Show me your watch,” said Albert.
Pastrini took from his vest pocket a magnificent breguet with the name of the master and the count's crown.
- Here they are.
- Damn it! - said Albert. - Congratulations! I have almost the same ones,” he took his watch out of his vest pocket, “and it cost me three thousand francs.”
(Translation: Vladimir Stroev, Lydia Olavskaya)

William Thackeray, Vanity Fair

180 - a small gold ring watch equipped with an alarm function, winding and time setting via the crown. Sold on October 18, 1836 to Prince Alexander Demidov for 5,500 francs.

“One evening, Rebecca casually mentioned that the watch that Rawdon gave her was an English product and was going badly - and the very next morning she was sent a lovely Leroy watch, with a chain and a cover decorated with turquoise, and another - with the Breguet brand, studded with pearls and no larger than half a crown.”
(Translation: Mikhail Dyakonov)

In 1775, watchmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet opened his first workshop on the Quai de l'Horloge in Paris. Abaraham-Louis inherited his interest in his business from his stepfather, a watchmaker, for whom he worked as an apprentice. At the age of 15, he came from Switzerland to Paris, with which most of the history of the brand is connected. Breguet

One of Breguet's first inventions was the "perpetual" - that is, automatic watches, which he first sold in 1780. He equipped his pocket watch with a platinum rotor, which rotated under the influence of the movement of the watch, driving the clock mechanism. Thus, the watch no longer required additional winding using a key.
Breguet automatic watch 1/8/82

At the end of the 18th century, pocket watches could not boast of high accuracy: under the influence of gravitational forces, the clock either slowed down or accelerated. The first who managed to solve this problem was Breguet. In 1801, the watchmaker received a patent for his most famous invention - the tourbillon. The essence of it was that Breguet installed a movable platform in the watch with an escapement mechanism, which, rotating at a given point in time, helped to level out the movement error. Many watch manufacturers successfully use the tourbillon to this day.
Watercolor illustration for the Tourbillon patent. 1801.

Breguet made another revolution in watchmaking in 1812, creating the first wristwatch. By order of the Queen of Naples, Caroline Murat, the younger sister of Napoleon Bonaparte, Breguet created an ultra-thin watch with a thermometer for that time and placed it on a bracelet made of gold threads. Unfortunately, the unique watch has not survived, and the only reminder of it is records in the archives of the house Breguet.
Caroline Bonaparte with her daughter Marie Vigée-Lebrun, 1807

Abraham-Louis Breguet's famous clients included Marie Antoinette, Napoleon Bonaparte and Ottoman Sultan Selim the Third.
The creations of the famous watchmaker were especially popular in Russian Empire. In 1808 Breguet opened its representative office in Russia, in St. Petersburg - “Russian House”, and in 1814 Emperor Alexander the First himself came to Breguet’s Paris workshop. The emperor purchased the watch for himself and left an order for eight “pedometers” - metronomes for regulating marching time.
Emperor Alexander the First. 1814

Fame of the brand's watches Breguet in Russia was so big that For a long time, any pocket watch was called a Breguet. In "Eugene Onegin" the name breget appears three times, and everyone remembers the line from the first chapter of the novel "Until the watchful breget rings for him dinner" from school.

Workshops in Breguet's native Switzerland Breguet moved only in 1976. Since then, all production of the brand's watches has been based in the Vallée de Joux near Geneva. Products Breguet become a symbol of Swiss watchmaking.

IN once again house Breguet announced himself in 1998. Just as at the beginning of the 19th century Breguet managed to create a wristwatch to surprise Caroline Murat, at the end of the 20th century the masters Breguet has created the smallest automatic chronograph movement in the world for women.

The inventions of Breguet alone are enough for an entire museum, and the brand successfully developed even after the death of its creator, receiving new patents year after year. Therefore Breguet today three permanent museum: in Paris, in Zurich and Shanghai.