A Historical Perspective on Public Relations in the Watch industry
1780 Breguet ‘Perpétuelle’ No. 15 / Credit: Monochrome
Branding has always been key to success for watch brands and although many may believe celebrity endorsements to be a concoction of the 20th century, they’ve actually been going on for a few centuries longer than that. Breguet used his popularity in the French court to increase his status as a watchmaker to the general public, using his position to establish the Breguet brand as a true maker of high horology.
Breguet’s first known client was Comte de Lort, a French aristocrat who bought an enamel watch in 1778, taking two years to pay. His second and more notable client was the Duke of Orléans, who bought a Perpétuelle along with a minute-repeater in the early 1780s. Abbé Marie, a friend of Breguet’s wife’s family, presuambly introduced him to the court at Versailles. Marie was a tutor of the king’s brother at the time and was supposedly willing to help a young Breguet. So, it was in 1782 that Breguet made his first Royal watch for Marie-Antoinette, a Perpétuelle. This was followed by Louis XVI in 1784. Breguet was also asked at one point to make a watch for the Queen by one of her royal guards, however, the watch was never finished in her life time and the work was completed by Breguet’s son in 1827. That watch is what’s known as the ‘Marie-Antoinette’ and was in the L.A. Mayer Institue for Islamic Art in Jerusalem until it was stolen in 1983. The king’s sister, the Comtesse de Provence, also began wearing Breguet watches in court, as did other figures like Le Rochefoucauld and the Duke of Biron. As his clout grew he was also noticed by aristocrats overseas and was commissioned by King George III, the Prince of Wales, and the Duke of York.
Eventually, Breguet had to diversify away from court at the risk of becoming exclusively known as a court watchmaker; the stress of court politics and the difficulties of getting paid in a timely manner starting to take a toll on his business. Nonetheless, his foray into France’s high society at the cusp of the Revolution was instrumental in establishing the brand and earning it the reputation that it enjoys today.