Tourbillon Day: Breguet Celebrates 225 Years of the Complication with a Host of New Models

One of the watch industry’s many annual holidays is Tourbillon Day, today, June 26^th. Each year on this occasion, we eagerly await the promise of something special from the inventor of the tourbillon, Abraham-Louis Breguet.

This year, his namesake brand is here to deliver with new takes on the classic complication for its monumental 225^th birthday celebration.

Sometimes the history of watchmaking feels truly synchronistic. At the end of the 18^th century, Breguet sought solace from the turmoil of the French Revolution in the heart of watchmaking, spending time in both Neuchâtel and Le Locle. He returned to Paris reinvigorated and inspired. The result was several new inventions, including the first tourbillon regulator device for which he received an official patent on June 26, 1801.
 

The purpose of the tourbillon clearly hails from the era of the pocket watch. It’s based on the observation that the oscillation of certain watch components – namely the balance and balance-spring – is “pulled” downwards by the force of gravity. The regulating organ’s operation is thus impacted when the watch is positioned vertically, as pocket watches are typically oriented.

To solve this problem, Breguet created a system based around a cage in which the escapement and the pair of regulating mechanisms (the balance and balance-spring) are enclosed and kept in constant rotation around an axis, in all positions. The balance-and-spring assembly’s center of gravity is thus continually realigned with the axis of rotation, compensating for the adverse effects of the uneven oscillation of a watch held in a static position.
 

Like many of the best elements of watchmaking, we no longer need a tourbillon for the same purpose in modern wristwatches. Instead, the complication continues to be celebrated 225 years later, thanks to its visual allure and technical complexity put on full display in Breguet’s four newest creations presented today.

The tourbillon first made its appearance on a wristwatch in Breguet’s catalog in 1988 with the Reference 3350. For this special 225^th Tourbillon Day, Breguet looks back to this historic model as the muse for the entirely new Classique Tourbillon 7357.

Certain elements, like the instantly recognizable Breguet numerals and iconic guilloche patterns, serve as the throughline, while other elements, like the lugs, have been entirely redesigned to better follow the curve of the wrist. Overall, the design gets an upgrade that aligns with the aesthetic codes Breguet presented in 2025 (which was the Maison’s 250^th anniversary year).
 

The tourbillon takes center stage at 6 o’clock. It’s uniquely positioned a few tenths of a millimeter below the level of the dial and directly on the mainplate to showcase it more effectively and add depth to the composition. The three arms of its second hand are delicately curved to follow this contour, and the single cross-through bridge has been redesigned as a double, rounded-off, polished “arched” bridge.
 

The inspiration radiates from the outside in with the new calibre 187B building on the original calibre 558 from 1988. The movement retains its predecessor’s fundamental features and maintains the historic frequency of 2.5 Hz or 18,000 vibrations per hour. However, the new calibre has also been thoroughly modernized, with enhancements such as a Breguet Nivachron balance-spring with a silicon pallet-lever to prevent magnetic interference.
 

The Classique Tourbillon 7357 comes in two configurations, one with a cooler color palette rendered in platinum with complementary grey tones and one with a warmer color palette rendered in 18-karat Breguet gold with complementary beige tones.
 

In addition to the pair of 7357s, Breguet introduces fresh takes on two of its 250^th anniversary models – the Classique Tourbillon Sideral 7255 and the Tradition Tourbillon 7047 – alongside the third generation of the Marine Tourbillon Equation Marchante 5887.
 

For this Tourbillon Day, the Classique Tourbillon Sideral 7255 gets an update with a platinum case and a black aventurine enamel dial. Meanwhile, the Tradition Tourbillon 7047 also gets a new platinum build with the addition of a bleu de France shade on the fusée-and-chain itself, the dial, and the bridges – not only the tourbillon bridges but also the large fusée-and-chain bridge that appears on either side of the time sub-dial.
 

These elements subtly contrast with a color never before seen on a Breguet watch: a glacier blue, which appears on the sandblasted mainplate. The same shade is also visible on the caseback, providing contrast against the bleu de France bridges.
 

Last but certainly not least, the Maison revives the Marine Tourbillon Equation Marchante 5887. The collection was initially launched in 1990, significantly revamped in 2017, and today, we get the third generation.
 

On the dial side, you have two main parts. At the center is a sapphire dial featuring a miniature painting done by hand in gradient-blue Grand Feu enamel that’s translucent on its underside. On its upper surface is a hand-painted miniature painting in luminescent enamel depicting the night sky with its constellations and the moon in their exact positions as seen from Paris on June 26, 1801.
 

The reverse is equally exceptional, featuring a caseback hand-engraved with a depiction of the 18^th-century ship Royal Louis sailing across the ocean.

Each of the new models is available today, with the Classique Tourbillon 7357 joining the permanent catalog alongside the Classique Tourbillon Sideral 7255 as a 50-piece limited edition, and both the Tradition Tourbillon 7047 and Marine Tourbillon Equation Marchante 5887 as 25-piece limited editions.

For more information, including pricing, visit the Breguet website.