The Breguet Awakening: In Conversation With CEO Gregory Kissling

When a watchmaking house reaches its 250th anniversary, it's celebrating an unbroken legacy that few can claim. For Breguet, 2025 represents both a milestone and a manifesto, a chance to tell stories spanning centuries while proving the brand remains as vital today as when Abraham Louis Breguet first opened his atelier in 1775. At the helm is Gregory Kissling, CEO of Breguet, whose leadership has brought what he calls a "sleeping beauty" back to vibrant life. Speaking about the significance of this anniversary, Kissling is thoughtful and direct. "It's 250 years in the making. It's 250 years of legacy, heritage, without any interruptions. So it's an iconic year, an iconic anniversary," he says. The marketing slogan crafted for this occasion, "Crafting Emotion for 250 Years, One Invention at a Time," might sound like clever copywriting, but as Kissling emphasizes, "it is definitely the essence of who we are."

A Fresh Approach to Celebrating History
What's immediately striking about Breguet's 250th celebration is how different it feels from typical industry anniversaries. Under Kissling's direction, the brand has maintained its commitment to innovation and tradition while injecting fresh energy into everything it does. The Hora Mundi time only version, new bracelet designs, and the strategic choice to launch the 250 collection with a single hand watch rather than a high complication all signal this renewed approach. "The approach is very fresh," Kissling confirms. "We wanted to wake this Sleeping Beauty up and we completely changed our approach in terms of how to launch a product." Instead of unveiling one massive collection at a single event, the team decided to use the entire year as their canvas. "The history is so immense, so vast, there are so many things to talk about the brand," Kissling explains. "We decided to take the entire year, to split it into different chapters, and we had this idea of doing this road tour."

The year began in Paris at Place Vendôme with perhaps the most surprising product choice imaginable: the Souscription, a time only watch featuring a single hand. No grand complications, no dazzling jewels, just beautifully refined simplicity with enormous historical weight behind it. "That watch is the emblem of the collection because this timepiece actually saved the brand right after the French Revolution," Kissling explains. "Without that piece, we would not be here, maybe, talking about the brand after 250 years. So this timepiece is really part of the history of the brand and we wanted to tell this great story." The brilliance of the road tour concept lies in its intentionality. Each destination connects meaningfully to the product being launched there, creating a narrative thread that runs through the entire year. "We wanted to be connected between the product launch and the destination," Kissling notes, and this philosophy has created some compelling pairings.

Aviation Heritage Takes Flight
The Type 20 launches took place at Breguet's Gold Way Lounge in New York, celebrating a chapter of the brand's history that often surprises even dedicated collectors. "Not a lot of people know that a branch of the Breguet family decided one day to develop and produce helicopters and airplanes," Kissling says. "So Breguet is also one century of aviation and we wanted to talk about this chapter."

The New York location wasn't arbitrary. "We wanted to celebrate the first flight from Paris Le Bourget to New York thanks to a Breguet 19 airplane," Kissling explains. What makes this particularly significant is the scope of Breguet's involvement in aviation. "Breguet is probably the only brand that has developed pilot watches, produced instruments for airplanes, and airplanes themselves. Many brands develop pilot watches but not airplanes. So this is quite unique." The tour continued with the Tourbillon Sidéral launching in Geneva because Abraham Louis Breguet invented the tourbillon when he returned to Switzerland during the French Revolution. The launch date, June 26th, matched the day he received the patent. The Hora Mundi debuted in London, its connection to Greenwich Mean Time making the location perfect. Every product, every location, every date has been chosen with deliberate care and historical resonance.

Innovation as Identity
The celebrations aren't finished yet, and what's coming suggests that this anniversary year is as much about the future as the past. "We still have one big major event," Kissling reveals. "We will end the celebration in Paris but this time in Versailles, and there we will launch a few products that have another story to tell." But beyond storytelling, there's something more fundamental at stake. "For us it was very important to introduce a breakthrough innovation because we are looking ahead, we are looking to the future."

The upcoming innovation follows a principle that has guided Breguet throughout its entire history. "If you analyze all the innovation from Breguet, they are always connected to a specific benefit for the end consumer," Kissling explains. "The tourbillon was invented for increasing the chronometry, the precision of the watch. The wristwatch is another example. The fact that you can hand wind your movement through the crown, this is an invention of Breguet because before it was with a key. The chevé shaped glass in order to reduce the thickness, the gong spring, all these innovations are connected to a specific benefit in terms of design, ergonomy, readability, precision and so on."

The new innovation coming at Versailles continues this tradition, and Kissling offers a tantalizing hint: "There will be another innovation that is linked to the quest of precision." This commitment to continuous evolution isn't optional or opportunistic. "We will continue to keep this momentum," Kissling states. "Our duty is not only preserving the métier d'art like the guillochage, we need to keep innovating because this is part of our identity."

The Breguet Gold Development
One of the most immediately visible elements unifying the anniversary collection is Breguet Gold, a new proprietary alloy that appears across the entire range. The color catches your eye immediately, not quite yellow, not quite rose, but something beautifully in between that seems to shift as light plays across it. "This anniversary collection looks very consistent because the collection is crafted with the same alloy, and it's a new alloy, a specific alloy," Kissling explains. "It's not only an exclusive alloy in terms of composition but also in terms of color."

The decision to develop this new gold came from observing market trends and recognizing an opportunity. "We stopped producing yellow gold watches many years ago," Kissling notes. "We still have some products in the core collection but we stopped producing standard yellow gold watches. And we can see that now there's a demand for yellow gold watches because for most people, gold is yellow." But simply returning to standard yellow gold would have been antithetical to Breguet's approach. "This is definitely the first task I introduced when I joined Breguet," Kissling says. "We need to go back with the yellow gold, but not with standard yellow gold. Gold that is directly linked to our DNA."

The development process involved meticulous research into the brand's historical archives. "We took different antique timepieces, different historical timepieces from the era of our founder, and we made some measurements," Kissling explains. "We discovered that these timepieces were not completely yellow or completely rose, but a bit in between. So from this analysis, we decided to develop a one of a kind alloy that is more like a blonde alloy, a yellow gold with a rose hue, completely different than rose and yellow." But achieving the right color was only part of the challenge. "You can produce a gold alloy like doing a recipe," Kissling says. "You play with the same ingredients. It's 18 karat, obviously 75 percent gold. So you have to play with the rest, which is 25 percent. Usually you have silver and copper. Copper is the only element on the periodic table that gives the rose hue."

The innovation comes with the fourth element. "We add copper and then the fourth element is the modernity, the palladium," Kissling explains. "Because we wanted to develop an alloy of the 21st century, an alloy that does not fade with time." This addresses a fundamental problem that has plagued gold watchmaking for centuries. "The problem with standard alloys is they fade with time because it's only gold, silver, and copper. But by adding a bit of palladium, you actually chemically stabilize the alloy. That means the alloy does not fade with time." The technical innovations continue beyond the alloy composition itself. "We added a thermal treatment in order to increase the hardness," Kissling notes. "Usually gold is quite soft, very scratchable. What we did with the anniversary collection, we increased the hardness of the gold alloy thanks to thermal treatment. This Breguet gold is harder than stainless steel, roughly 220 Vickers." He's careful to set realistic expectations, acknowledging "it's not quite resistant like ceramic of course, but it's more resistant than standard regular gold."

The result is a perfect encapsulation of Breguet's philosophy. "Tradition, the inspiration is linked to the tradition, the gold that Breguet used at the time," Kissling says. "But at the same time, we added a bit of innovation." The capability to develop such sophisticated alloys comes from the Swatch Group's vertical integration. "The Swatch Group is very verticalized," Kissling notes. "We have all the facilities to develop a new alloy in terms of foundry, in terms of metallurgist specialists."

Customization and the Poinçon Breguet
Customization options, particularly with pieces like the Hora Mundi, might seem like a contemporary addition, but as Kissling points out, it's actually a return to the brand's origins. "This is part of our DNA because when Breguet started in Quai de l'Horloge in 1775, at the time it was only personalization," he explains. "It is very rare that it produces two similar watches, except for the subscription." Even pieces that appeared identical often contained subtle but significant differences. "Most of the time, even if the watch looks the same, if you go deeper into the detail, you will observe that sometimes with the same watch, there's a different escapement because he wanted to experiment with new things. He was always looking for improving the movement, the precision and so on. So bespoke watches are definitely part of the DNA of the brand."

Perhaps the most significant recent development is the Poinçon Breguet, the brand's own hallmark that Kissling championed from his earliest days leading the company. "For me it was one of the first workshops we did," he recalls. "We need to do Poinçon Breguet, Poinçon Hallmark, because this is something that is very important in terms of communication." The foundation already existed within the company's practices, but it needed to be formalized and clearly articulated. "We actually already had these values in terms of aesthetic harmony, in terms of performances, in terms of ethics," Kissling explains. "The Poinçon Breguet, the Breguet hallmark, the Breguet seal, symbolizes 250 years of watchmaking excellence."

The hallmark encompasses three main pillars, beginning with aesthetic harmony. "Breguet is part of the haute horlogerie segment, and we want to deliver the best finishing on every component, even on hidden surfaces," Kissling states. The second pillar covers performance across multiple dimensions, starting with precision but extending well beyond it. "We wanted to talk about our performances, not only in terms of precision, but also in terms of acoustic, in terms of magnetism," he says. For precision, Breguet established three categories that reference the founder's own terminology. "We have the precision family with three categories, and for these categories, we were using the wording of Abraham Le Breguet," Kissling explains. "We have the scientific category with plus minus one second a day, and this is thanks to the magnetic pivot. Then we have the civilian category for the other watches with plus minus two seconds. And then we have the evening category with minus two plus six seconds. This is linked, for example, to the Reine de Naples collection."

Acoustic performance represents another critical dimension that most brands never consider. "Since 15 years, every musical Breguet watch, such as Minute Répétition, such as Réveil Musical, such as Alarm Clock, every single musical timepiece is recorded," Kissling reveals. "We have an anechoic chamber where we record every single musical timepiece in order to replicate the same music, the same sound after a service." This creates what Kissling calls an acoustic passport. "If the watch has this acoustic signature, we want to be sure that we can replicate this acoustic signature."

For magnetic resistance, Breguet sets standards well above industry norms while remaining true to its technical philosophy. "If you take the norm for a mechanical watch, it's only 60 gauss for magnetic resistance," Kissling notes. "We decided to go a bit further. So with the Poinçon Breguet, the magnetic resistance is minimum 600 gauss." But there's a deliberate reason they didn't push even higher. "We didn't want to go further. There are some brands that go further. But with Breguet, we like to play with the magnetic field. So with the magnetic pivot, you cannot go up to 15,000 gauss for example."

The third pillar addresses ethics and heritage preservation in concrete, measurable ways. "The ethics says that we want to preserve our métiers d'art, such as the guillochage," Kissling explains. "We want to be sure that every structured dial is made with guillochage technique handmade, not with a stamping technique. We will not mix both techniques. So every structured dial is made with handmade guillochage, enameling, beveling, engraving. All these métiers will be preserved thanks to the Poinçon."

Serviceability forms another crucial component of the hallmark. "We want to be sure that every Breguet can be repaired, could be a Breguet that is 200 years old, 50 years old, whatever," Kissling states. "We have a restoration workshop. So we are able to reproduce any single component of the watch." And finally, there's the matter of manufacturing provenance. "Last but not least, we want to certify that every Poinçon Breguet watch and buckle will be manufactured 100 percent, not 95, not 96, 100 percent manufactured in Switzerland."

Leading Through Shared Vision
Asked about his first steps when joining Breguet, Kissling's answer reveals a leadership philosophy centered on communication, transparency, and shared understanding. "The first thing I did was to meet the people," he recalls. "Of course I knew Breguet and I knew some colleagues because when you work so many years in the group you have connections, but the first thing I did was talk to the people, show me what is in the pipeline, open the doors, what kind of development did you start, just opening the doors, talking with the people."

But listening and learning was only the foundation for what came next. "And then with a vision, with a direction, sharing that vision, sharing that strategy to everyone," Kissling continues. "Not in silo but to everyone. Not just the product development but the operation, the production, the marketing, the sales department, sharing the strategy. This is probably one of my first tasks, to share the strategy to everyone so that every single department knows exactly where we are going."

This approach has clearly generated results. The momentum throughout 2025 has been remarkable, and there's a palpable sense of energy and purpose around everything Breguet does. When speculation inevitably arises about potential collaborations in the style of the MoonSwatch, which Kissling himself spearheaded during his time at Swatch, or the Fifty Fathoms partnership between Swatch and Blancpain, the response is unambiguous and immediate. Asked specifically about whether there might be a Type 20 collaboration with Swatch, Kissling doesn't hesitate. "No, no, no, no, no. There's no plan for such collaboration." Despite creative renderings circulating on Instagram and social media imagining exactly such a partnership, the answer remains clear. "It's quite easy to mix now, but there's no plan for such collaboration." At 250 years old, Breguet under Gregory Kissling's leadership is demonstrating that honoring legacy and pushing forward aren't contradictory impulses but complementary forces. The sleeping beauty is wide awake now, telling its stories with fresh energy and renewed purpose while staying absolutely true to what Kissling calls "the essence of who we are." One invention at a time.