Breguet Expérimentale 1 is a tourbilon released by Breguet recently introduces several key innovations. We take a deeper dive and analyse the watch. Here are our insights.
Musings on the new Breguet Expérimentale 1
The Breguet Expérimentale 1 Ref. E001BH/S9/5ZV has a RRP of CHF 320,000. Limited edition of 75 pieces. The watch was released in December 2025.
Fresh from its 250th-anniversary celebrations, which culminated in the Classique Souscription 2025 receiving the “Aiguille d’Or” Grand Prix, the most prestigious distinction in contemporary watchmaking, Breguet moves to new strengths while continuing to commemorate its historically significant contributions to watchmaking. In 2026, Breguet marks 225 years since Abraham-Louis Breguet was granted the patent for the tourbillon. Dated 7 Messidor, Year IX under the French Republican calendar, the patent corresponds to 26 June 1801 and formalised one of the most revolutionary (pun intended) inventions in the history of mechanical watchmaking.
To commemorate the occasion, Breguet has introduced no fewer than five new models. Each drawing upon the familiar codes of the manufacture – high quality execution and historically rooted complications. These new releases notably continue the subtle evolutionary tone set by the 250th-anniversary pieces. Our focus for this article is on the most interesting novelty – the Expérimentale 1.
The Expérimentale 1
I am of the opinion that Abraham-Louis Breguet was closer to an engineer who simply chose watchmaking as his language of expression. Breguet is rightly associated with impeccably finished watches, both historically and within the present catalogue, but decoration was never the sole foundation of the founder’s legacy. His watchmaking was repeatedly directed towards material problems: how to improve precision, manage energy more consistently, reduce the influence of gravity, protect delicate components from shock and overcome the persistent effects of friction.
Lubrication was one such limitation. Abraham-Louis Breguet is often credited with lamenting, “Give me the perfect oil, and I will give you the perfect watch.” The quotation is almost certainly apocryphal—Emmanuel Breguet has found no record of the exact sentence in the manufacture’s archives—although a surviving handwritten recipe for watch oil confirms how seriously Breguet considered the problem. The oils available during his lifetime would oxidise, dry or migrate, altering friction and eventually compromising the transfer of energy through the movement. Any synthetic equivalent capable of meaningfully improving efficiency would only emerge in the late 1920s, more than a century after his passing. A literally loss-less mechanism was never attainable, but the aspiration was clear: to remove as much avoidable friction as possible, or better still, to design mechanisms whose most critical surfaces required no lubrication at all.
The magnetic pivot: level 1
The modern manufacture revisited that philosophy with the magnetic pivot, first incorporated into the Classique Chronométrie 7727 in 2013. Instead of a balance staff turning within jewelled bearings, Breguet placed a micro-magnet at either end of the balance staff. A deliberate imbalance between the two magnetic fields keeps one tip of the staff in controlled contact with its endstone, while the magnetic forces centre the axis and return it to position following a shock. With only the tip pivoting against the jewel over a minimal surface area, friction is reduced and the operating conditions remain more consistent. The Classique Chronométrie 7727 subsequently received the Aiguille d’Or at the 2014 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève—the industry’s highest recognition of what was, at the time, an unusually radical approach to chronometry.
The magnetic pivot did not eliminate lubrication throughout the movement, nor did it make wear disappear. Its importance lies in addressing several related problems at the regulating organ: reducing friction at the balance pivots, limiting the resulting wear, stabilising amplitude between positions and improving resistance to shock. The other wheels in the train still need lubrication. But more provocatively, Breguet took magnetism—traditionally treated as one of the mechanical watch’s natural enemies—and confined it within a controlled system where it could perform useful work. This is perhaps the most Breguet-like aspect of the invention: the solution does not merely shield the movement from a problem but turns the problem itself into part of the mechanism. And one which works because the magnetism does not affect the silicon hairspring.
The magnetic pivot receded from the centre of Breguet’s public technical narrative, though it remained within the catalogue. The manufacture’s 250th-anniversary year brought the technology back into focus through the Classique 7225 released in 2025, before the Expérimentale 1 extended Breguet’s research into magnetism in a more radical direction. Its arrival also provides a much-needed renewal of the manufacture’s commitment to advancing horological engineering.
Enter the Magnetic Escapement: level 99
The Expérimentale 1 does not simply transplant the magnetic pivot system into a tourbillon. Breguet stretches the use of magnets further. To a totally different level altogether. Here, it is used on the escapement wheel track, the escapement wheel and pallet fork.
The magnetic force is used to decouple the regulating organ from the mainspring and another magnetic system to provide a contactless impulse system. This is done with two escape wheels with Samarium-cobalt magnets lined on a circular track. The two wheels are arranged one on top of the other. One wheel is driven by the mainspring, and the other drives the balance. They are coupled to each other only via the magnetic force of the two sets of magnets. Further, the impulse pallets driven by the second wheel are also magnetically driven. The impulse is delivered through attraction and repulsion instead of the physical impact of the classical Swiss anchor escapement.
This delivers two major benefits of the magnetic escapement. First the two wheels coupled by magnetic force acts like the perfect spring of a remontoire, decoupling the mainspring from the escapement. This solves the problem of declining torque as the mainspring unwinds. Resulting in a constant force device without needing a traditional remontoire hairspring or a fusée and chain device. Second this is a contactless impulse system which completely eliminates the sliding friction of the impulse jewels against the teeth of the escape wheel, and thus the escapement operates oil-free.
The regulating organ design carries two additional features. The escapement beats at 10 Hz which evens out the variations as the escapement endures external shocks as well as the acceleration and deceleration with every tick of the tourbillon. And finally, of course, the tourbillon evens out the effects of gravity on the balance spring. The balance spring itself is made of silicon, and the fixed fourth wheel of LIGA (NiP12) with the other components of titanium or nivagauss. This avoids the escapement elements from interacting with the magnets.
Thus, the Expérimentale 1 wristwatch is certified by the Breguet hallmark in the “Scientific” category, meaning it has a guaranteed accuracy of +/- 1 second over a 24-hour period.
The case
At 43.5 mm in diameter and 13.3 mm thick, the Expérimentale 1 is considerably larger, yet feel appropriate given the scale of the 10 Hz tourbillon and the visual prominence afforded to Calibre 7250. Interestingly, the Expérimentale 1 adopts a design language closer to that of the Marine collection than to the more traditional Classique or Tradition lines. The case remains recognisably Breguet through its fluted caseband, although the double bevels and hollowed-out lugs give it a more architectural presence than the manufacture’s traditional soldered-lug construction. With its integrated lugs and rubber strap, still wears surprisingly comfortably on my 16cm wrist. I am particularly drawn to the blue-treated gold inlays set within the lugs and crown, which transform the accents from decorative additions into an integral part of the case itself. Although, it does raise an eyebrow; reminiscent of the ‘sandwiched case construction using exotic materials’ execution-style heavily employed by another contemporary watchmaker.
Combined with a blue rubber strap, 100 metres of water resistance and an interchangeable pin-buckle system, the watch adopts a more purposeful and contemporary character without abandoning the detailing expected of Breguet Gold.
Regulator dial
The sapphire dial allows the regulator-style display—derived from the Breguet No. 3448—to sit almost weightlessly above the movement, with the hours positioned at six o’clock, the minutes displaced from the central axis and the tourbillon serving as the running seconds indication. Each indication is framed by a highly polished Breguet Gold chapter ring, increasing legibility by visually separating it from the complexity of the movement beneath.
More unexpected is the extensive use of Super-LumiNova across the applied hour and seconds markers, minute track, Breguet hands and even the blue-treated applique. I particularly appreciate a well-lumed watch that gives a little light show bravado, and the Expérimentale 1 certainly delivers. The luminous indications and blue-treated components give the Expérimentale 1 an immediately distinct appearance, with the tourbillon seconds hand incorporating a subtle Marine-anchor-shaped counterweight. Despite heavier visual noise from the movement architecture, it is a beauty to unpack, much like the Breguet watch No. 160 (also known as the “Marie-Antoinette”), and finished at a level above the sporty skeletonised offerings of other maisons.
Concluding thoughts
It’s easy to dismiss the Expérimentale 1 as an over-engineered, ‘yet another addition to the integrated lug luxury sports watch category’, albeit ala Breguet. However, I singled out the Expérimentale 1 as the most important tourbillon released under Gregory Kissling because it does more than reinterpret an established Breguet complication in an integrated sports watch body: it introduces a new technical platform and draws upon Abraham-Louis Breguet’s problem-solving philosophy, rather than relying solely on the aesthetic preservation of his legacy.
Furthermore, Breguet reinforces the Expérimentale 1’s technical credentials by awarding it the Scientific category of the Breguet Hallmark, certifying the completed watch to ±1 second per day alongside standards for magnetic resistance, water resistance, finishing and construction. For Breguet’s future, the Expérimentale line signals a willingness to pursue genuinely exploratory watchmaking, and I am extremely excited to see what the manufacture produces next.
Breguet Expérimentale 1 Technical specifications
E001BH/S9/5ZV
Movement One-minute Tourbillon * Calibre 7250, numbered and signed Breguet * 6.3 mm thick * 33.8 mm in diameter, 15 lignes * Movement certified with the Breguet hallmark, scientific category * Breguet 18K gold blank plates * Manual winding * 72-hour power reserve * Two series-coupled barrels with four blue springs * 273 components * 37 jewels * Magnetic resistance: 600 gauss
Tourbillon Constant-force magnetic escapement * Grade 2 titanium escape-wheel * NiP12 balance-spring * Frequency 10 Hz (72,000 vibrations per hour) * Breguet-type balance with silicon Breguet balance-spring, non-magnetic balance staff * Grade 5 titanium Tourbillon blanks * Weight: 0.6 g * 76 components (cage) * 13.7 mm in diameter (cage) * 5.5 mm thick (cage)
Strap Interchangeable blue rubber strap (no tools required) * 18K Breguet gold pin buckle with interchangeable straps
Weight of 18K Breguet gold ~ 102 g
Warranty 5-year international warranty
Limited edition 75 pieces, numbered and hand-engraved from 1/75 to 75/75 on the caseback
