Breguet has long been associated with classic watchmaking, blending traditional craftsmanship with modern refinements. The Tradition Seconde Rétrograde 7035 follows this philosophy, showcasing an openworked movement and intricate detailing in a compact 38mm case.
Press release with commentary in italics.
Breguet Tradition Seconde Rétrograde 7035
The Breguet Tradition Seconde Rétrograde 7035 retails at at CHF 43,000 (incl. taxes) or EUR 50,400 (incl. taxes). Limited Edition of 250 pieces.
Commentary
The Breguet Tradition Seconde Rétrograde 7035 is a refined take on the brand’s historical aesthetic, featuring a 38mm rose gold case and an openworked movement that highlights its mechanical artistry. The retrograde seconds complication adds a dynamic element to the dial. While visually striking, the movement architecture remains consistent with previous Tradition models, making this more of an evolution than a revolution.
The Breguet gold alloy is a nice touch, offering a warmer tone than standard rose gold, which works very well with the hand-guilloché pattern and translucent blue grand feu enamel dial. At $52,370, and limited to 250 pieces, this watch is undeniably exclusive, and it feels more like a collector’s piece than an everyday wear.
Press release
With a unique architecture that brings its precision mechanism to the fore, crowned by a hand-made, enamel dial, the Tradition 7035 epitomises Breguet’s 250 years of technical and aesthetic innovation.
Breguet gold, an exclusive alloy presented for Breguet’s 250th anniversary, now enriches the case of the Tradition 7035. This special edition emphasises the unique architecture of the movement, and features a guilloché dial in translucent blue, grand feu enamel displaying the hours and minutes, alongside a retrograde seconds display discretely positioned between 10 and 11 o’clock.
Specially designed for Breguet’s 250th anniversary, this variation of the Tradition 7037 remains faithful to the Tradition collection’s geometric codes, combining Breguet’s technical and aesthetic expertise with meticulous in-house hand-finishing. The Tradition collection incorporates for the first time two “in-house” colour codes: Breguet gold and Breguet blue.
Gold, silver, copper and palladium are skilfully fused into an alloy that radiates a warm, golden glow: Breguet gold. This exclusive alloy, created by Breguet, was introduced earlier this year with the Classique Souscription 2025 watch. The 38mm diameter case for the Tradition 7035 has been crafted from this new alloy. A specially-developed plating treatment ensures that the mainplate and bridges are of the same hue as the case. The silver-coloured gears, blued screws and ruby-red jewels provide visual contrast and further accentuate the radiance of Breguet gold. The bridges of this new anniversary model feature, for the first time in the Tradition collection, a silky, hand-applied satin finish on their upper surfaces.
The striking focal point of this model is the finely engine- turned dial, resplendent in Breguet blue. The chosen motive is the Quai de l’Horloge. Its tinted, translucent, grand feu enamel is of the same deep, blue as the retrograde seconds hand and screws, which are made of blued steel. In contrasting silver, the Breguet Arabic numerals, the minute track, with its stylised fleurs-delis, and the unique serial number at 4 o’clock stand out effortlessly against the shimmering azure of the enamel.
A decorative technique that was often used on watch cases, guilloché has become an art in its own right. A.-L. Breguet was the first to use this technique to delineate the different displays on watch dials, and it remains, to this day, one of Breguet’s core areas of expertise.
Breguet currently owns the largest collection of working guilloché lathes in the world. These carefully renovated period machines can be used to create a wide range of motifs, from the most traditional, such as the Clou de Paris, to the most contemporary, the new Quai de l’Horloge design, which has been incorporated on the dial of this Tradition model.
This new guilloché motif was inspired by the graceful lines of the Seine as it flows around the Île de la Cité, where A.-L. Breguet’s workshop once stood, and the Île Saint- Louis, both in the heart of Paris. The precise contours of this motif are modelled on the Turgot map, a highly detailed, perspective view of the city of Paris produced in the eighteenth century. For its time it was remarkably accurate: it included all the streets, buildings and even every tree in the centre of Paris.
The back of the new Tradition 7035 reveals a golden landscape as fascinating as the front. The oscillating weight spins above the bridges’ satin-finished surfaces, which provide an elegant contrast to the shot-blasted mainplate below.
The crescent moon-shaped weight, made of vertical brushed platinum, is reminiscent of those used in A.-L. Breguet’s time. He established the use of platinum in watchmaking, using it to optimise the automatic winding of what he referred to as his “perpétuelle” watches, one of the first innovations from this master watchmaker.
A discrete “Pt950” engraved on the weight’s upper left-hand flank acts as a reassuring gauge of quality, as well as a knowing nod to Breguet’s patrimony.
