A new creation featuring a deep blue enamel dial that embodies Breguet's aesthetic

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A new creation featuring a deep blue enamel dial that embodies Breguet's aesthetic | CLASSIC TOURBILLON EXTRA-PLAT AUTOMATIQUE 5367

Breguet has unveiled the new "Classic Tourbillon Extra-Plat Automatique 5367," a timepiece featuring an ultra-thin case housing a tourbillon movement and a deep blue Grand Feu enamel dial. It is scheduled to be available in Japan from March 2020.

Text by OZAKI Sayaka | Edit by TSUCHIDA Takashi

A Grand Feu Enamel Dial, Meticulously Crafted with a Blend of Profound Blues

In 2020, Breguet introduced the "Classic Tourbillon Extra-Plat Automatique," a model that styles the traditional Grand Feu enamel dial with a deep blue hue. Abraham-Louis Breguet, the founder of Breguet, highly valued the impeccable aesthetic that enamel dials brought to timepieces and cherished the technique. Today, very few artisans are masters of Grand Feu enamel, a skill passed down in Breguet's dedicated enamel workshop.

The enameling of the dial requires more than mere decoration; it is a highly specialized craft demanding precision, patience, and mastery. First, the gold plate that forms the dial is ground and cleaned. Then, the enamel glaze is applied thinly and evenly with a brush while still moist, and fired in a furnace at temperatures exceeding 800 degrees Celsius. This process is repeated, layering and firing the enamel multiple times until the desired color is achieved.

In this new creation, several shades of blue are blended. A gentle polishing just before the final firing in the furnace imparts a natural luster to the enamel. The gold dial is then beveled by a specialized workshop renowned for its high-level enameling techniques, followed by the processing of various elements needed for the indices. Using a highly specialized method, artisans inscribe the Breguet numerals, hour markers, minute markers, and logo, all rendered in silver powder, onto this dial.

Beneath the dial, embodying minimalist design, beats the Calibre 581, characterized by its exceptional thinness and outstanding performance. As Breguet's thinnest tourbillon movement, it achieves remarkable slimness at just 3 millimeters thick. The tourbillon, positioned between 4 and 6 o'clock, houses a balance wheel with a specially designed escapement for this caliber and a Breguet spring made of silicon, all within a titanium carriage. It oscillates at a rapid 4Hz for a tourbillon, completing 28,800 vibrations per hour. The "Classic Tourbillon Extra-Plat Automatique 5367" also boasts a power reserve of approximately 80 hours, thanks to the high-energy barrel invented and patented by Breguet.

This watch, with its platinum case measuring a mere 7.45 millimeters in thickness and paired with a blue alligator strap, is scheduled to be available in Japan from March 2020.