Breguet celebrates its 250th anniversary this year and, with it, has released a slew of commemorative models. There will be nine in total by year’s end, but what has been unveiled so far has injected a much-needed wave of enthusiasm among watch collectors. There has been a new proprietary gold alloy, smaller and more wearable sizing, its first flying tourbillon, and, perhaps its most notable statement, the Classique Souscription 2025, a thoughtful homage to the watches made by Abraham-Louis Breguet himself, the brand’s founder and still its biggest inspiration.
It all bodes quite well for CEO Gregory Kissling, who assumed the role in October last year. Born in Neuchâtel—just like Abraham-Louis, actually—Kissling is an industry veteran, who spent a good two decades at Omega before taking on the leadership of Breguet. A microtechnology engineer by training, as well as a movement and product developer by trade, his first brush with Breguet was while he was studying in Le Locle. “When you study horology, Breguet definitely comes up because he is the undisputed reference in modern watchmaking. It’s incredible, because it’s not just one or two major inventions—it’s a lot of inventions,” Kissling explains. Indeed, to this day, Breguet’s influence extends far beyond that of just the modern-day brand. The entire watch industry refers to and still uses Abraham-Louis’ aesthetic and technical innovations: Breguet-style hands and numerals, for example, or the Breguet overcoil in hairspring construction—not to mention his most famous invention, the tourbillon.
Kissling has always kept tabs on Breguet as a brand, admiring it from afar as it continued to innovate throughout its modern era. “This is a brand that has its own DNA. When I received this opportunity to be at the helm of the brand, it was a fantastic honour for me, of course. With my passion for watchmaking, and for new materials and new technologies, it is definitely my duty to blend this with tradition,” he says. “We have to respect these traditions but, at the same time, it’s very important to introduce a touch of modernity in our product and our communication.”
The Classique Souscription 2025 is a fine example, one that has drawn a lot of positive attention. It takes very strong visual cues from the original Souscription watches that were marketed from 1797, most obviously in the single hand and white enamel dial. The movement, newly developed for this watch, also takes heavy cues from its progenitors in terms of layout and construction. “It is probably the very first time that (one of our wristwatches) is definitively linked to a historical timepiece,” Kissling points out, noting that existing Classique watches may have had an aesthetic link to the past, but were powered by calibres of modern design. The Souscription 2025, he adds, is much more of a homage to the antiques from both the dial side and the caseback side. “This is something we want to continue, because we have found a very nice way to develop our Classique line,” he says.
When asked what the most important aspects of his strategy will be, Kissling says, “To keep innovating, to respect the past, and to communicate through our products. The product is definitely at the core of the company. We also need to enlarge our audience, to improve and to increase our brand awareness and desirability. We are working on the product, but also on the global marketing strategy and distribution.”
On the latter note, Kissling has been spending a fair bit of time contemplating the Southeast Asian region. He was recently in Singapore to inaugurate the opening of a new boutique in ION Orchard, the second in the country. There is one opening in Bangkok as well, and, after quite a few years without a mono-brand presence in Malaysia, a Breguet boutique will be opening at Pavilion Kuala Lumpur in early 2026. “It’s important for us, of course. It’s a global brand. We need to be everywhere,” Kissling says. “For us, it is important to be client-centric, and what better way to discover the universe of the brand (than to have a boutique)? Not only in terms of product, but also in terms of history—we need to make sure that we communicate in a good way, and to express our core collection.”
