1990s Breguet Heritage 18ct Yellow Gold 3490 Manual
Ref: 3490
Specification
Lugs : 17mm
Condition : Pre-Owned
Box & Papers : None
Case Material : 18ct Yellow Gold
Warranty : 12-Months NON-Waterproof Warranty
Points of Mention
This watch is sold “Watch Only” and therefore without its Breguet box or Breguet paperwork. The watch comes paired on its original 17mm Breguet black leather strap with an 18ct yellow gold pin buckle. The watch is from Circa. Late 1990s and is in worn condition, however, as you can see from the photos it is in great overall condition with few signs of wear. The watch comes with our 12-Months NON-Waterproof Warranty.
For more photos see here - https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1NUGahjQrLIniLICv21ZkaqPcwlvqRhfS?usp=sharing
4K YouTube video, skip to 2:54 - https://youtu.be/qzK1Tq-AFs4
The Watch
Here we have a 1990s Breguet Heritage 18ct Yellow Gold 3490 Manual with a curvaceous 30mm rectangular case that curves over your wrist with short drilled lugs, a lug-to-lug length of 40mm and a case thickness of just 6mm ensuring a comfortable fit. The flanks of the case have an attractive coin edge pattern, on the right side is a cabochon set crown, and a smooth bezel holds A sapphire crystal above a stunning Guilloche patterned silver dial, Roman numerals radiate around the outer edge marking the hours, within a silver ring we have the minutes, elegant blued Breguet hands are perfectly proportioned, and a small seconds sub-dial intersects the larger ring with small Breguet numerals precisely executed. At 12 o’clock we have the Breguet motif and unique production number finishing this majestic dress watch. On the reverse a screw-down 18ct yellow gold case back with Breguet and the ref. 3490 engraved into it, inside a manually wound Breguet Cal. 818/4, 21 jewels beating at 28,800 beats per hour. The watch comes paired on its original Breguet 17mm black leather strap with an 18ct yellow gold pin buckle.
Personal Note
It is far from every day that you get a Breguet in to sell, so when you do it's a special occasion, even more so when it is one as beautifully refined and elegant as this reference 3490! Dare I say I prefer this to an 18ct gold Cartier Tank? Whilst both could happily sit in a collection side by side and be enjoyed for separate occasions, this just feels far more elevated. Plus on a more casual strap this is a great t-shirt and jeans watch too, so don't be afraid to switch and swap this one to work for all occasions!
The Brand
Breguet was founded in 1775 by Abraham-Louis Breguet, a Swiss watchmaker in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. He spent ten years training under Ferdinand Berthoud and Jean-Antoine Lépine before setting up his own watchmaking business at 51 Quai de l'Horloge on the Île de la Cité in Paris. Breguet networked during his apprenticeship as a watchmaker where he was introduced to the court, Queen Marie Antoinette showed a growing fascination with Breguet's unique self-winding watch; Louis XVI bought several of his watches at this time. In 1783 the Swedish count Axel von Fersen, who was the queen's friend and an apparent lover, commissioned Breguet to create a watch that was to contain every watch complication known at that time as an incredible gift to Marie Antoinette. Breguet's masterpiece is the Marie-Antoinette pocket watch (Breguet No.160). In 1807 Breguet's son Louis-Antoine was made his partner, renaming the firm "Breguet et Fils" (Breguet and Sons). Abraham-Louis's great-grandson Louis Antoine (1851–1882) was the last of the Breguet family to run the business. With none of his children wanting to run the business, the Breguet company hired an English watchmaker Edward Brown of Clerkenwell to manage their Paris factory. Clerkenwell was the hub of watchmaking at that time and is one of the reasons we chose to have an office in Clerkenwell due to its historical place in watchmaking. Brown soon became a partner and, after Breguet's grandson's death, he took ownership of the company. When Brown died in 1895 the firm was left to his sons, Edward and Henry. For 100 years from 1870 to 1970, Breguet was owned by the Brown family. But sadly the ownership changed hands several times during the “quartz crisis” in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1976, Breguet's owner Chaumet closed its French factory and their production facilities moved to the Vallée de Joux in Switzerland. In 1987, Breguet was bought by Investcorp which created the Groupe Horologer Breguet (GHB) in 1991. The Breguet Group is made up of four subsidiaries: Montres Breguet SA, Breguet SA, Valdar SA and Nouvelle Lemania SA (which the Group bought in 1992). Due to these changes, Breguet-brand watches are made at the Nouvelle Lemania factory in Switzerland. Montres Breguet SA is the main company that sells timepieces under the brand name "Breguet", and Breguet SA is the name of Breguet Group's distribution company in France. In 1999, the Swatch Group bought Groupe Horologer Breguet from Investcorp.