When Breguet debuted the Breguet Marine Tourbillon Équation Marchante 5887, they wove together some threads from its history. The Tourbillon was invented and patented by founder Abraham-Louis Breguet in 1801. The Marine 5887 is not only equipped with a tourbillon of the newest generation, but also a perpetual calendar and an equation of time. The latter is a reminiscence to the historical fact, that the King of France, Louis XVIII appointed A.-L. Breguet as Horologer de la Marine Royale in 1815.
Now, Breguet extends its Marine line in 43,9 mm rose gold case with a dial in slate-grey color, engine-turned on gold by hand. In comparison, the current rose gold model has a silver-plated gold dial. To emphasize the link between the Marine line and the sea, there is a guilloche-peaked wave motif in the center of the dial. On the back, a depiction of an ancient flagship of the French Navy, the Royal Louis, has been hand carved across the four bridges of the movement. The barrel drum bears an illustration of a compass rose also engraved by hand. The peripheral oscillating weight in platinum is engine-turned and engraved with the Breguet legend.
The Breguet Marine Tourbillon Équation Marchante 5887 includes two minute hands, a traditional civil minute hand and a second minute hand showing the solar time. At the heart of the movement is a cam on a sapphire disc that completes a full rotation per year duplicating the equation of time cycle. The mechanism is completed with a set of gears called a ‘differential’.
What’s so special about his differential is, that it is able to combine two separate inputs into one output. The civil minute indication is produced by the main gear train of the watch. The equation of time information is read by the finger following the cam’s form. Thus, the differential performs the formula for calculating solar time (civil time plus equation of time) which is displayed by the solar minute hand.
The calendar display shows a newly constructed mechanism. Rather than with hands, the day of the week and the month are shown in small windows. The date is indicated with a hand known as ‘retrograde’. This hand advances along an arc until the end of the month, when in the middle of the night, it will reverse course and instantaneously snap back to ‘1’ to start the next month.
The movement of this Grande Complication model is derived from the extra-thin self-winding tourbillon caliber 581. The tourbillon carriage is made of titanium and the balance wheel’s spiral as well as the escape wheel are made of silicon. To match with the other indications on the dial, the power reserve (80 hours) is shown by gauge-type indicator at VIII o’clock. The Marine 5887 is worn on a brown alligator leather strap with rose gold triple folding buckle.
