Following in hallowed footsteps, Breguet’s chief executive is steering the 251-year-old brand towards even greater innovation.
‘Horological heroes’ is a phrase you hear often in collecting circles, no thanks to the passion surrounding watchmaking and the larger-than-life personalities that help propel the sector forward. There are trailblazing independent watchmakers, visionary CEOs and creative directors, and even legends from the past like the British horologist George Daniels.
An industry veteran whose star is on the ascent right now is Gregory Kissling, chief executive of the house of Breguet since 2024. Watchmaking fans will know him from his two-decade-plus tenure overseeing products at Omega (which, like Breguet, is part of The Swatch Group), where he guided the launches of blockbusters such as the Seamaster James Bond 007 60th Anniversary edition and the Speedmaster Snoopy pieces, the latter a firm collector favourite.
While this may be Kissling’s first rodeo as CEO, his followers can rest assured that his prolific output will not be diminished. “I’m always connected to the product,” he tells Robb Report, “because this is what we are doing at Breguet.”
Kissling joined the company on the cusp of its two-and–a-half-century birthday and landed with a fully formed vision for the milestone. That was expressed, in signature Kissling style, in a 250th anniversary collection featuring around 15 novelties. Each design has pioneered new, cutting-edge innovations, mechanisms or materials in Breguet’s core collections, channelling the spirit of its 18th-century founder and inventor, Abraham-Louis Breguet—a genuine horological superstar who famously created the tourbillon, the perpétuelle watch, the natural escapement, the constant force escapement and the shock absorber, to name but a few.
Further galvanising the celebrations was a fresh, cohesive communications strategy. Think high-impact launch events around the world, like the Classique Souscription 2025 wristwatch debut in Paris (home of A.-L. Breguet’s legendary workshop and birthplace of its founder’s greatest inventions). Or New York for the release of the Type XX Chronographe 2075 pilot’s watch, which nods to 1950s military timepieces, parlaying Breguet’s historic links to the aviation world.
“Rather than one big single event, we decided to take the entire year,” explains Kissling of the anniversary. “We wanted to talk about the different stories, inventions and chapters of a brand that is 250 years in the making… There are different generations: one century with the Breguet family, another with the Brown family, and then 50 years with the Chaumet brothers, Investcorp and The Swatch Group. This is why we decided to do a world tour… And thanks to social media, it was everywhere.”
Linking the products is a new slogan—crafting emotions, one invention at a time—best encapsulated by the aforementioned Classique Souscription 2025. This timepiece has an enviable mix of artistry, innovation and history, due to its recalibration from a famed 1796 pocket watch to modern-day wristwatch, and its stunning grand feu white enamel dial that adroitly pays homage to the original.
The watch is also hugely symbolic: once a celebrated watchmaker to the royal courts, the French Revolution forced A.-L. Breguet to briefly return to his native Switzerland in 1793, before settling in Paris two years later, where his workshop was based. Essentially restarting his business from scratch, it was here that he pioneered the Souscription model—and a system of payment whereby customers made an initial 25 percent deposit, with the remainder settled on delivery.
Some 700 examples were produced in this way for over 30 years, and it’s a piece that still inspires many independent watchmakers today. To further authenticate the pocket watch and avoid counterfeiting, the dial was etched with a secret signature using a pantograph—a feature that Breguet has now reproduced on the 2025 wristwatch—and an actual 18th-century pantograph that belonged to A.-L. Breguet himself. “The Classique Souscription is the emblem of the collection—it actually saved the brand right after the French Revolution,’’ explains Kissling.
This focus on pushing innovation and creativity through the historic lens of A.-L. Breguet has further driven the brand’s other novelties. The revolutionary Expérimentale 1, for example, debuted Breguet’s high-frequency (10 Hz) tourbillon, which featured a magnetic escapement while delivering constant force to the balance. Elsewhere, a trio of tourbillons were launched on the 225th birthday of the beloved horological mechanism—among them, the 25-piece, limited-edition Tradition Tourbillon 7047, an ultra-graphic and stylish watch with the dial, tourbillon bridge and fusee-and-chain transmission all coloured in a unique blue hue, again honouring A.-L. Breguet’s legacy.
One gets the sense that Kissling is only getting started. The anniversary may be behind him, but the CEO has big plans. A new fundamental research lab is being assembled in Neuchâtel —A.-L. Breguet’s birthplace—and will house some 15 to 20 doctors, engineers, scientists and watchmakers, all cross-pollinating ideas for future mechanical inventions. Calling it the “step before R&D”, Kissling cites NASA’s TRL (Technology Readiness Level), a nine-tier system measuring when a product is ready to be launched onto the market.
Managerially, Kissling has notably “cut the silos” to unite the team, and has mobilised everyone around a specific goal. Retail-wise, expect around a doubling of Breguet boutiques globally. That likely means an impending sighting of Kissling in a city near you, as he’s planning to meet as many enthusiasts as possible. “Collectors today are looking for authenticity and craftsmanship, but they also want to be surprised,” he says. And with Kissling at the helm, expect those qualities in abundance.
