This year, Revolution turns 20. Two decades of chronicling watches, people and ideas have given us a front-row seat to a remarkable story: how an age-old craft has both preserved its soul and reinvented itself for the 21st century. To celebrate, we’ve chosen over 100 names and milestones that, for us, define the era so far. From leaders to watches, you can see the whole list here.

At this point in the year, I feel somewhat like a pinball bouncing around innumerable bumpers that include the craziness of the GPHG and Dubai Watch Week. Honestly, it’s the end of the year and I just wanted to chill. But I cannot for there is no chill in Paris, because Breguet has just dropped, what is from a technical perspective, the equivalent of a 58 mega-ton atomic bomb (I mean that in the best way possible). It is one of the most important and significant technical achievements in watchmaking of all time.

So, let me first explain that the brand will now create a series of watches called the experiment timepieces. These watches will run concurrently with a normal production of timepieces, but are dedicated to advancing watchmaking in the most adventurous and ambitious way possible. This is really at the core of what Breguet is all about. If you look at the history of Abraham-Louis Breguet, he was all about daring to write the future of watchmaking, whether it be related to the first self-winding watch, the first use of wire gongs for a minute repeater, the first mechanical systems that could speak to each other with the incredible Sympathique, the magnificent tourbillon or the natural escapement, everything was about looking forward to the future.

The World’s First Magnetic Escapement

The Expérimentale 1 is the very first timepiece in watchmaking history that uses a magnetic escapement.

Breguet Expérimentale 1 — the world’s first magnetic-escapement tourbillon, showcased in a rose-gold case with a fully skeletonized movement

Its oscillator vibrates at a blazing fast 10Hz. However, it is a full-size oscillator, unlike the slightly smaller oscillators we saw in the high-frequency watches using magnetic pivots. This oscillator is driven by a lever, not unlike the Swiss anchor, but using samarium cobalt  magnets instead of normal jewel pallets. It interacts with an escape wheel that features three levels. The top and bottom are in titanium, but featuring ramps made of the same magnet. The magnets made of samarium cobalt and the third wheel is a stop wheel in the center. This means that the escape wheel is purely driven through magnetic repulsion.

The reverse side of Caliber 7280: a meticulously hand-finished movement built around the world’s first magnetic escapement tourbillon

The lever shifts position when it is freed by the impulse pin of the balance wheel’s roller table. The escape wheel drives forward, powered purely by magnetic repulsion until the pallet contacts the stop wheel, dissipating the energy from there. What is the shape of the ramp where magnetic force increases that causes the wheel to drive forward? This is super important, because now you have a constant force mechanism that is completely independent of the power that is supplied by the mainspring. As such, the escapement is frictionless and totally constant in its energy delivery, regardless of the state of wind of the mainspring. It is executed as a tourbillon with the balance wheel on one side, the three level escape wheel in the center of the cage and a supplementary wheel on the other side created with nickel-phosphorus, which is the wheel that is actually geared to the fixed fourth wheel.

An exploded view of the Expérimentale 1 reveals the complex layering of the magnetic escapement, tourbillon carriage, and dual mainspring barrels

Why Expérimentale 1 Matters for Watchmaking

The rest of the watch is executed with a stunning array of Breguet gold bridges. It is house in a case that is 43mm in terms of diameter and just 13.3mm in terms of thickness, which, though it may sound large, is actually extremely wearable on the wrist. Every dimension of the timepiece features an elevation of the Breguet codes. The coin edge in the mid-case is three-dimensional, the lugs are faceted and beautifully polished and brushed. Similarly, the gold bridges of the movement feature stunning hand beveling and sharp inner angles. From my perspective, the Expérimentale 1 is proof positive that the work that is being done by Gregory Kissling in his team is extremely vital. We have, for too long, been in a period in the watch industry where everything has been backward-looking, and we have only repetitions of the past. This kind of complacency is partially responsible for the issue we have at the moment with a lackluster performance in our industry.

Breguet and Kissling are now irrefutably writing the future of watchmaking, and this is vital to reenergizing our industry. During his keynote address at Dubai watch week, the CEO of Rolex, Jean-Frederic Dufour said for our industry to continue for the future, we need two things: collaboration and healthy competition, because healthy competition brings immense creativity to an industry that can never stop and never be stagnant. Let us never forget that there is no reason for a mechanical watch to exist except to give emotion. But the way that it gives this emotion must be rooted in real watchmaking. This is exactly what Gregory Kissling has done.