Breguet embarks on a crucial mission for the oceans

The Race for Water Foundation is an organisation dedicated to water preservation, and the ocean in particular. As we know, our oceans are under massive threat from plastic pollution and means need to be put into place to protect them. This Foundation aims to identify, promote and implement solutions that will give end-of-life plastic a value and create new sources of income for the people who are most affected by pollution. Using this innovative approach – inspired by the principles of a circular economy and social entrepeneurship – Race for Water Foundation seeks to prevent plastic litter from reaching waterways and leaking all the way down to the ocean.

In March this year, Breguet announced its partnership with the Foundation – the watch brand entered a joint journey with a crucial mission for the oceans and the goal of promoting innovative solutions, capable of transforming plastic waste into energy resources, and accelerating clean energy transition.

A crucial step was to introduce the two teams that would be working closely together to achieve the goals set. Marco Simeoni, President of the Race for Water Foundation, visited Manufacture Breguet in the Swiss Vallée de Joux. Gunter Pauli, the author of The Blue Economy and an active supporter of Race for Water, joined the team and also participated in the conference, which was held for Breguet employees to familiarise them with the mission of the Foundation.

During his visit, Simeoni was also acquainted with the Breguet techniques – particularly with the process of making a mechanical watch, starting from metal cutting, to high-precision machining of components, as well as the hand-decoration process, assembly and testing.

‘I was impressed to find here at Breguet Manufacture a combination of high precision equipment and two-century-old techniques,’ he revealed. The foundation’s president then went on to test his own skills at decorating a watch dial with a guilloche pattern, one of the Breguet signatures.

This is a technique that dates back to its founder, Abraham-Louis Breguet, who was the first to introduce guilloche carving into watch dials. Today, Manufacture Breguet restores and manufactures its own guilloche machines and trains artisans practicing this art.

This partnership is celebrated with a special edition of the Breguet Marine 5517 timepiece. It is set in a light titanium case with a custom blue dial that features the Race for Water vessel in a clous de Paris motif.