Montres Breguet continues on its drive to position itself at the very top of the haute horlogerie pyramid at BaselWorld this year with the Classique 5447, a minute repeater and perpetual calendar.

Long hours of work have gone into perfecting the acoustics of this piece, while paying attention to the clarity of sound. The case itself acts as a resonance chamber and the repeater gongs have been positioned to maximize clarity while the energy delivered to the striking mechanism has been improved, all of which promise a wholly better repeater.

The repeater mechanism – a complication that Abraham-Louis Breguet had a hand in enhancing – cannot be seen and this often leads to misunderstanding. The truest test of the repeater is to actually discover the magic of hearing the time sounded out.

Another unusual mechanism in this watch is the retrograde jumping month counter located at 10.30, a fitting tribute to Breguet himself as the great man also had a hand in perfecting the perpetual calendar.