书城外语世界名牌大全(英汉双语版)
21967100000018

第18章 世界名表(8)

1995年,豪雅以前所未有的方式演绎运动世界,推出一系列引人瞩目的广告活动,奠定品牌在奢侈品领域的坚实地位。豪雅的这一广告活动赢得了15个全球最受推崇的广告大奖。运动人士不再仅仅是积极正面的“主体”,同时也传递着成功的最新形象。

2002年,“Mikrograph F1”于日内瓦高级钟表大会赢得腕表设计大奖。豪雅对1916年获得专利的全球首款精确度达到1/100秒的运动计时秒表“Mikrograph”进行了重新设计。

2012年,品牌推出卡莱拉Mikrogirder双调整超高振频腕表,每小时振动720万次,配有每秒旋转20次的飞返中央计时指针。这款叹为惊止的仪表是史上首款摒弃了平衡齿轮和螺旋形游丝的腕表,能精准测量到前所未有的5/10,000秒。在2012年11月的日内瓦高级钟表大会颁奖典礼上,在所有类别中,它被评选为整体最佳表,并囊括全球制表行业最令人向往的着名“金指针”大奖。这是豪雅在短短11年内第8次荣获日内瓦高级钟表大奖,进一步确立了品牌在极致复杂的钟表制造方面无与伦比的地位。

9.(瑞士)宝玑 Breguet

品牌名片

品类:腕表

标志风格:创新、精确

创始人:阿伯拉罕-路易·宝玑(A.-L. Breguet)

诞生地:巴黎

诞生时间:1775年

宝玑标志由表针和“Breguet”两部分组成。字母的左右设计上也有对称的均衡感,不是重量上的均衡而是形式上的对等。飘逸简洁,有种人间仙物的感觉。

品牌阅读

If Breguet holds a special place in the cultural heritage, it is because its founder, Abraham-Louis. Breguet (1747-1823), set the standard by which all fine watch****** has since been judged. Today, his heirs at Breguet still make each watch as a model of supreme horological art.

Abraham-Louis Breguet was born in Neuchtel, but it was in Paris that he spent most of his productive life. In 1775, A.-L. Breguet set up his own business on Quai de lHorloge, Ile de la cité in Paris. No aspect of watch****** escaped his study, and his inventions were as fundamental to horology as they were varied.

His career started with a series of breakthroughs: the development of the successful self-winding perpétuelle watches, the introduction of the gongs for repeating watches and the first shock-protection for balance pivots.

Louis XVI and his Queen, Marie-Antoinette, were early enthusiasts of Breguets watch******. Each watch from his workshops demonstrated the latest horological improvements in an original movement, mostly fitted with lever or ruby-cylinder escapements that he perfected.

A.-L. Breguet took refuge in Switzerland from the excesses of the French Revolution. He returned to Paris overflowing with the ideas that produced the Breguet balance-spring, his first carriage clock (sold to Bonaparte), the sympathique clock and its dependent watch, the tact watch and finally the tourbillon, patented in 1801.

Breguet became the indispensable watchmaker to the scientific, military, financial and diplomatic elites of the age. His timepieces ruled the courts of Europe. For his most celebrated clients, Breguet designed exceptional timepieces. For Caroline Murat, queen of Naples, he conceived in 1810 the worlds very first wrist watch. Honours saluted his enormous contribution to horology. Appointed to the Board of Longitude and as chronometer-maker to the navy, he entered the Academy of Sciences and received the Legion of Honour from the hands of Louis XVIII.

The House of Breguet was privileged to create timepieces for the diplomatic, scientific, military and financial elite. Among its clients, Queen Marie-Antoinette, Napoleon Bonaparte, Talleyrand, the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Caroline Murat, Tsar Alexander I of Russia, Queen Victoria, Sir Winston Churchill and Arthur Rubinstein who put their confidence in the taste and artistry of Breguet.

The number of references to Breguet watches in French and foreign literature is an indication of the remarkable reputation enjoyed by both the firm and its founder. Breguet is now so deeply rooted in European culture that the name is virtually a sine qua non of any depiction of the aristocracy, the bourgeoisie or, quite simply, a life of luxury and elegance. Stendhal, Mérimée, Pushkin, Balzac, Alexandre Dumas, Thackeray and Victor Hugo are only some of the writers who have made reference to Breguet in their works, followed closer to our own day by Kuprin, Max Jacob and Patrick OBrian.

Today more than ever, its capacity to innovate reflects a brands vitality. Breguets own creative powers and ingenuity have certainly not declined over time. Driven by Nicolas G. Hayek, they have indeed been amplified, resulting in Breguet filing in eight short years a number of patent applications exceeding that of its founders own inventions.

Manufacture

(1) A single number

Watch enthusiasts agree that each Breguet watch represents an exceptional standard of horological art that deserves to be identified for posterity. Since Breguets early days, the manufacturing numbers of its watches have enabled collectors to confirm their origin and provenance. In keeping with tradition, the unique production number assigned to each Breguet watch will testify to the talent and the care its manufacture for generations to come.

(2) The secret signature

Their very success soon made Breguets watches a tempting target for counterfeiters. In 1795, Breguet came up with a countermeasure: the secret signature. Etched into the dial, the signature is all but invisible unless the dial is examined in oblique light. Still a token of authenticity today, the secret signature has remained a feature of most Breguet dials down to the present.

(3) Engine-turned dials

Around 1786, Breguet began fitting his watches with engine-turned silver or gold dials of his own design. The craft of carving recurring patterns in metal is rare today, but it remains one of the details that identify Breguet watches. Manually engine-turned, their dials are celebrated for the fineness of their patterns, reflecting the regularity of the movements within.

(4) Breguet hands

Breguet watches have featured its founders celebrated hollow, eccentric “moon” tip watch hands for over two centuries now. Designed around 1783, his slim and sleek hands proved an instant success and the expression “Breguet hands” soon became a common watchmakers term. Simple and easy-to-read, they are found on most Breguet time-pieces and have been widely imitated by others.