Introducing: A New Blue Outfit For The Awe-Inspiring Breguet Tradition Chronographe Indépendant 7077
Breguet introduced the Tradition Chronographe Indépendant 7077 back in 2015. The watch displayed awe-inspiring watchmaking inventiveness. How about two balance wheels, two gear trains, an arc-shaped minute totalizer, a power reserve indicator, and a mesmerizing open-worked look on both the front and back? What more could you ask for?
Well, if I put on my critical hat, I could ask for better legibility. The reflective silver sub-dial displaying the time can almost disappear in certain lights. Also, its surroundings are so busy that the eye does not naturally gravitate towards the hour and minute hand. I know, I know…we are well and truly in first-world-problem territory here. Regardless, this new blue guise fixes that issue! First, let’s review what makes the 7077 so special and then see how this new colorway improves things.
The silver-dial version from 2015
The Breguet Tradition Chronographe Indépendant 7077
Let’s start with the basics. The Breguet Tradition Chronographe Indépendant 7077 is a behemoth of a watch. At 44mm wide, 48.7mm long, and 14.1mm thick, it will gobble up a significant portion of your forearm. Even the strap is massive at 23mm wide. This is big for a dive watch, let alone a classical work of Haute Horlogerie art. I can only imagine it weighs a fair bit too since the entire case is 18K white gold.
This is all completely uninteresting compared to the movement, though. Caliber 580DR has some properly cool tricks up its sleeve. Functionally, it doesn’t sound all that special; it is a chronograph with a power reserve indicator. The magic is in the execution. The mainspring powers one 3Hz balance wheel for the time display at 12. Another balance wheel with a 5Hz frequency is dedicated solely to the chronograph.
However, the chronograph gets its power from a blade spring, which reloads upon deactivating the chronograph. This spring provides 20 minutes of power, as displayed on an arc-shaped 20-minute totalizer. Two brakes ensure the titanium balance wheel immediately reaches the right amplitude upon activation. The “regular” balance wheel is made of cupro-beryllium. The different materials for the balance wheels ensure they can be the same size while performing different functions at different beat rates — in a word, nifty!
A new blue guise for the Breguet Tradition Chronographe Indépendant 7077
So, what is new about this latest release? Well, honestly, it’s only the color. That does not usually warrant an article, but we felt otherwise this time. Here, the color deeply impacts the entire feel and even function of the watch. Let me elaborate.
The Tradition series houses beautifully Brutalist movements with hard angles, dull, bead-blasted surfaces, and an ominous dark gray hue. They are a joy to behold, especially as this style contrasts the elegant, classical Breguet case and dial so powerfully. Still, it was precisely the contrast that was lacking in the earlier silver-dial versions. Color contrast, that is.
By swapping the silver elements for blue, the aesthetic is suddenly clearly split between “what” and “how.” The blue bits tell you “what” — in other words, the readout of the time and the elapsed minutes and seconds. The gray bits tell you “how” by exposing the mechanism used to display that information. This creates visual hierarchy and clarity.
Initial impressions
I find the Breguet Tradition 7077 thoroughly impressive. Indeed, it’s a bit too impressive from a proportions perspective but positively so in every other sense. First, this interpretation of a chronograph mechanism is fantastic. From the independent gear trains to the matching balance wheels running at different paces and the arc-shaped display of the elapsed minutes, I love it.
Then, there is the new color. It should not be news at all. This is an existing colorway in Breguet’s catalog, and the watch has not changed otherwise in nine years. Interestingly, the new guise transforms the watch. Suddenly, it has much more of a visual purpose and direction than the previous versions. Don’t get me wrong; I do like those watches, but the entire thing just works better in blue, regardless of whether I like the color or not.
What do you think of the new Breguet Tradition Chronographe Indépendant 7077 in blue? Let us know in the comments below!
