Introducing: The New Breguet Marine Tourbillon Equation Marchante 5887
Seven years ago, Breguet introduced the flagship model of its Marine collection, the Tourbillon Equation Marchante 5887. Two versions debuted in 2017 — one in 18K rose gold with a silver dial and the other in platinum with a blue dial. In 2020, another rose gold version joined the Marine collection, this time, with a brown dial. My colleague Jorg wrote an in-depth review of that watch.
Breguet Marine Tourbillon Equation Marchante 5887 in platinum
Today, Breguet introduces another variant of the Marine Tourbillon Equation Marchante 5887. It’s the second version of the watch with a platinum case, but this one has a black hand-guilloché dial with a wave pattern. This dial gives the watch a timeless look compared to the brown-dial version in rose gold from 2020 or the blue-dial version in platinum from 2017.
Equation of time
The guilloché dial of the new Breguet Marine Tourbillon Equation Marchante 5887 is white gold with a black finish. Surrounding it, you’ll find a circular-brushed white gold ring with applied Roman numerals in black-coated gold. Then, another ring around that holds white gold pyramid-shaped hour markers. This watch indicates the solar time via the hour hand and the minute hand with a gold-plated, fluted ring at the tip. The civil time is indicated by the same hour hand and the minute hand with a luminescent tip.
As Jorg explained in his article, “marchante time” — aka the equation of time — is a very interesting complication that shows the difference between mean solar (civil) time and true solar time. Solar time can change slightly each day because of the Earth’s elliptical orbit and tilt, so it’s a bit irregular.
Mean solar time smooths all that out and gives us a more consistent way of keeping time. This is why we use mean solar time (or the time on our clocks) in daily life, even though solar time might tell us slightly different things from day to day.
Perpetual calendar
But that’s not all this Breguet Marine Tourbillon Equation Marchante 5887 has to offer. It also has a perpetual calendar. An aperture at 10:30 indicates the day, while another one at 1:30 displays the month and current year of the leap-year cycle. The date is indicated by the arc-shaped scale and the hand with the anchor-shaped tip to keep the marine theme alive. In addition, this watch features a tourbillon, a mechanism (not a complication) invented by Breguet and patented in 1801. This is visible through a sapphire disc, which also indicates the month of the equation of time.
Caliber 581DPE
Inside is Breguet’s caliber 581DPE. This self-winding movement consists of 563 components and has a wave-patterned peripheral rotor for a better view of the hand-engraved marine ship (the Royal Louis). The movement also ticks at a 28,800vph (4Hz) frequency and has a flat silicon Breguet balance spring and silicon escapement wheel. Caliber 581DPE provides 80 hours of power reserve, so you’re good for the entire weekend, including drinks on Thursday evening. The tourbillon cage is made of Grade 5 titanium to keep things light, where possible, inside this heavyweight case.
Breguet’s 5887 (5887PT/92/5WV in full) comes on a textured black rubber strap with a folding clasp made of platinum. The other versions — 950 platinum case with blue dial (ref. 5887PT/Y2/9WV), 18K rose gold case with brown dial (ref. 5887BR/G2/9WV), and 18K rose gold case with silver dial (ref. 5887BR/12/9WV) — will remain in the collection.
The 5887 in rose gold from 2020
Although the novelty of today’s Breguet Marine Tourbillon Equation Marchante 5887 is limited to the combination of platinum and black, it’s still the most complicated watch in the brand’s Marine collection. It deserves some attention!
My thoughts on the new Breguet Marine Tourbillon Equation Marchante 5887
While the Marine is not my favorite collection in Breguet’s catalog, it is nothing short of impressive. I had the pleasure of wearing one of the previous versions of this Marine Tourbillon Equation Marchante, and it’s one of those watches that keeps you looking at it and discovering new details. Not only that, but every glance will also remind you that it’s all about craftsmanship, from the hand-engraving on the movement (which, admittedly, you can’t see without taking the watch off your wrist) to the guilloché dial and the tourbillon mechanism visible through the sapphire crystal.
Breguet ref. 3477 — Image: Sothebys
While the perpetual calendar is one of my favorite complications, the equation of time is pretty neat too, even if it’s useless for most people. However, the way this Breguet watch indicates the equation of time is incredibly easy to use. Most watches with this complication use a different layout, which was the case on the discontinued Breguet 3477. Here, you can see the difference between the mean solar time and solar time on the sub-dial between 12 and 3 o’clock.
For the lucky few!
Given the retail price of €292,800 (including 20% VAT), this watch is for fortunate connoisseurs of complicated watches. It’s most likely not someone’s first Haute Horlogerie watch. Still, it could be someone’s “exit watch” or just something different from the heavyweights from the usual suspects in the ultra-luxury category.
What do you think of this model and the Breguet Marine collection in general? Let me know in the comments.
