Breguet Celebrates the Year of the Snake with its Limited-Edition Classique 7145 Lunar New Year 2025 Variant

The Western calendar, known as the Gregorian calendar, and the Chinese calendar differ greatly in their approaches to timekeeping and New Year's celebrations. The Western calendar is solar-based, dividing a year into 12 fixed-length months, with New Year's Day falling on January 1. In contrast, the Chinese calendar is lunisolar, combining lunar cycles with solar terms to produce months that correspond to lunar phases and years that involve modifications to stay in sync with the seasons. Breguet has, of course, showcased its creative abilities with regard to both systems. Honouring the Year of the Snake in the Chinese calendar, the brand has now created a handcrafted version of the Serpent, using métiers d'art methods such as guilloché and engraving, in an eight-piece limited edition, titled Classique 7145 Lunar New Year 2025 (Ref. 7145BR/15/9WU 06).

The snake carries considerable symbolism in Chinese culture, notably in relation to the Chinese zodiac and New Year ceremonies. The snake, one of the 12 zodiac animals, represents wisdom, insight, and metamorphosis. Those born in the Year of the Snake are typically described as being mysterious, intellectual, and graceful. During this time, the snake is viewed as a symbol of the cyclical nature of life, encouraging people to lose the old and accept the new, just like a snake sheds its skin. It also represents prosperity and longevity, reflecting Chinese traditions' great appreciation for nature and its species. The snake's influence encourages attention, adaptation, and a quest for inner calm as the year begins.

The 40 mm Breguet Classique 7145 variant gets an 18 ct rose gold case and a crown. It showcases the refined art of engraving on an 18 ct gold, guilloché, and hand-engraved dial, depicting the Snake in gold as well. The bas-relief technique that has been deployed transforms the dial into a miniature sculpture. Each motif is carefully drawn, and then sculpted with chisels and burins with extreme precision. 

After carefully etching every feature of the Snake and its surroundings, a black finish has been applied. This is followed by polishing and hand guilloché, which involve delicate work. To elevate the vegetation, a translucent tiny painting has been added, accentuating various shades of green while retaining the essence of the engraving, which is consistent with the rest of the dial. This precise and thorough technique, which is fully handcrafted, produces a subtle interplay of deep green and sea green.

The Breguet hands with ‘open-tipped pomme’ design sweep over the hour track, with tiny round rose gold dots for hour markers; in other words, there are no Arabic or Roman hour markers. This timepiece has a slim profile of just 6.5 mm, and features the classic straight lugs and a fluted caseband. The Breguet calibre 502 has a thickness of only 2.4 mm and offers a 45-hour power reserve from a single barrel. Turning the watch over showcases the 22 ct gold oscillating weight, hand-engraved with a guilloché pattern. The watch is finished on a green alligator leather strap with an 18 ct rose gold pin buckle. Furthermore, this limited-edition watch comes inside a square-shaped box in grey-stained maple wood, sporting a tone on-tone embossing of the Chinese ideogram for the Snake and the inscription, ‘LIMITED EDITION’ (also tone-on-tone) inside the alcantara-lined lid.