Well folks, January is here, and that can really only mean one thing when it comes to new watch releases: we are about to be bombarded with Lunar New Year limited editions. They started to trickle out just before things began to shut down for the holidays, and by the time I dared to sign into my work email for the first time in 2025, press releases from brands of all kinds were waiting for me, heralding the launch of new watches to celebrate the Year of the Snake. This has been a tradition for as long as I’ve paid attention to watch media, and probably a whole lot longer. In some ways, I think we all have to admit, it’s quite cynical. It’s an easy way for brands to (hopefully) cash in as the growing Chinese luxury watch market looks for ways to mark a major point on their calendar. But the watches themselves, quite often, are really quite good, often living near the higher end of a brand’s catalog, serving as an example of particular craft techniques. That’s certainly the case with this year’s entry from Breguet, Breguet Classique 7145 Lunar New Year 2025, a watch that showcases the brand’s signature guilloche work, as well engraving and miniature painting techniques.
The Classique 7145 Lunar New Year 2025 starts with a simple, 40mm rose gold case, with fluting along the case walls, another signature Breguet design characteristic. While 40mm is on the large side for a modern dress watch, it makes sense in a watch like this as a way to properly showcase the artistry inherent in the dial. Although it might have been even more technically impressive to create a dial with this level of complexity in a smaller size, the visual impact of the more contemporary footprint really goes a long way here.
OK, the dial. Obviously, what we have here is a snake motif, but typical of Breguet, they’ve gone about creating it in a way that represents what is likely the highest degree of difficulty possible for such a thing. The snake and accompanying plant life it is depicted with are hand engraved on the dial surface, which is made of 18K gold. Once engraved, the surface is polished before guilloche is applied. Notice here the use of several different patterns across areas of the dial that are not symmetrical. Again, an incredibly high degree of difficulty. The final step sees Breguet artisans hand painting the foliage surrounding the snake to provide an effective accent to all the engraving and guilloche work. Of course, there are no numerals here, just incredibly discreet gold markers at each hour that are barely noticeable until you start looking for them. Time is read by traditional Breguet hands in 18K rose gold.
Powering the watch is the Breguet caliber 502, an automatic movement that measures just 2.4mm tall, which translates to a case height of a mere 6.5mm. The movement has 45 hours of power reserve on a full wind, and features a solid 22K gold rotor, which, like the dial, has been adorned with hand-applied guilloche. As you’d expect, the caliber is visible through a display caseback.
If you want to ring in the Lunar New Year with the Classique 7145 on your wrist, you’ll need deep pockets and probably a decent connection at Breguet. This is a limited edition of just 8 pieces, and the retail price comes in at CHF 69,000. That seems like a lot (it is a lot) but when you consider the multiple hand-craft techniques used to create the dial, the limited nature of the watch, and the level of execution, you can almost begin to justify the cost. Breguet
