The superiority of French clocks and watches has been achieved only by
the laborious efforts of many ingenious artisans. Of one of these, to
whom France owes no little of its celebrity in this branch of art, we
propose to speak. Bréguet was the name of this remarkable individual.
He was a native of Neuchâtel, in Switzerland, and thence he was
removed, while young, to Versailles, for the purpose of learning his
business as a horologist. His parents being poor, he found it
necessary to rely on his own energy for advancement in life.
At Versailles, he served a regular apprenticeship, during which his
diligence in improving himself was almost beyond example. He became
greatly attached to his profession; and soon, by studious
perseverance, his talents were developed by real knowledge. At length
the term of apprenticeship expired, and as the master was expressing
to the pupil the satisfaction which his good conduct and diligence had
given him, he was struck with astonishment when he replied: 'Master, I
have a favour to ask of you. I feel that I have not always as I ought
employed my time, which was to have indemnified you for the cares and
lessons you have spent on me. I beg of you, then, to permit me to
continue with you three months longer without salary.' This request
confirmed the attachment of the master to his pupil. But scarcely was
the apprenticeship of the latter over, when he lost his mother and his
stepfather, and found himself alone in the world with an elder
sister--being thus left to provide, by his own industry, for the
maintenance of two persons. Nevertheless, he ardently desired to
complete his necessary studies, for he felt that the knowledge of
mathematics was absolutely indispensable to his attaining perfection
in his art. This determined purpose conquered every obstacle. Not only
did he labour perseveringly for his sister and himself, but also found
means to attend regularly a course of public lectures which the Abbé
Marie was then giving at the College Mazarin. The professor, having
remarked the unwearied assiduity of the young clockmaker, made a
friend of him, and delighted in considering him as his beloved pupil.
This friendship, founded on the truest esteem and the most
affectionate gratitude, contributed wondrously to the progress of the
student.
The great metamorphosis which was effected so suddenly in the young
clockmaker was very remarkable. There is something very encouraging in
his example, affording as it does a proof of the power of the man who
arms himself with a determined purpose. At first, the struggle with
difficulties appears hard, painful, almost impossible; but only let
there be a little perseverance, the obstacles vanish one after the
other, the way is made plain: instead of the thorns which seem to
choke it, verdant laurels suddenly spring up, the reward of constant
and unwearied labour. Thus it was with our studious apprentice. His
ideas soon expand; his work acquires more precision; a new and a more
extended horizon opens before him. From a skilful workman, it is not
long before he becomes an accomplished artist. Yet a few years, and
the name of Bréguet is celebrated.
At the epoch of the first troubles of the Revolution of 1789, Bréguet
had already founded the establishment which has since produced so many
master-pieces of mechanism. The most honourable, the most flattering
reputation was his. One anecdote will serve to prove the high repute
in which he was held, even out of France. One day a watch, to the
construction of which he had given his whole attention, happened to
fall into the hands of Arnold, the celebrated English watchmaker. He
examined it with interest, and surveyed with admiration the simplicity
of its mechanism, the perfection of the workmanship. He could scarcely
be persuaded that a specimen thus executed could be the work of French
industry. Yielding to the love of his art, he immediately set out for
Paris, without any other object than simply to become acquainted with
the French artist. On arriving in Paris, he went immediately to see
Bréguet, and soon these two men were acquainted with each other. They
seem, indeed, to have formed a mutual friendship. In order that
Bréguet might give Arnold the highest token of his esteem and
affection, he requested him to take his son with him to be taught his
profession, and this was acceded to.
The Revolution destroyed the first establishment of Bréguet, and
finally forced the great artist to seek an asylum on a foreign shore.
There generous assistance enabled him, with his son, to continue his
ingenious experiments in his art. At length, having returned to Paris
after two years' absence, he opened a new establishment, which
continued to flourish till 1823, when France lost this man, the pride
and boast of its industrial class. Bréguet was member of the
Institute, was clockmaker to the navy, and member of the Bureau of
Longitude. He was indeed the most celebrated clockmaker of the age; he
had brought to perfection every branch of his art. Nothing could
surpass the delicacy and ingenuity of his free escapement with a
maintaining power. To him we owe another escapement called 'natural,'
in which there is no spring, and oil is not needed; but another, and
still more perfect one, is the double escapement, where the precision
of the contacts renders the use of oil equally unnecessary, and in
which the waste of power in the pendulum is repaired at each
vibration.
The sea-watches or chronometers of Bréguet are famous throughout the
world. It is well known that these watches are every moment subject to
change of position, from the rolling and pitching of the vessel.
Bréguet conceived the bold thought of enclosing the whole mechanism of
the escapement and the spring in a circular envelope, making a
complete revolution every two minutes. The inequality of position is
thus, as it were, equalised on that short lapse of time; the mechanism
itself producing compensation, whether the chronometer is subjected to
any continuous movement, or kept steady in an inclined or upright
position. Bréguet did still more: he found means to preserve the
regularity of his chronometers even in case of their getting any
sudden shock or fall, and this he did by the parachute. Sir Thomas
Brisbane put one of them to the proof, carrying it about with him on
horseback, and on long journeys and voyages; in sixteen months, the
greatest daily loss was only a second and a half--that is, the
57,600th part of a daily revolution.
Such is the encouraging example of Bréguet, who was at first only a
workman. And to this he owes his being the best judge of good workmen,
as he was the best friend to them. He sought out such everywhere, even
in other countries; gave them the instruction of a master of the art;
and treated them with the kindness of a father. They were indebted to
him for their prosperity, and he owed to them the increase of fortune
and of fame. He well understood the advantages of a judicious division
of labour, according to the several capabilities of artisans. By this
means, he was able to meet the demand for pieces of his workmanship,
not less remarkable for elegance and beauty than for extreme accuracy.
It may indeed be said, that Bréguet's efforts gave a character to
French horology that it has never lost. So much may one man do in his
day and generation to give an impetus to an important branch of
national industry.