Because that name is more easily associated with watches, thanks to Swiss-French horologist Abraham-Louis Breguet, that’s.
The name “Breguet” is not one that you might immediately identify with flights.
His many contributions and innovations, including developing the tourbillon, has led to him being widely accepted as one of the greatest horologists of all time. It has since grown into a manufacturer of luxury watches, clocks, and jewellery and remains one of the oldest surviving watchmaking brands in the world. The fact that their family ran a business of watchmaking and clock-making for generations meant that Louis, along with his younger brother Jacques Breguet, were exposed to electrical and mechanical systems from a rather young age. As someone who loved reading Jules Verne, the French author who wrote Around the World in Eighty Days , Louis was drawn to the idea of flying even as a youngster. Convinced that vertical flight was the ideal way of solving the problem of bodies heavier than air, Louis got to work along with his brother Jacques and with help from Professor Charles Richet. These rotors, eight metres in diameter, were on extended girders and each rotor consisted of four biplane blades. It was designed by the brothers to be manoeuvred vertically, with its position being maintained with help from the ground. On that day, one of the earliest recorded vertical take-offs was successfully carried out. The piloted, powered, vertical flight rose about two feet from the ground, even as four men steadied the prototype by hand from the ground. The year Societe Anonyme des Ateliers d’Aviation Louis Breguet, also known as Breguet Aviation, was established saw French aviator Henri Bregi use Breguet airplanes in a number of flights, including the first demonstration of flights in Morocco and one with a passenger. This bomber, which included a watch and a compass to monitor time and the plane’s direction like every aircraft of the time, neatly married Louis’ past and present. His interest in aviation made it much easier for Louis to explain to watchmakers as to what exactly pilots required in their cockpits.
Because louis Charles Breguet, one of the early aviation pioneers, was the great-great-grandson of Abraham-Louis Breguet, that’s. A watchmaker par excellence, Abraham-Louis was the leading exponent of his field for much of his lifetime from 1747-1823. Abraham-Louis founded Breguet, a company to manufacture watches, in 1775. Born on January 2, 1880, Louis came from a family steeped in an engineering-science mindset. Louis graduated from Ecole Superieure d’Electricite, one of France’s top electrical engineering schools, in 1903. The brothers built a machine that was driven by a 40-horsepower Antoinette engine and with four rotors. Louis Charles Breguet, circa 1909. | Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons The pilot operated this experimental craft that weighed 540 kg from a central location. The successful demonstration, though modest by all means, took place on August 24, 1907. By 1911, Louis started his own aviation company, one that went on to supply airplanes to the French military with the onset of World War I in 1914. The Breguet 14 single-engine day bomber that was introduced during WWI was among the most widely used French warplanes of the time. The Breguet 14 was a big hit during World War I. | Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons Even though Louis’ grandfather had sold the family’s interest in the watch company, the family still had a close bond with the company, and Louis was no exception. Following the end of the war, Louis started working on civil aviation and by 1919 he set up Compagnie des Messageries Aériennes , or Air Mail Company. Speaking at a scientific congress in August 1921, Louis laid out his futuristic vision for air travel. He even claimed that the crafts of the future would carry people around the world at speeds of about 750 mph, even though crafts of the time were at best reaching only a fraction of that.
It might now be a subsidiary of the Swiss Swatch Group, but the name “Breguet” is still mostly associated with the brand that makes watches. the same cannot be said of two men from different times who influenced their fields in a big way While the link between watchmaking and flying might not always be obvious. He not only stated that airplanes of tomorrow would be “comfortable, powerful, fast, and reliable,” but also emphasised that travelling long distances by sea would seem “as peculiar as traveling by coach and horses.
The result was Air France, the flag carrier of France. Designed alongside Rene Dorand, the Gyroplane Laboratoire was an early version of the helicopter that established a number of records for crafts of its type. By 1933, the French government negotiated with Louis’s airline and a number of others to form the country’s national carrier. Louis returned to working on a gyroplane and had further success in 1935. Louis Charles Breguet, circa 1952. | Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons Louis remained an important aircraft manufacturer during World War II and returned to focussing on commercial transport after the end of the war. He died of a heart attack in 1955, aged 75.
