Editor?s Note: Time Through the Ages is a four part series written by Andrew Canter, member of the British Horological Institute, Alliance of British Watch & Clock Makers, and the British Watch & Clock Makers Guild. In this second installment, Andrew examines the life and career of Abraham-Louis Breguet, inventor of the tourbillon and many other important watchmaking advancements. For more from Andrew, check out his work at Mr. WatchMaster. 
Abraham-Louis Breguet (1747?1823) was a designer, inventor, and watchmaker. Being a master craftsman in the field of watchmaking earned him a prestigious clientele that included Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, alongside other international nobility, and the elegance and technical innovations of his designs were considered the height of style and fashion.
Portrait of Abraham-Louis Breguet. Image courtesy of Manufacture Breguet

Breguet was born in Neuchâtel on the 10th January 1747, but it was in Paris that he spent most of his productive life. He is credited with the development of the successful self-winding perpétuelle watches, the introduction of the gongs for repeating watches, the first shock-protection for balance pivots and of course the tourbillon. Every watch that left his workshops demonstrated the latest horological improvements in an original movement, mostly fitted with lever or ruby-cylinder escapements that he perfected.
He was a great entrepreneur and marketed his magnificent watches brilliantly. Perhaps h...