Breguet No 765: A Clear Leader

As close to Winston Churchill as his cigars was the timepiece inherited from his grandfather, the Duke of Marlborough. Rare are the images of him without a Breguet watch chain crossing his waistcoat. Breguet No 765 was acquired by the Duke of Marlborough in 1890. He chose a timepiece that a connoisseur of the present era would find dazzling. Combining two of the most challenging ‘complications’, it is a minute repeater chronograph with flyback second hand.

Since Churchill’s passing in 1965, the watch, still in perfect working order, has remained with the family; it is now in the possession of his grandson, Winston S Churchill. Not seen in public since then, the wartime leader’s great-grandson Randolph Churchill revealed that it “only comes out on high days and holidays”.