Wearable history
Abraham-Louis Breguet was Swiss but lived in France for most of his life. In 1797, he established a clockworks company in Paris, known at first as Quai de l’Horloge, before it took on the inventor’s name in subsequent generations.
He is best known for inventing the tourbillon in 1801, but before that, he pretty much invented the modern watch industry through a series of brilliant engineering and marketing innovations.
At first, Breguet’s workshop operated in the traditional manner, taking commissions as they came. But in 1793, the French Revolution upended societal order and Breguet fled to his native Switzerland until 1795.
While back in the heartland of horological engineering, Breguet devised a method to sustain his business by creating more affordable watches and an easier way to pay for them. Clients could pay a quarter of the price upfront, giving the workshop capital to operate. Breguet called the system Souscription, which is the root for subscription in English.