  We prove a conditional Wegner estimate for Schr\"odinger operators with
random potentials of breather type. More precisely, we reduce the proof of the
Wegner estimate to a scale free unique continuation principle. The relevance of
such unique continuation principles has been emphasized in previous papers, in
particular in recent years.
  We consider the standard breather model, meaning that the single site
potential is the characteristic function of a ball or a cube. While our methods
work for a substantially larger class of random breather potentials, we discuss
in this particular paper only the standard model in order to make the arguments
and ideas easily accessible.
