What is the most complicated pocket watch in the world? - The "Marie Antoinette" from Breguet
Marie Antoinette, born as Archduchess of Austria, died, at the guillotine, as Queen of France and one of the most famous women of the 18th century.
She is also the namesake, for one of the most historically exciting watches:
Breguet's Grande Complication No.160, called "Marie Antoinette".
The fascinating timepiece is almost 200 years old and its history reads like the script of a Netflix series. But let's take it one step at a time.
What is the most complicated pocket watch in the world?
The Grande Complication by Breguet, better known as the "Marie Antoinette", is a pocket watch designed and built by Swiss watchmaker Abraham Louis Breguet. It was commissioned in 1783 and completed 44 years later. The skeletonized watch surpassed anything previously built and went down in history as the most complex watch of its time.
Marie Antoinette
About the life of Marie Antoinette, born Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna, countless articles and books have already been written. I will therefore briefly summarize the most important.
Born as the 15th child of the Emperor's family of Austria, she grew up in an extremely strict home.
At the age of 15 she was married to the heir to the throne of the King of France, Louis Auguste. In the course of this, Maria Antonia was renamed Marie Antoinette.
In 1774, when her husband became king and she, logically, became queen, she lost all connection to money. While the French people suffered, she spent it with both hands on ostentatious, unnecessary stuff. The common French people could not stand her because of this.
Then in the French Revolution, the people rebelled against the government and in 1793, King Louis XVI was publicly executed for speaking out against it. Only nine months later, the people accused Marie Antoinette of high treason and executed her by guillotine on October 16, 1793.
(Source: History.com)
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The construction
Although Marie Antoinette was married, she had several suitors.
One of them, it is rumored, was the Swedish Count Hans Axel von Fersen. He wanted to present the queen with a very special gift; a watch more complex, special and fascinating than any other.
So in 1783, Abraham Louis Breguet was commissioned to create this "Holy Grail of watchmaking". He was given neither financial nor time limits.
The construction of this timepiece took no less than 44 years!
The reason for this was also that Mr. Breguet had to flee to Switzerland for 2 years during the construction, shortly before Marie Antoinette was executed. As a good friend of the royal family, he should also have been executed by the people, but was warned early enough by an acquaintance.
By the time the clock was completed in 1827, the queen had been dead for 34 years. The watchmaker Abraham Louis Breguet was also not allowed to live to see this day, as he died 4 years earlier. The finishing touches were completed by his eldest son Antoine-Louis Breguet.
The Watch
Die Marie Antoinette Nr.160 birgt eine Vielzahl von Complications, die zu der Zeit zwar bekannt waren, allerdings noch nie alle zusammen in einer Uhr eingebaut wurden.
It includes:
- Perpetual Calendar with a display for:
- Weekday
- Date
- Month
- Equation of time (shows the difference between the actual time and that of a sundial)
- Chime mechanism with a repetition of
- Minutes
- Quarters
- Hours
- Independent second hand
- Jump hour indicator
- Power reserve indicator
- Thermometer
It is also automatic, which means that a weight on the back, which rotates with the movement of the watch, charges the watch. Further, it was equipped with Breguet's invention, a shock protection, "Pare-Chute".
The admirer who ordered the Pocket Watch attached importance to the fact that only the most valuable materials were used. Thus, the case is made of gold and the dial is transparent. To reduce the friction of the gears, Breguet used sapphire stones.
The pocket watch has a diameter of 63 mm and the production is said to have cost between 17,000 and 30,000 gold francs.
The Trading
After its completion, however, the eventful history of the "Marie Antoinette" No.160 was only to begin.
The first sale of the watch was unfortunately not recorded, but a certain Marquis de la Groye brought it to the watch store for maintenance in 1838, and then never picked it up again.
Over the next 130 years, the watch was repeatedly bought by collectors and resold to other collectors, until it finally ended up in the hands of Sir David Lionel Salomons, or rather his daughter Vera. Mr. Salomons had a considerable collection of watches with some pieces from Breguet.
At this point in the story, there are two different versions that ultimately end up in the same place.
Either the watch, along with a large part of the collection, was given away by Salomon himself, to the L.A. Mayer Museum for Islamic Art.
Or Vera Salomon inherited the collection after the death of her father. Vera is very good friends with a professor at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem who is very interested in Islamic art. In 1974, Vera donates her father's watch collection to the newly established L.A. Mayer Museum for Islamic Art, in honor and memory of her close friend, the professor.
With an estimated value of $30 million, the one-of-a-kind "Marie Antoinette" No.160 then settled in the museum for several years. Until a break-in at the museum on April 15, 1983, by an unknown thief.
This theft was to go down in the history of Israel as the most expensive crime ever committed, because in addition to "Marie Antoinette" No.160, 105 other pieces were also stolen.
The case was not solved until November 2008, after 25 years, when the widow of the thief approached the museum through a jeweler to make a deal to sell the pieces back. Her husband had confessed the theft to her on his deathbed.
Since then, the pocket watch can be admired again at the L.A. Mayer Museum of Islamic Art.
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The NO. 1160
In 1999, the Swatch Group bought the Breguet watch brand. Five years after the burglary, when the watch had still not been recovered, Nicolas G. Hayek, founder and head of the Swatch Group, decided to create a faithful replica of the lost "Marie Antoinette" No.160. The Grande Complication No. 1160 made its debut at Baselworld in 2008.
As a little extra detail and to prove that they wanted to go the extra mile with this watch, Mr. Hayek had the replica presented in a wooden box. However, this was of course not normal wood. The wood came from an oak tree, which was considered the favorite tree of Queen Marie Antoinette.
Conclusion
The "Marie Antoinette" No.160 is in my eyes one of, if not the most exciting watch in the world. It was centuries ahead of its time and set the bar for Haute Horlogerie years before haute Horlogerie was even founded and it establishes the incredible skill of Abraham Louis Breguet like no other watch can for its creator.
If you know of a watch that is more historic, fascinating and exciting than the "Marie Antoinette" No.160, let me know in the comments below this article.
Source cover image: Breguet | edited post
About the author
Benno Büchler
In pursuit of more charmingly atypical watches, the teenage interest developed into a real passion. I strive to find the perfect combination of deviant and ravishing for the wrist.
