The Marie-Antoinette N°1160.

Marie-Antoinette was the last Queen of France. During her life she acquired a number of Breguet pocket watches including one with an early automatic-winding mechanism. 

The story continues that in 1783, a mysterious admirer ordered from Breguet, as a gift for the Queen, a watch that was to be one of the most complex ever made, at this period. Wherever possible gold would replace other metals. No financial ceilings were imposed.

The Breguet Marie Antoinette 1160. (Replica of the original pocket watch). Image courtesy of Breguet SA

The Breguet Marie Antoinette 1160. (Replica of the original pocket watch). Image courtesy of Breguet SA

The Queen never received the watch which became known as the “Marie-Antoinette”. It was finished in 1827, 34 years after her death, 4 years after Breguet’s, 44 years after he’d accepted the order.

Stolen in 1983 from a museum in Jerusalem and finally recovered in December 2007.

The Breguet Marie Antoinette 1160. (Replica of the original pocket watch). Image courtesy of Breguet SA

The Breguet Marie Antoinette 1160. (Replica of the original pocket watch). Image courtesy of Breguet SA

In 2004 prior to the resurfacing of the original, Nicolas G. Hayek set Breguet’s watchmakers to build an exact replica of the original.

The original technical drawings in the Breguet Museum archives and the material available in the Musée des Arts et Métiers, provided the only available informa­tion and guidance regarding the watch’s functions and styling detail. 

The new Marie-Antoinette perpétuelle, or self-winding, watch incorporates a minute repeater, a perpetual calendar, an equation-of-time display, a jumping hours and a minute hand, with a large independent seconds hand. A subdial for the constant seconds is at six o’clock. A 48-hour power-reserve indicator and a bimetallic thermometer are placed side by side. The list goes on...

In April 2008, after four years of reconstruction, the new Marie-Antoinette timepiece was placed in its impressive presentation case, carved from the wood of the Versailles oak tree under which the Queen once used to sit.

The Breguet Marie Antoinette 1160. (Replica of the original pocket watch). Image courtesy of Breguet SA

The Breguet Marie Antoinette 1160. (Replica of the original pocket watch). Image courtesy of Breguet SA

(Details provided by Breguet SA)

To see deconstructions of modern and antique Breguet please click here.