(Photo By Mike Disher)
Abraham Louis Breguet was a brilliant 19th-century clock/watchmaker and a horologist who established his successful career in Paris. His contributions to horology include Breguet balance spring, Breguet hands, the pare-chute (the anti-shock device for the balance pivots), and the tourbillon.
Breguet also had many eminent clients, including Napoleon Bonaparte, Caroline Napoleon the Queen of Naples, Czar Alexander I of Russia, King Louis XVI of France, and Queen Marie Antoinette.
Marie Antoinette already had Breguet's perpétuelles at the time of Breguet No. 160's commission, and was deeply captivated by it. In 1783, a man, who was possibly Marie Antoinette's lover, commissioned Breguet to make the most complicated watch ever created for the queen without a limit to its cost. The queen never knew about the watch or saw it completed, for she was later guillotined during the French Revolution.
Although Breguet had ties with the French royalty, he survived the French Revolution by temporarily fleeing to Switzerland, and after the revolution he continued making watches for clients, including Bonapartes. He also continued making Marie Antoinette's watch until his death in 1823. The watch, a masterpiece, was completed in 1827, four years after Breguet's death and 44 years after the commission.
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