By Roger Alexander
211 years after the revolutionary Republicans in France beheaded Marie Antoinette – she of the (in)famous “Let them eat cake” quote – present day French nobility (yes, they’re back) is all set to toast her memory on Tuesday, September 21, 2008.
The occasion is the formal reopening of the Petit Trianon chateau in the
Montres Breguet’s 5 million Swiss francs patronage encompassed the restoration of the Petit Trianon, the Belvédère and the Pavillon Français. In exchange, the Manufacture has got the right to host promotional events on this historic site. That time has now come. And Hayek is using the occasion to present to the world an exact replica of the world’s most famous watch – the Marie Antoinette created by the celebrated French watchmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet (1747-1823) as a monument to the glory of 18th century horology.
Only a man like Hayek, driven by passion for art and a sense of history, could have dared to make a replica of the Breguet watch No. 160, better known as the Marie-Antoinette after the last Queen of France for whom it had been ordered by an admirer, a Swedish officer of the Queen’s Guard named by historians as Count Axel de Fersen, in 1783.
All in all, it is an incredible story in keeping with the mysterious destiny of this prestigious timepiece, which experts concur, is the world’s most valuable watch. Rarely has so much been written about a timepiece as for Breguet’s Marie-Antoinette watch.
The French queen, a Hapsburg actually, was driven by a truly passionate desire for Breguet watches. Keen to possess any auspicious novelty, she had acquired a number of timepieces, including a perpetuel watch embellished with a self-winding device developed by Abraham-Louis Breguet at the Quai de l’Horloge on the Ile de la Cite in
Whilst commissioning the watch ordered from the workshops in the Quai de 1’Horloge, De Fersen wanted a watch incorporating the entire body of horological science of the time – perpetual calendar, repeater, thermometer, chronograph, power reserve and parachute - as a gift to the queen.
The Neuchâtel watchmaker was no stranger to Louis XVI’s court. Fascinated by objects of value, Marie-Antoinette already owned one of Breguet’s perpétuelles, a watch with a self-winding rotor mechanism, invented by Breguet himself. Clearly enamoured, the queen’s suitor contacted the watchmaker in 1783 with an unexpected proposal: to make the most spectacular watch ever seen.
With no limitation of time or expense, Breguet had free rein to create a watch that must leave Marie-Antoinette speechless with admiration. In fact, the order specified that gold should, wherever possible, be used instead of other metals, and that the complications should be both multiple and varied. There were to be no limits to the original price, Breguet was simply told to make the “most spectacular” watch possible. Unconstrained by limitations of cost or time, Breguet had a free hand.
Marie Antoinette knew nothing of this extraordinary gift. Nor did she live to admire it. When she mounted the scaffold in 1793, the watch was still at Breguet’s Parisian workshop. It was not finished until 1827.
It took a full 44 years to complete the watch, proof indeed that it is a work of art. This stunning piece features the greatest watchmaking complications known at that time. One of Breguet’s perpétuelles, the Marie-Antoinette watch includes a minute-repeater, a full perpetual calendar, an equation of time (that is, the difference each day between solar time and mean time indicated by clocks and watches), a power-reserve indicator, a bimetallic thermometer, a large independent seconds hand and a small centre seconds hand, a lever escapement, a gold balance spring and a parachute anti-shock device. This profusion of technological wonders was housed inside a gold case with a rock crystal dial through which the movement could be admired.
However, neither De Fersen nor the queen saw the watch in its final glory. The Marie-Antoinette pocket watch was completed in 1827, 34 years after the queen was guillotined and four years after Breguet’s death. (see pic)
Owing to its origins and complicated engineering, the watch quickly became a legend. Indeed, its roots and story, as fabulous as it is epic, have haunted the watchmaking world and the minds of collectors for more than two centuries
The watch continued was ready only in 1827. But there was no one to buy it. According to Hayek, a certain Count Marquis de la Groye purchased it and brought it back (to Breguet) for repairs but never returned to collect it. Funnily, the company didn’t have his address and it was never returned to him.
Finally, the surviving members of Breguet family sold the business and it went through different hands. It was finally acquired by Chaumet, a big jeweller in
After his death the watch was bequeathed to his daughter who donated many objects of art that her father gave her to the LA Mayer Museum of Islamic Art in
Hayek says he wanted to advertise and pay for the watch, but was advised against it, as the museum would seek its return. Besides, he did not want to deal in stolen property even though it was an important part of Breguet’s history. Therefore, in 2005, he decided to make a new Marie Antoinette that would be a replica to the last detail.
(In the meanwhile, even as the new Marie-Antoinette was being created, the stolen watch reappeared under dramatic circumstances and was offered to Hayek who refused to buy stolen property. The
Three years later he unveiled only the second example of the gold pocket watch (Ref 1160BA/40) at the Baselworld watch fair earlier this year. “When we decided to make this watch ourselves, it was a hell of a challenge,” Hayek told Watch World. After all, none among the watchmakers at Breguet had even seen the original when the team embarked on the task of recreating the watch!
All they had were drawings and technical details archived in museums including Breguet’s own. Comparative examinations of contemporary antique watches, notably the Due de Praslin watch, revealed new factors concerning the styling and watchmaking techniques of the period.
With only a few rare documents, which gave no details of the complications, to guide them, Breguet’s watchmakers spent long months reproducing this exceptional timepiece’s ultra-complicated movement. The research also brought to light skills that have vanished and enabled the watchmakers to produce a timepiece that is in every respect faithful to its predecessor.
Indeed, Breguet’s watchmakers pulled off an extraordinary feat to create an exact replica of the original watch, which is proof of their immense talent. Their research even uncovered a complication that had never before been mentioned in relation to the Marie-Antoinette, namely the jumping hours, yet another of Breguet’s inventions.
The Hayek Marie-Antoinette stands out as an extraordinary work of art, in every way true to the original with its myriad complications including jumping hours, full perpetual calendar, minute-repeater, thermometer and equation of time and reveals a host of complications. According to Hayek, “In appearance it’s the same but now we have much better gold and much better steel. The quality of the materials is better.”
Each function and every decorative feature was minutely analysed. In the coachwork of the watch for example, the yellow gold of the 63mm-diameter case was cast in a special, more coppery alloy in order to match the period hue. The glasses for the dial and the case, made of rock crystal, allow the movement to display its finery and the marvels of its finish.
As a self-winding watch with a minute-repeater striking the hours, quarters and minutes on demand, the Hayek Marie-Antoinette has all the makings of a work of art. A full perpetual calendar displays the dates, the day and the months respectively at 2 o’clock, 6 o’clock and 8 o’clock. The equation of time at 10 o’clock proclaims the daily difference between solar time and the mean time told by watches.
In the centre, the jumping hours - invented by Breguet - and the minutes are joined by a long independent seconds hand, while the small seconds are shown at 6 o’clock. The 48-hour power-reserve indicator 10:30 balances a bimetallic thermometer at 01:30.
The self-winding, ‘perpetuel’ movement comprises 823 outstandingly finished components. The baseplates and bridges, the smallest gear-wheels in the trains for the underdial work, the dates and the repeater are fashioned in pink gold polished with wood. The screws are in polished blued steel; the points of friction, holes and bearings, set with sapphires.
The smallest details demonstrate perfect execution and have been finished by hand. This masterly and unprecedented mechanism is furthermore fitted with a particular type of natural-lift escapement, a helical balance-spring in gold and a bimetallic balance-wheel. The anti-shock device - a double pare-chute, another Breguet invention - gives protection against blows and shocks to the balance staff and to the shafts of the winding weights.
Even as the Hayek Marie-Antoinette was getting ready, Hayek learnt that the queen’s favourite oak tree in the royal
For Hayek, to take wood from the queen’s favourite oak tree in
The box is a composition of 3,500 pieces, sculpted from the
It opens to reveal a second, smaller box, the top of which could be mistaken for a masterpiece in oils. It is in fact a handcrafted marquetry of over a thousand pieces depicting Marie-Antoinette’s hand holding a rose, inspired by a famous portrait of the queen. As for the watch itself, nestled inside, it is as imposing for its size as for its myriad complications and, of course, for all that it represents for eighteenth-century French culture.
In as much as in those days Breguet intended to make this watch into a monument to the glory of 18th century horology, the brand has in 2008 performed a feat of prowess by bringing a legend to life and anchoring it in the 21st century. And Hayek insists it’s a piece of art and not for sale, upping the desirability quotient of the most awaited watch even more.
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The Hayek Pocket Watch Marie-Antoinette (Ref 1160BA/40)
Specifications
Case round in a special alloy of 18-carat gold. Glasses of back and bezel made of rock crystal. Diameter: 64mm. Winding-crown without ratchet key with bolt for hours, quarter and minute repeater.
Dial in rock crystal. Hours and minutes at the centre. Central independent seconds hand, small-seconds at 6 o’clock. Power-reserve indication at 10:30. Equation of time at 10 o’clock. Perpetual calendar with month indication at 8 o’clock, date indication at 2 o’clock and day indication at 6 o’clock. Thermometer at 1:30. Chapter ring with Roman numerals, open-tipped Breguet hands in blued steel.
Movement, mechanical self-winding called perpetuelle, is composed of over 823 spare parts. Main plate, bridges and gear-wheels in rose gold polished with wood. Screws in blued polished steel, Numbered and signed Breguet. Power reserve of 48 hours. Perpetual calendar, equation of time, minutes, quarters and hours repeater, independent seconds hand, jumping hours, thermometer. 26'/2 lines, 63 jewels. Natural-lift escapement, cylindrical gold spiral. 2.5Hz bimetallic balance-wheel. Adjusted in all the positions.
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