Marie Antoinette watch to go on display for first time in UK

A watch made for Marie Antoinette and described as “the world’s most famed watch” is to go on display for the first time in the UK at London’s Science Museum.

Breguet’s No. 160 Marie Antoinette was intended to be worn by the French queen, but she did not live long enough to enjoy it, and now the watch will form part of the Versailles: Science And Splendour exhibition, which opens on December 12 at the South Kensington attraction.

In 1783, Abraham-Louis Breguet was commissioned with an unlimited budget to craft the timepiece for Antoinette, but it was completed in 1827 due to Brequet’s pursuit of perfection and the French Revolution, meaning neither the queen nor its creator could see the finished product.

The watch is made up of 823 parts, including mechanisms which supported on-demand sounding on the hour, quarter hour and minute, a perpetual calendar corrected for the leap year, a thermometer, and an independent second hand that acts as a stopwatch.

It was crafted from materials including rubies, sapphires, platinum and gold, and has a clear crystal dial which reveals the intricate mechanisms inside.

Sir Ian Blatchford, director and chief executive of the Science Museum Group, said: “This glorious watch will thrill visitors to Versailles: Science And Splendour, and is one of the most remarkable items we have ever secured.

“Even in the smallest details, the watch perfectly encapsulates meticulous engineering and a dedication to knowledge and beauty, ideals which are echoed throughout our exhibition and at Versailles itself.”

Antoinette was the last queen of France, ruling from 1774 to 1792, when she was imprisoned in the Temple Prison by revolutionaries, before being beheaded in 1793 at the Place de la Revolution.

The watch remained within the Breguet company until it was sold to Sir Spencer Brunton in 1887, before eventually finding its way into the collection of Sir David Lionel Salomons in the 1920s and then later displayed in the LA Mayer Museum for Islamic Art in Jerusalem.

It was stolen in 1983 and remained missing for more than two decades, with its arrival in London marking the first time the watch has travelled abroad since its safe return to the LA Mayer Museum for Islamic Art in 2008.

David Rooney, author of About Time: A History Of Civilisation in Twelve Clocks, added: ”The world’s most famed watch, from history’s most celebrated maker, is a true masterpiece. It came from an age of outstanding invention.

“In its myriad complications it represents, in exquisite miniature, the cycles of our very existence. Now, Breguet’s horological tour-de-force will delight all who visit this wonderful exhibition.”

The exhibition will aim to take visitors on a 120-year journey through the evolution of science at Versailles and how monarchs Louis XIV, Louis XV and Louis XVI encouraged scientific pursuit and drew on the technological advances of their times to enhance France’s prestige and extend its influence.

The exhibition will showcase more than 100 objects, many of which have never before been displayed in the UK.

It will be accompanied by a new book, Versailles: Science And Splendour, edited by curator Anna Ferrari, which will delve further into the surprising stories of science at the royal French court.

The exhibition will run until Monday April 21 next year, with tickets costing £12, and children aged 11 and under going free.

Published: 19/11/2024 by Radio NewsHub