Queen Of Complications

It was a heist that shocked the horological world. On a Saturday morning in April 1983, guards at the LA Mayer Museum for Islamic Art in Jerusalem discovered half their 192 antique watches missing.

Among them is a pocket watch believed to be one of the most complicated ever made, Breguet’s Marie Antoinette No.1160. Lamenting the loss, the late Nicolas G Hayek decided in 2005 to recreate the artefact, which was displayed in South-East Asia for the first time at the recent opening of the manufacture’s Marina Bay Sands store.

As its name suggests, the 228-year-old pocket watch was commissioned for the French queen, a collector of Breguet timepieces. No expense was spared and gold was used wherever possible. Sadly, Marie Antoinette never received her gift, as it was finished 34 years after her death.

The completed product featured a self-winding perpetual movement comprising 823 parts, along with a minute repeater, perpetual calendar, equation of time and 48-hour power reserve – specs impressive even today. With only old documents as reference, more than 10 watchmakers toiled for over three years to create the No.1160.

Craftsmen had to thoroughly learn and understand techniques of the 16th century. To match the hue of the original yellow gold case, for example, they had to concoct a special copper alloy. Ironically, at around the same time as the replica was completed in late 2007, news arrived that the original mysteriously showed up at the museum. Who could, after all, in good conscience pocket such a monumental watch?

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