‘World’s most famous watch’ made for Marie Antoinette to go on display in London

A watch made for Marie Antoinette and described as “the world’s most famed watch” is to go on display at London’s Science Museum, as part of the Versailles: Science And Splendour exhibition, which opens on 12 December.

In 1783, Abraham-Louis Breguet was commissioned with an unlimited budget to craft the timepiece for the French queen. It was only completed in 1827 due to the French Revolution. Marie Antoinette, the last queen of France, did not live long enough to see the finished product. She was imprisoned in the Temple Prison by revolutionaries, before being beheaded in 1793 at the Place de la Revolution. 

The watch is made up of 823 parts, and was crafted from materials including rubies, sapphires, platinum and gold, with a clear crystal dial which reveals the intricate mechanisms inside.

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

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

Director and chief executive of the Science Museum Group Sir Ian Blatchford said: “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.”

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

Versailles: Science And Splendour will run from 12 December until 21 April 2025.

Additional sources • PA - The Museum for Islamic Art