Breguet

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This dazzling exploration of the work of renowned horologist Breguet is also a fascinating look at what makes watches and other timepieces tick. Abraham-Louis Breguet invented many of the standard components of today’s most prestigious watches, earning the title "The Father of Modern Horology." The self-winding watch, the gong spring, the first shock-protection device, and the enameled dial—all were created by Breguet. In addition, he invented the first travel clock, sold to Napoleon Bonaparte in 1798, and the first wristwatch, delivered to Caroline Murat, queen of Naples in 1812. Perhaps Breguet’s most famous timepiece is the "Marie-Antoinette" pocket watch, which took forty years to make and was the most complex watch of its time. This fascinating, elegantly designed volume features more than seventy watches and clocks that were constructed by the Breguet company, and it contains many insights into the inner workings that made these objects so innovative and valuable. Engaging essays explore Breguet’s personal history, the technologies he perfected, and his vast international reputation—which survives to this day. This beautiful overview of Breguet’s achievements will speak to anyone who treasures their watch—whether as an indispensable daily accessory, or as a prized piece of jewelry.

Founded in 1775 by Abraham-Louis Breguet, the firm of Breguet has occupied a unique position in the field of prestige watchmaking. Considered the greatest watchmaker of all time, Abraham-Louis Breguet was the father of modern watchmaking, an innovator in both the technical and aesthetic fields. A work of reference containing a wealth of previously unpublished information, this is also a sumptuous art book, distinguished by the elegance of its design and the excellence of its illustrations. In addition, the author skillfully combines the histories of art, technical developments, politics and economics to create an appealing and accessible narrative. Over 500 illustrations present a visual history of the principal creations produced by the Breguet workshops over the last two hundred and twenty years. Many of the pieces illustrated are held in private collections and are photographed here for the first time.

"Marie Antoinette's Watch is a wonderful book."- William Gibson, author of Neuromancer.Across continents and into and out of the hands of royalty, revolutionaries, smugglers, thieves, and the world's greatest tech engineers, was Marie Antoinette's watch, the "160," worth an estimated $40 million in today's dollars. Perhaps the most sought after personal technology device of the last 200 years, the timepiece, designed by the legendary Abraham-Louis Breguet, is the launching point for a thrilling and fluidly woven set of narratives that are, in part, forbidden love story, historical document, and police procedural. Marie Antoinette's Watch also deftly lays out the history of horology and the 18th Century engineering feats attained in Paris's answer to Silicon Valley, the �le de la Cit�, that made the watch the most intricate and prized personal device of its time - something that's come full circle today. In the hands of Techcrunch's East Coast Editor, John Biggs, Marie Antoinette's Watch is by turns edifying and lurid, historical and utterly modern. Culminating in a heist in a Tel Aviv antiquities museum in the 1980s, Biggs tells the story of how one object can transform countries, cultures, high technology, and time itself.