Breguet Ref. 1160 Marie Antoinette Replica Pocket Watch To Be In LA & NYC

Want to check out the Breguet Ref. 1160 pocket watch that you've been hearing so much about? Didn't get a chance to see it while it was at the Breguet exhibit at the Lourve in Paris? Well if you are in Los Angeles or New York City at the right times in October, you'll have your chance to see this amazing replica. No, you won't get to see the original. That is going to be unavailable for the masses to enjoy out side of the vault display in Israel for a while I suspect.

If you are unfamiliar with the story, it is pretty simple and you can Google it for more details, though understand that no one really knows the whole story, so take what you read about the "later history" of the watch with a grain of salt. Breguet was commissioned almost 200 years ago to make the most complex watch in the world for Marie Antoinette. She died before it was completed, but Breguet eventually finished the Marie Antoinette Pocket watch after years of efforts. After passing ownership several times over the years, the watch eventually ended up as part of a pocket watch and clock exhibit at a museum in Jerusalem, Israel. There it was mysteriously stolen in the early 1980s, and just as mysteriously discovered again about 2 years ago. Which leads me back to the replica. Swatch Group (which owns Breguet) owner Nicolas Hayek wanted to make a replica of the Marie Antoinette watch that was faithful to the original. Only problem is that he didn't have the original to model it after. All that existed were some diagrams and photos. Ironically, soon after the replica was finished, the original turned up. I am sure the people who spent the few years painstakingly trying to reproduce the pocket watch were frustrated to say that least - that if they had only waited a bit longer they would have had the original to check out. Oh well!

Breguet is planning a quick tour of the Breguet Ref. 1160 to be shown at the Breguet Boutiques in LA and NYC this month (see details below). The one-off piece is NOT for sale, but you'll conveniently be at a Breguet store if you are feeling up to a new timepiece acquisition.

Beverly Hills
October 14 (10-2 pm)
October 15 & 16 (10-6 pm)
The Breguet Boutique
280 North Rodeo Drive
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
Telephone: (310) 860-9911

New York City
October 19 (2-6 pm)
October 20 & 21 (10-6 pm)
The Breguet Boutique
779 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10065
Telephone: (212) 288-4014

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.