Yesterday I reviewed an episode of Grand Designs but mentioned I'd watched another really good programme the same evening - a rare event indeed. The other programme on the BBC, getting it right for once, was Nicholas Parsons, of Sale Of The Century and Just A Minute fame, revealing his love of clocks and watches and telling the story of the watch Breguet made for the tragic Marie Antoinette Queen Of France.
What a story it was too. The watch itself is probably the most intricate masterpiece and the most valuable watch on the planet. Its story does not disappoint. Forty years in the making, with every point of friction cushioned with sapphire, with every complication known to Breguet, his patented tourbillon plus day, date and leap year calendar and what we would call an automatic movement but which Breguet called perpetual.
What would normally be brass parts were gold. The watch is believed to have been commissioned by a member of the Swedish aristocracy who was at least an admirer of the queen and possibly her lover. He stipulated unlimited time and unlimited budget and he got his wish, but not the watch which was finished some time after the queen had been executed in the French revolution.
The watch eventually came into the hands of a British industrialist and collector, before being bequeathed to a museum in Jerusalem. In Jerusalem it was stolen by a brilliant burglar. The heist was the biggest robbery in Israel's history and the police were unable to solve the case.
The Breguet company were dismayed and, after years of searching, using original records and photographs they set about making a replica. As many as a hundred craftsmen worked on the project for several years and just as they finished an antiques dealer in Jerusalem received a call from a lawyer and incredibly found himself face to face with the lost original.
The thief had never sold it and confessed on his deathbed to his wife who contacted a lawyer to broker the return of nearly one hundred stolen watches of great significance, none more so than the Marie Antionette.
Nicholas Parson tells the story with charm, intelligence and insight. Marvellous to see him still going I won't reveal his age but he's a most impressive gentleman. You can find the programme at the BBC website for a short while.
Gifts for watch enthusiasts.
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