Le Petit Trianon, museum in memory of Marie-Antoinette | © Breguet
© Breguet

Culture: the famous queens and empresses of Breguet

It has been centuries since Breguet timepieces started to win over the hearts of powerful and famous women. Today we discover a few, who have left their imprint in the pages of history.

Marie-Antoinette

Probably the first keen fan of Breguet is Queen Marie-Antoinette. She wore some of the watchmaker’s most beautiful pieces, such as the self-winding models, right from the beginning of her reign, and showcased their excellence to the courts of Europe. It is said that Breguet created the famous no.160 watch for her, the so-called “Marie-Antoinette”; it remained the most complicated watch in the history of watchmaking for a long time. In 2008, Breguet completed an identical reproduction of the once lost original design, which was found again in 2007.

Grande Complication No. 1160 | © Breguet
Grande Complication No. 1160 | © Breguet

In another tribute to its distinguished ambassador, in 2008 as well, Breguet restored the Petit Trianon in Versailles that was so loved by the ruler.

Portrait of Queen Marie-Antoinette in Petit Trianon | © Christian MILET

Napoléonic Era

Reigns may come and go, but the infatuation with Breguet timepieces endures. They were acquired by several women from Napoléon Bonaparte’s entourage. His first wife, the Empress Joséphine, bought the no.611 tact watch, which she later gave, inlaid with the letter “H” in diamonds, to her daughter Hortense, the Queen of Holland.

Breguet of Empress Marie-Louise No. 2785 | © Breguet

His second wife, Marie-Louise of Austria, bought herself a little medallion watch. Upright and loyal, the sovereign exercised a particularly enlightened reign over Parma, with a strong interest in the status of women. Breguet timepieces also caught the attention of the Emperor’s sisters, including Elisa Bonaparte, Grand Duchess of Tuscany.

Armed with a keen intelligence and a passion for the best of the best, his youngest sister, Caroline Murat, Queen of Naples, commissioned a watch from Abraham-Louis Breguet that was highly original because it came on a bracelet. It was the first watch designed from the outset to be worn on the wrist.

United Kingdom and Russian Empire

In 1817, Breguet delivered a quarter-repeating watch, the no. 3023, to the Duchess of Wellington. The model is exhibited at the Louvre Museum and its elegant simplicity reflects the characteristic neoclassical style.

In the years from 1820 to 1830, several sovereigns bought Breguet timepieces, take for example Alexandra Feodorovna, Empress of Russia, or Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies, Queen of Spain. In 1831, the latter purchased a travel clock, characteristic of Breguet’s neo-classical creations. Victoria, Queen of England and Empress of India, whose reign lasted more than 60 years, was among some of the watchmaker’s most illustrious clients.

Queen Victoria's watch description in Breguet archival records
Queen Victoria’s watch description in archival records | © Breguet

In the twentieth century, Breguet’s designs were still in demand among countless famous women. One of them was Anna Gould, Duchess of Talleyrand, founder of rescue centres for the wounded in the First World War and a figure of prominence throughout Paris, who bought a silver neo-Gothic-style clock.

Today, a number of timepieces acquired by these rulers and famous personalities are preserved in some of the world’s most acclaimed museums, including the Louvre Museum, the British Museum, several Swiss museums, and, of course, the Breguet Museum in Paris.