The Louvre museum in Paris is honoring the life and legacy of Abraham-Louis Breguet, a watchmaker whose contributions to horology include the invention of the tourbillon, which remains a complex, desirable mechanism among collectors. Breguet founded his eponymous watch company on the Quai de l’Horloge, Paris in 1775, after receiving financing from his new bride’s dowry. His first automatic watches were sold to Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette, and several high-ranking officials in the court of Versailles.
Breguet and the Louvre, exhibiting from
June 25 through September 7, showcases exceptional watches, clocks, and measuring instruments from the 18
th century, as well as portraits, archival documents, and patents spanning Breguet’s career. Included in the retrospective is Breguet No. 5, one of the watchmaker’s first quarter-repeating, self-winding watches, which was sold to Count Journiac Saint-Méard in 1794 (shown). (
www.louvre.fr)
