New York City - It was the watch meant for a Queen. It is the watch that became the Queen of all timepieces. The story of the watch, now known as the Marie-Antoinette, begins in 1783 when a Swedish officer of the Queen's guard and one of her most fervent admirers, commissioned A. L Breguet to make a unique gift for Marie-Antoinette. The watch was to have every complication known at the time.

It took 44 years for the watch to come to life. Breguet had created the watch of all watches with a minute-repeater, a full perpetual calendar, an equation of time, a power reserve indicator, a bimetallic thermometer, a large independent seconds hand and a small center seconds hand, a lever escapement, a gold balance spring and a parachute anti-shock device.

The Queen met her demise 34 years before the watch was finally completed in 1827 by A.L. Breguet's son.

The watch changed hands a few times through history until it was bequeathed to the L. A. Meyer Museum in Jerusalem by Sir David Lionel Salomons and his daughter. In 1983, the Marie-Antoinette was stolen from the Museum.

Driven by his passion for Breguet, Nicolas Hayek, CEO of Breguet decided in 2005 to commission the Breguet Manufacture located in the famous Vallee de Joux to reproduce the vanished Marie-Antoinette watch, to be called the No 1160. N. G. Hayek, also Chairman of the Swatch Group went a step further by becoming the major patron of the restoration of the Petit Trianon, Marie-Antoinette's favorite hidden place when alive.

The whereabouts of the original watch were unknown until November 2007 when it enigmatically reappears in Tel Aviv in the hands of a watchmaker. Mysterious timing of the destiny of the Marie-Antoinette as the No 1160 was about to be unveiled.

In April 2009, Breguet proudly presented its Marie-Antoinette in a wood box made of oak from the gardens of the Petit Trianon. This incredible watch usually displayed in the Breguet museum at Place Vendome in Paris will be showcased for two limited exclusive engagements in the U.S. at the Beverly Hills and New York Breguet Boutiques. This is an unprecedented opportunity for the American
public to have a glimpse into watch making and history in the making.
The journey of the Marie-Antoinette keeps on writing itself.

The watch will be on view at The Breguet Boutique, 779 Madison Avenue, in New York City on October 19, from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., and on October 20 and October 21, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

For more information contact 201-271-4644, amy.chia@swatchgroup.com.