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Marie Antoinette's Watch: Adultery, Larceny, & Perpetual Motion
Across continents and into and out of the hands of royalty, revolutionaries, smugglers, thieves, and the world’s greatest tech engineers, was Marie Antoinette’s watch, the “160,” worth an estimated $40 million in today’s dollars. Perhaps the most sought after personal technology device of the last 200 years, the timepiece, designed by the legendary Abraham-Louis Breguet, is the launching point for a thrilling and fluidly woven set of narratives that are, in part, forbidden love story, historical document, and police procedural. Marie Antoinette’s Watch also deftly lays out the history of horology and the 18th Century engineering feats attained in Paris’s answer to Silicon Valley, the Île de la Cité, that made the watch the most intricate and prized personal device of its time – something that’s come full circle today. In the hands of Techcrunch’s East Coast Editor, John Biggs, Marie Antoinette’s Watch is by turns edifying and lurid, historical and utterly modern. Culminating in a heist in a Tel Aviv antiquities museum in the 1980s, Biggs tells the story of how one object can transform countries, cultures, high technology, and time itself.
336 pages, Paperback
First published April 15, 2015
53 people are currently reading
503 people want to read
About the author
John Biggs
55 books53 followersI live in Brooklyn, NY and write about technology, security, gadgets, gear, wristwatches, and the Internet. After spending four years as an IT programmer, I switched gears and became a full-time journalist. My work has appeared in the New York Times, Laptop, PC Upgrade, Surge, Gizmodo, Men’s Health, InSync, Linux Journal, Popular Science, Sync, The Stir and I’ve written Black Hat: Misfits, Criminals, and Scammers in the Internet Age and Bloggers Boot Camp. I also speak and consult. I have forthcoming books about Marie Antoinette’s watch as well as a YA fiction book, Mytro.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
November 6, 2015
There was SO much interesting information in here. Kept my interest throughout - even when the author went into the history of horology pretty deep. That's quite an accomplishment right there. I'm slightly embarrassed to admit that I've never heard of the love affair of Antoinette either. It was quite tragic in a star crossed sort of way.
April 5, 2019
This is a great book. I enjoyed it enormously.
In it, John Biggs skillfully weaves 4 main stories, all astonishing, and a few minor subplots surrounding the the "Breguet 160" watch commissioned for Marie Antoinette by her secret lover and built by Abraham-Louis Breguet (and his son) over four decades, finally being completed long after Antoinette and her paramour had separately been put to death, decades apart, by revolutionary mobs in France and Sweden. Although the watch was commissioned by one doomed aristocrat as a gift to another doomed aristocrat during revolutionary times far beyond their comprehension, it became something much much more than that: the supreme embodiment of the watchmaker's art, and perhaps the single most complex physical object ever conceived and designed (and for the most part built) by a single human intellect. It's really a breathtaking story, and Biggs has done us all a great service by researching it so deeply and telling it so well.
The four main threads:
1: Marie Antoinette & her infatuated lover the Swedish nobleman Hans Axel von Fersen. Biggs paints a very compelling picture of the lives of European aristocrats on the eve of the French Revolution. We see Marie Antoinette as a person with very few degrees of freedom, a bargaining chip basically sold into marriage by her mother as the only available way to preserve the safety of Austria. Biggs makes Antoinette, if not a particularly attractive person, at least a very human one. And he shows how, in the currency of the aristocratic class at that time, demand for showy gifts that would confer and convey status created a market for things like intricate watches. This market in turn generated enough wealth to sustain craftsmen-scientists like Breguet.
2. The second thread is the history of Abraham-Louis Breguet, his personal journey from the poor son of a widowed mother in Geneva, Switzerland, sweeping floors in a watchmaker's shop, to the undisputed master-crafstman of Paris, renowned the world over for his ingenious and supremely well-built timepieces. Along the way he learned how to cultivate kings, queens, dukes & duchesses as patrons and clients while maintaining enough of social a distance from them that when the Revolution came, he himself did not end up with his head under the guillotine — which was a very real possibility, and nearly happened.
3. The third thread is a history of the art of watchmaking and the watchmaking industry from ancient times through the 1700's up to the present day, including the enormous disruption caused by quartz-driven mechanisms that made obsolete the analog machinery of the legendary "Swiss watch", and how the Swiss watchmaking industry improbably recovered from this disruption. This part of the story contains some very interesting observations on how mechanical devices changed the human perception of time, and how that in turn had profound impacts on how society operated. This ties into the first thread, and why watches became such prized possessions of the ruling classes.
4. The 4th thread of Biggs's book contains the amazing tale of the journey of the "160" watch from Revolutionary France to its current home in a small museum of Islamic Art in Jerusalem, including the story of how the watch was stolen in a burglary nearly 40 years ago only to mysteriously resurface a few years ago. For this part of the story Biggs travelled to Israel to meet with the people who solved the mystery of who stole the watch, and how, and how and why it was returned. It is a remarkable, and fun, story. For this part of the book alone Marie Antoinette's Watch deserves a much wider audience than it has found. There's some real serious sleuthing here.
I do wish the book had had one more pass from a proof-reader, and maybe a stronger hand from a copy-editor. There are a few unfortunate errors that are clearly typos (an action of Antoinette is off by a decade, for example), and there are a few cliches that a skilled editor could have excised easily. Also, the pages bearing the illustrations look thrown together, and the captions are not very helpful. But these are quibbles.
One wishes the book could have been produced by a big-name publisher with a budget; a glossy, polished version of this book would sit comfortably next to books like "Longitude", an international bestseller. But even though it is in some places a tiny bit unpolished, don't let that deter you. It is still a great read and very worth the reading. Highly recommended.
In it, John Biggs skillfully weaves 4 main stories, all astonishing, and a few minor subplots surrounding the the "Breguet 160" watch commissioned for Marie Antoinette by her secret lover and built by Abraham-Louis Breguet (and his son) over four decades, finally being completed long after Antoinette and her paramour had separately been put to death, decades apart, by revolutionary mobs in France and Sweden. Although the watch was commissioned by one doomed aristocrat as a gift to another doomed aristocrat during revolutionary times far beyond their comprehension, it became something much much more than that: the supreme embodiment of the watchmaker's art, and perhaps the single most complex physical object ever conceived and designed (and for the most part built) by a single human intellect. It's really a breathtaking story, and Biggs has done us all a great service by researching it so deeply and telling it so well.
The four main threads:
1: Marie Antoinette & her infatuated lover the Swedish nobleman Hans Axel von Fersen. Biggs paints a very compelling picture of the lives of European aristocrats on the eve of the French Revolution. We see Marie Antoinette as a person with very few degrees of freedom, a bargaining chip basically sold into marriage by her mother as the only available way to preserve the safety of Austria. Biggs makes Antoinette, if not a particularly attractive person, at least a very human one. And he shows how, in the currency of the aristocratic class at that time, demand for showy gifts that would confer and convey status created a market for things like intricate watches. This market in turn generated enough wealth to sustain craftsmen-scientists like Breguet.
2. The second thread is the history of Abraham-Louis Breguet, his personal journey from the poor son of a widowed mother in Geneva, Switzerland, sweeping floors in a watchmaker's shop, to the undisputed master-crafstman of Paris, renowned the world over for his ingenious and supremely well-built timepieces. Along the way he learned how to cultivate kings, queens, dukes & duchesses as patrons and clients while maintaining enough of social a distance from them that when the Revolution came, he himself did not end up with his head under the guillotine — which was a very real possibility, and nearly happened.
3. The third thread is a history of the art of watchmaking and the watchmaking industry from ancient times through the 1700's up to the present day, including the enormous disruption caused by quartz-driven mechanisms that made obsolete the analog machinery of the legendary "Swiss watch", and how the Swiss watchmaking industry improbably recovered from this disruption. This part of the story contains some very interesting observations on how mechanical devices changed the human perception of time, and how that in turn had profound impacts on how society operated. This ties into the first thread, and why watches became such prized possessions of the ruling classes.
4. The 4th thread of Biggs's book contains the amazing tale of the journey of the "160" watch from Revolutionary France to its current home in a small museum of Islamic Art in Jerusalem, including the story of how the watch was stolen in a burglary nearly 40 years ago only to mysteriously resurface a few years ago. For this part of the story Biggs travelled to Israel to meet with the people who solved the mystery of who stole the watch, and how, and how and why it was returned. It is a remarkable, and fun, story. For this part of the book alone Marie Antoinette's Watch deserves a much wider audience than it has found. There's some real serious sleuthing here.
I do wish the book had had one more pass from a proof-reader, and maybe a stronger hand from a copy-editor. There are a few unfortunate errors that are clearly typos (an action of Antoinette is off by a decade, for example), and there are a few cliches that a skilled editor could have excised easily. Also, the pages bearing the illustrations look thrown together, and the captions are not very helpful. But these are quibbles.
One wishes the book could have been produced by a big-name publisher with a budget; a glossy, polished version of this book would sit comfortably next to books like "Longitude", an international bestseller. But even though it is in some places a tiny bit unpolished, don't let that deter you. It is still a great read and very worth the reading. Highly recommended.
January 1, 2018
Heist, history, STEM development, criminal analysis, and introduction to horology in one book. Fun stuff.
Writing needs a hard edit (grammar mistakes, bleh) but no big.
Writing needs a hard edit (grammar mistakes, bleh) but no big.
May 9, 2018
True history is a better read than fiction!
While I originally picked this up expecting a historical fiction, this historical recount of the twists and turns of the “Marie Antoinette,” it’s creator and the history of watch making (horology) was a far more fascinating read!
While I originally picked this up expecting a historical fiction, this historical recount of the twists and turns of the “Marie Antoinette,” it’s creator and the history of watch making (horology) was a far more fascinating read!
July 18, 2015
Thoroughly enjoyable read about horology and specifically about this watch, the Breguet "160". Didn't have to know a lot about watches to get into it, either. I didn't really know anything about Breguet other than it was a luxury watchmaker. The author writes a,compelling narrative that often feels more like a novel than history. Now the only problem is that I want my own Breguet!
November 5, 2015
A nice book depicting the history of horology and timekeeping. Nice approach to tell the story of the world and (French revolution, explorations) through the story of a subject - a watch. Reminds of Ivo Andric's "The bridge over Drina".
July 9, 2018
This book offers a concise history of watch-making as it relates to the French Revolution and a high-profile burglary in Jerusalem during the 1980's. It focuses primarily on a single watchmaker who lived through the French Revolution: Abraham-Louis Breguet, whom the author argues was the finest watchmaker in his day, if not of all-time. Biggs offers for the reader a brief history of clock-making and a detailed history of European watchmaking as they related to Breguet's genius. He goes into detail about complications (i.e. fancy things clockwork watches can do without the aid of electricity) and describes many famous clocks and watches that were created in the eighteenth century at (as Biggs would argue) the height of watchmaking.
As the title indicates, he follows closely the tale of a watch known as the "Marie Antoinette." He uses the process of the watch's creation as an anchor to tell the story of the French Revolution, simultaneously discussing forward-leaps in horology that led themselves to maritime achievement, train regulation, and military precision. It follows the watch after it's creation, as well, using the watch's travels and trials as a means to further explore the history of watchmaking through to modern uses.
The writing was decently organized - timeline-based, for the most part, book-ended by the perpetration and conclusion of a burglary - and was well-researched. The subject matter was decently interesting for me. I particularly liked all of the historical tie-ins, and often found myself googling images of the famous clocks and watches discussed. However, this book was not enthralling. I put it down and came back to it many times; it did not captivate me, interesting though I found it.
I would recommend this book for early high-school readers and later. No graphic sex, language, or violence. Three stars.
As the title indicates, he follows closely the tale of a watch known as the "Marie Antoinette." He uses the process of the watch's creation as an anchor to tell the story of the French Revolution, simultaneously discussing forward-leaps in horology that led themselves to maritime achievement, train regulation, and military precision. It follows the watch after it's creation, as well, using the watch's travels and trials as a means to further explore the history of watchmaking through to modern uses.
The writing was decently organized - timeline-based, for the most part, book-ended by the perpetration and conclusion of a burglary - and was well-researched. The subject matter was decently interesting for me. I particularly liked all of the historical tie-ins, and often found myself googling images of the famous clocks and watches discussed. However, this book was not enthralling. I put it down and came back to it many times; it did not captivate me, interesting though I found it.
I would recommend this book for early high-school readers and later. No graphic sex, language, or violence. Three stars.
May 18, 2021
Very entertaining story of a very particular watch (the Queen, alias the Marie Antoinette, alias the 160) and the related stories of the horologist who revolutionized timekeeping, the heist and recovery of the watch in the late 20th century, and the romance between the French Queen and a Swedish Count.
While occasionally getting bogged down in minutia, the book covers a lot of territory and provides a good deal of interesting detail. The heist that starts the book gets a little short shrift, especially in comparison with watchmaker Breguet. The ending feels a bit rushed, but it may be that there were simply not enough details about the thief to tell.
While occasionally getting bogged down in minutia, the book covers a lot of territory and provides a good deal of interesting detail. The heist that starts the book gets a little short shrift, especially in comparison with watchmaker Breguet. The ending feels a bit rushed, but it may be that there were simply not enough details about the thief to tell.
November 12, 2019
I won a paperback copy of this book during a Goodreads giveaway. I am under no obligation to leave a review or rating and do so voluntarily. So that others may also enjoy this book, I am paying it forward by donating it to my local library.
March 22, 2018
Nice historical review of 18th century France and a modern day heist. I think you have to be into watches and watch history to get through it though.
November 18, 2023
Fascinating book. A little bit technical for me. I was expecting a page turning story and it was more like a history. I learned more than I’ll ever need to know about horology.
October 26, 2025
Bregeut was incredible.
April 18, 2016
Much better than the average book I scored for free.
4 stars only because I wish some chapters were edited further to reduce redundancy. Parts of the book feel as if it was one or two revisions away from the final polished product. While written well, the structure of multiple story lines in the book did not convalescent as smoothly as the quality of writing read melodious across the page. Regardless, interesting tale of the French Revolution; the science, art, and history of matchmaking; and modern-day grand larceny.
4 stars only because I wish some chapters were edited further to reduce redundancy. Parts of the book feel as if it was one or two revisions away from the final polished product. While written well, the structure of multiple story lines in the book did not convalescent as smoothly as the quality of writing read melodious across the page. Regardless, interesting tale of the French Revolution; the science, art, and history of matchmaking; and modern-day grand larceny.
October 9, 2015
If you love watches this book is a must read. The story of Breguet and his influence on watch making in fascinating. If you know nothing about watches, this is still a great book. The story of how 'The Queen' came to be is nothing short of amazing and the intrigue behind the theft and how it went missing for over 20 years is all around great story telling.
November 8, 2015
I got this not realizing it was non-fiction book. I rarely read non-friction, but this was so expertly told it read like a novel of France, watches and Marie Antoinette.
There's a lot of details about watchmaking in there and by the end you will either be sick of it, or immediately want to go put one on your wrist.
There's a lot of details about watchmaking in there and by the end you will either be sick of it, or immediately want to go put one on your wrist.
January 24, 2016
This is an unusual book which encompasses the history of watchmaking, the French revolution (and Marie Antoinette´s love life), and a modern day thief. Although occasionally the watchmaking detail is a bit...detailed, it was still fascinating and makes you want to buy a $40,000 watch! The flow back and forth between the time periods was occasionally jarring, but mostly just added to the interest.
January 24, 2016
A fascinating story about one very special watch, the life of one great watchmaker, and an incredible burglary. Also some neat info about the watch industry. It’s marred only by the terrible proofreading I see in a lot of books these days.
January 27, 2016
Very interesting story of this one watch & watchmaking in general. At times I got confused by how the author jumped around but I liked it. I think I would have liked it more if more time was spent on the watch, the Queen & her lover instead of how it was made. IMHO.
July 21, 2015
Fantastic book. A combination between a mystery novel, a historical romance, an excellent nonfiction look at the history of horology, and very well written.
August 8, 2015
Immensely fascinating account - especially of the devices that can regulate time and the effort taken on them..
September 10, 2016
watch out
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews