Quiz question: which country produced the world's great watchmaker? No, not Switzerland, France - a gentleman called Abraham-Louis Brequet. His diverse client list spanned high society from Marie Antoinette to Napoleon, and Breguet was made a member of the French Academy of Sciences and a chevalier in the Légion d'honneur - the French equivalent of a knight. He's buried in the same cemetery as Edith Piaf and Marcel Marceau.
Breguet did more to advance the science of watchmaking than anyone else. That science continues today, and the greatest living watchmaker is now an Englishman called Roger W Smith. But during Breguet's day in the the 18th and 19th centuries, watchmaking was life and death, helping competing empires navigate the seas and coordinate armies.
Beyond improving vital clockmaking functions, Breguet recognised the need to mix art with science. He made lots of inventions that increased efficiency, like innovative springs and anti-shock mechanisms, but he also crafted fancy carriage clocks for the world's elite and even made the first wristwatch, commissioned in 1810 for the Queen of Naples.
This story is from the May 2022 edition of Top Gear.
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This story is from the May 2022 edition of Top Gear.
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