Breguet's Marie Antoinette Watch Recovered

[John Hubby]

Forty very rare and important watches and clocks stolen from the L. A. Mayer Museum in Jerusalem in 1983 have been recovered. This included Breguet's "Marie Antoinette Watch", the only one of its type made by Breguet. The story is found here:

Click Here (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/922554.html)

Thanks to James Sadilek for bringing this to our attention.

John Hubby
>>>>

[Tom McIntyre]

John, that link does not work for me, but I found the story at this one. (http://amateureconblog.blogspot.com/2007/11/breguet-marie-antoinette-watch-found.html)

[John Hubby]

Tom, both of them work for me. Your link has some interesting additional links for info on Breguet. Don't know why you can't open the link I posted?

John Hubby
>>>>

[Tom McIntyre]

It tries to install a piece of software on my machine and ignores my request to abort the installation. You may already have the software installed, or it may not try to infect your Mac.

[LloydB]

Forty very rare and important watches and clocks stolen from the L. A. Mayer Museum in Jerusalem in 1983 have been recovered. This included Breguet's "Marie Antoinette Watch", the only one of its type made by Breguet. The story is found here:

Click Here (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/922554.html)

Thanks to James Sadilek for bringing this to our attention.

John Hubby
>>>>

This famous timepiece was a central focus of
Allen Kurzweil's 2001 novel "The Grand Complication".

[Ralph B]

What pleases me about the recovery of this masterpiece, ( apart from it being returned to its rightful owners), is that we will now get some good photographs of it.

Those that I have all date from prior to its theft, and compared with modern photographic reproduction, leave a lot to be desired.

I recall when it first went into the museum in Israel an anonymous collector offered to buy the Israeli government an F4 Phantom fighter if he was allowed to have it until the day he died.

Translate that into 2007 values and it was quite an offer!

Ralph.

[Jeff Hess]

Awesome! As a fan of the book "The Grand Complication" by Allen Kurzweil, this is really great news.

I red the book 5 or 6 years ago and now will re-read it. While not the greatest book in the world, it is one that any horologist (who also has an interest in libraries or books in general0 should read. The book is all about libraries and the theft of Maries watch!

I am sure Mr. Kurzeil is going to love this as well as surly his book sales will once again surge.
Try it!

Jeff Hess

[Luca]

These watches by Breguet also described and pictured in the May 1985 issue of Smithsonian Magazine. Mention of the theft is made in the article and some of the watches stolen were pictured (I guess shot before the crime). It's very exciting that they have been recovered.

Luca

[Brian O]

The recovered items from the L. A. Mayer Museum theft went on display at the museum this week. AP coverage of the event and some additional information about the thief and the recovery are in the article here (http://apnews.myway.com//article/20090720/D99IC56O0.html).