0:00:02 > 0:00:03Welcome to Just A Minute!
0:00:03 > 0:00:07CHEERS AND APPLAUSE
0:00:07 > 0:00:09Hello, my name is Nicholas Parsons, and as...
0:00:09 > 0:00:13'My life is more than Just A Minute.
0:00:13 > 0:00:15'Because if you must count them,
0:00:15 > 0:00:20'over 48 million minutes have passed since I was born.
0:00:20 > 0:00:24'And together, those minutes add up to 92 years.
0:00:24 > 0:00:29'92 years of acting, presenting and creating laughter.
0:00:29 > 0:00:31'But I have a secret passion.
0:00:33 > 0:00:36'And I suppose you could say it's about time.'
0:00:38 > 0:00:4112 o'clock. You'll get 12 chimes.
0:00:43 > 0:00:45'Or, more precisely, clocks.'
0:00:46 > 0:00:50CLOCK CHIMES
0:00:52 > 0:00:54'I adore clocks and watches.
0:00:54 > 0:00:58'Every hour, my house echoes to the chimes of antique clocks,
0:00:58 > 0:00:59'big and small.'
0:01:00 > 0:01:03Big Ben, eat your heart out!
0:01:06 > 0:01:111655, and still going strong in perfect condition.
0:01:13 > 0:01:17But there's one watch made by one watchmaker
0:01:17 > 0:01:19that I'm desperate to hold in my hand.
0:01:21 > 0:01:24Many consider it the greatest watch ever made.
0:01:25 > 0:01:30It was conceived for a queen who ran out of time,
0:01:30 > 0:01:33by the greatest watchmaker the world has ever known.
0:01:33 > 0:01:39A watch begun in the 1780s, sold in the 1880s,
0:01:39 > 0:01:41stolen in the 1980s,
0:01:41 > 0:01:46it is the most valuable timepiece in the whole world.
0:01:46 > 0:01:50I wouldn't expect it to go for less than 50 to 100 million.
0:01:50 > 0:01:53It's called the Marie Antoinette,
0:01:53 > 0:01:56and it's a watch that I would travel to the other side of the world
0:01:56 > 0:01:59just to gaze upon its face.
0:02:01 > 0:02:02I may be in my 90s,
0:02:02 > 0:02:07but there's still time for another great adventure.
0:02:32 > 0:02:37The curse is suspension springs are so delicately poised.
0:02:39 > 0:02:42'My passion for clocks began in the 1930s.'
0:02:44 > 0:02:47Right, it's on.
0:02:48 > 0:02:50I'd always been interested in mechanical things,
0:02:50 > 0:02:53and when I was 15, my father was offered
0:02:53 > 0:02:57an unwanted collection of old clock parts and pieces.
0:02:58 > 0:03:02He said, "Well, we've got an attic. Ship them up to the house,
0:03:02 > 0:03:04"and I'll get somebody in who understands about clocks
0:03:04 > 0:03:07"to give my son a little bit of tuition."
0:03:07 > 0:03:13And in that particular crate was this little chap here,
0:03:13 > 0:03:17and I've had the clock ever since. That would be 19...38.
0:03:20 > 0:03:22Those lessons from that kindly clockmaker
0:03:22 > 0:03:27fired up a lifelong love of clocks and clockwork.
0:03:27 > 0:03:28Listen to this.
0:03:29 > 0:03:31CLOCK CHIMES Isn't that charming?
0:03:33 > 0:03:36I can do this... I'll have to set it again.
0:03:38 > 0:03:41CLOCK CHIMES
0:03:43 > 0:03:47It is the craftsmanship that has designed all that
0:03:47 > 0:03:50so that one wheel interconnects with the other
0:03:50 > 0:03:54and moves that one on and then the ratchet was lifted,
0:03:54 > 0:03:57on the hour, boom, and it strikes.
0:03:58 > 0:04:00That, to me, is poetry in motion.
0:04:02 > 0:04:06I always wanted to be an actor. My parents were having none of it.
0:04:06 > 0:04:08Having spotted my talent with clocks,
0:04:08 > 0:04:10they sent me off to be an engineer.
0:04:10 > 0:04:13In 1940, I travelled from the secure home in North London
0:04:13 > 0:04:15to the rough streets of Glasgow
0:04:15 > 0:04:18to begin an engineering apprenticeship on Clydebank.
0:04:18 > 0:04:22It was noisy, it was difficult, it was demanding, it was tough,
0:04:22 > 0:04:26building pumps, as well as serving in the firm's Home Guard.
0:04:26 > 0:04:28I was only 16 years of age.
0:04:28 > 0:04:30In many ways, it was the making of me.
0:04:32 > 0:04:34At the end of my apprenticeship, I returned to London.
0:04:34 > 0:04:38The war was almost over, and I chose to pursue my first love,
0:04:38 > 0:04:39the theatre.
0:04:41 > 0:04:43'I've had a long career in show business.
0:04:43 > 0:04:46'For many years, I was a character actor.'
0:04:46 > 0:04:48..I will not waste your time.
0:04:49 > 0:04:52'14 years of Sale Of The Century,
0:04:52 > 0:04:55'as well as many guest appearances in films and elsewhere.
0:04:56 > 0:05:00'And for nearly 50 years, I've been presenting Just A Minute.'
0:05:00 > 0:05:02I would suggest they chose another...
0:05:02 > 0:05:04- BELL RINGS Paul challenged.- Deviation.- Why?
0:05:04 > 0:05:08'In fact, I'm still hosting that show to this day.
0:05:08 > 0:05:10'But once an engineer, always an engineer.
0:05:10 > 0:05:15'And I've never stopped working with my hands, but in my own time.'
0:05:15 > 0:05:18I can't take it too high cos it doesn't like it.
0:05:18 > 0:05:22Collecting clocks, mending clocks, tending clocks.
0:05:22 > 0:05:26What I do find very frustrating is,
0:05:26 > 0:05:31because I am, mechanically, very mature
0:05:31 > 0:05:33and I've always been able to use my hands -
0:05:33 > 0:05:36make things, create things, repair things -
0:05:36 > 0:05:40and I see that as part of the natural creativity of my nature.
0:05:41 > 0:05:45I know why it's ticking, I know what's going on behind,
0:05:45 > 0:05:49I know the expertise and skills putting all those wheels together.
0:05:51 > 0:05:54The clock's working. It's talking to me, telling me the time.
0:05:55 > 0:05:59And I give it attention. I pull its chain up every night.
0:06:04 > 0:06:07But now, it's time to go in search
0:06:07 > 0:06:10of the greatest clockmaker of all time,
0:06:10 > 0:06:12and his masterpiece -
0:06:12 > 0:06:15the legendary Marie Antoinette watch,
0:06:15 > 0:06:19the most precious piece of clockwork in the whole world.
0:06:21 > 0:06:23So, I'm on the Eurostar,
0:06:23 > 0:06:27time travelling to 18th-century Paris
0:06:27 > 0:06:31where his story and the tale of this legendary timepiece begins.
0:06:34 > 0:06:37This is a real adventure,
0:06:37 > 0:06:39and for someone who grew up with steam trains,
0:06:39 > 0:06:45to be on Eurostar, going to Paris, that romantic city.
0:06:46 > 0:06:49What better, if you're going to Paris,
0:06:49 > 0:06:52the land that created champagne?
0:06:54 > 0:06:58The expedition begins here. Cheers.
0:07:04 > 0:07:07As a member of the Worshipful Company Of Clockmakers,
0:07:07 > 0:07:11I should confess that the great English clockmakers of the past
0:07:11 > 0:07:16would not have approved of my unpatriotic direction of travel.
0:07:16 > 0:07:18Because, for centuries, it was England
0:07:18 > 0:07:21that was to the fore in clockmaking.
0:07:22 > 0:07:28In the 17th century, Thomas Tompion, the father of English clockmaking
0:07:28 > 0:07:31invented a clock that could run for a year on a single wind.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36In the 1760s, English reputations soared
0:07:36 > 0:07:39when a brilliant Yorkshireman called John Harrison
0:07:39 > 0:07:42invented a series of clocks and chronometers
0:07:42 > 0:07:48that solved the life-and-death riddle of navigating via longitude.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51English horology was something to be proud of.
0:07:56 > 0:07:59In fact, English travellers used to bring watches with them
0:07:59 > 0:08:02and sell them on to appreciative Parisians.
0:08:08 > 0:08:13Back in the 1750s, one French publication lamented that
0:08:13 > 0:08:16even a coach driver wouldn't be seen without a watch
0:08:16 > 0:08:20unless it was made in England.
0:08:20 > 0:08:23I was trying to work out the last time I was in Paris.
0:08:23 > 0:08:25And it's amazing.
0:08:25 > 0:08:29It must have been late '40s, or certainly early '50s
0:08:29 > 0:08:32and, my goodness, the changes.
0:08:33 > 0:08:35In the latter half of the 18th century,
0:08:35 > 0:08:39Paris was enthralled by the Enlightenment.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42The rulers saw this new era of invention
0:08:42 > 0:08:45as something that would empower France,
0:08:45 > 0:08:49and the scientists and engineers dared to believe
0:08:49 > 0:08:52that reason may triumph over religion.
0:08:52 > 0:08:55Mastery of clockwork appealed to everyone.
0:08:57 > 0:09:00You've got two things going on in France in the 17th and 18th century.
0:09:00 > 0:09:03One is La Grande Nation, the idea of the great nation
0:09:03 > 0:09:06in which gloire, glory is...
0:09:06 > 0:09:09The French got caught enacting the destiny of God,
0:09:09 > 0:09:11and at the same time you've got what you might call les Lumieres,
0:09:11 > 0:09:15the Enlightenment, which is about science, technology, rationality.
0:09:15 > 0:09:19With something like a watch, you've got the two coming together.
0:09:19 > 0:09:22You've got, you know, the poetic idea of France
0:09:22 > 0:09:25enacting the destiny of God by making new technology,
0:09:25 > 0:09:29but you've got technology which is the product of reason, rationality,
0:09:29 > 0:09:31and I think time is really important,
0:09:31 > 0:09:33cos mathematics is really important.
0:09:33 > 0:09:35This is the law of the universe,
0:09:35 > 0:09:36so by carrying a little fob watch around,
0:09:36 > 0:09:40you're actually carrying around the laws of the universe.
0:09:43 > 0:09:46Clockwork isn't just about clocks.
0:09:47 > 0:09:50It's a descriptive phrase for anything mechanical,
0:09:50 > 0:09:52like this tympanon player here,
0:09:52 > 0:09:56which was designed by two German designers, actually,
0:09:56 > 0:09:59in 1784,
0:09:59 > 0:10:03and was presented as a gift to Marie Antoinette at the court.
0:10:03 > 0:10:06That is clockwork par excellence.
0:10:07 > 0:10:12Clockwork embodied the very principles of the Enlightenment.
0:10:12 > 0:10:15Who needs religion and magic when intricate engineering
0:10:15 > 0:10:19and clever construction can combine to give life to the inanimate?
0:10:19 > 0:10:22INSTRUMENT CREAKS
0:10:22 > 0:10:24DULCIMER PLAYS
0:10:24 > 0:10:27Clockmakers - the mechanical magicians.
0:10:52 > 0:10:56But faced with the brilliance of German automata
0:10:56 > 0:10:58and a century of English engineering dominance,
0:10:58 > 0:11:02the French were ready for a master of the mechanical arts
0:11:02 > 0:11:04they could claim as their own.
0:11:04 > 0:11:06Cometh the hour, cometh the man.
0:11:06 > 0:11:08Or as the French say...
0:11:08 > 0:11:12Cometh l'heure, cometh l'homme.
0:11:12 > 0:11:18In 1775, the 28-year-old Abraham-Louis Breguet
0:11:18 > 0:11:21arrived here in the Quai de l'Horloge,
0:11:21 > 0:11:24which was then the clockmaking heart of Paris.
0:11:24 > 0:11:28And single-handedly, his genius transformed
0:11:28 > 0:11:32this part of the city into the watchmaking capital of the world.
0:11:35 > 0:11:39Breguet is rightly regarded as a genius.
0:11:39 > 0:11:42I think that's the first word that comes to everyone's mind
0:11:42 > 0:11:43when his name is mentioned.
0:11:43 > 0:11:46Breguet was the main person,
0:11:46 > 0:11:49in terms of producing watches and clocks
0:11:49 > 0:11:53and always looking for improvements in his productions.
0:11:53 > 0:11:55So he was very important for France.
0:11:56 > 0:11:59To position him for someone who doesn't know anything about
0:11:59 > 0:12:00the history of watchmaking,
0:12:00 > 0:12:02his life is the watershed.
0:12:02 > 0:12:06Everything that went before was refined by him.
0:12:06 > 0:12:09Before he had reached 45, he had achieved the title
0:12:09 > 0:12:12of probably the greatest watchmaker alive then,
0:12:12 > 0:12:14and he's still regarded as that by many.
0:12:14 > 0:12:17So, who was this incredible engineer,
0:12:17 > 0:12:20this conjurer in clockwork.
0:12:20 > 0:12:24YODELLING
0:12:24 > 0:12:26Like so many of the great watchmakers,
0:12:26 > 0:12:30Abraham-Louis Breguet was in fact Swiss.
0:12:30 > 0:12:34He was born in 1747 in Neuchatel.
0:12:35 > 0:12:37His father died when he was 11,
0:12:37 > 0:12:39and his mother remarried his father's cousin,
0:12:39 > 0:12:41who was a watchmaker.
0:12:41 > 0:12:45He took young Abraham out of school and made him an apprentice.
0:12:46 > 0:12:48In the first year of his apprenticeship,
0:12:48 > 0:12:54young Abraham-Louis Breguet learned all about the basics of horology
0:12:54 > 0:12:57as he was put to work to polish the movements, the gears,
0:12:57 > 0:13:00the balance wheels, the pinions, the escapement.
0:13:00 > 0:13:04He learnt about clocks, chronometers and watches,
0:13:04 > 0:13:07how to make tick follow tock.
0:13:11 > 0:13:14After serving just a year of his apprenticeship in Geneva,
0:13:14 > 0:13:17he had learned all he could and was dispatched to Paris
0:13:17 > 0:13:21to work with more experienced and sophisticated watchmakers.
0:13:21 > 0:13:23He wanted to learn the ingenious ways
0:13:23 > 0:13:27they created smaller pieces which had greater accuracy.
0:13:31 > 0:13:35He was eager to understand what's known in the horological world
0:13:35 > 0:13:38as complications.
0:13:38 > 0:13:40That is any watch feature that is an addition
0:13:40 > 0:13:42to telling the basic hours and minutes,
0:13:42 > 0:13:45such as chimes, moon phases, dates.
0:13:47 > 0:13:51Complications require a deeper clockwork knowledge
0:13:51 > 0:13:54and a deeper understanding of time itself.
0:13:56 > 0:13:59So Breguet came to the College des Quatre-Nations,
0:13:59 > 0:14:03where he learned of solar cycles, lunar calendars
0:14:03 > 0:14:06and choreographing chronology.
0:14:06 > 0:14:10He also fell in love, got married, and with help from his wife,
0:14:10 > 0:14:12finally set up his own premises here
0:14:12 > 0:14:17in the appropriately named Quai de l'Horloge.
0:14:17 > 0:14:21The literal translation of that is clock dock.
0:14:21 > 0:14:23Now, you would've thought the Parisians, the French,
0:14:23 > 0:14:26with their love of the romantic would at least
0:14:26 > 0:14:30have called this place Rue de l'Horloge, street of the clock.
0:14:34 > 0:14:38And the first amazing invention to emerge from this little shop
0:14:38 > 0:14:41was Breguet's perpetuelle watch.
0:14:42 > 0:14:46As it sounds, a perpetuelle was a watch
0:14:46 > 0:14:48that didn't need daily winding.
0:14:48 > 0:14:51Through clever clockwork, it wound itself,
0:14:51 > 0:14:55harnessing the energy in the motion of the wearer.
0:14:55 > 0:14:59It was the must-have gadget of the 1780s.
0:14:59 > 0:15:02But this was just the beginning.
0:15:02 > 0:15:04Breguet's shop became the centre
0:15:04 > 0:15:07of watchmaking innovations and inventions.
0:15:07 > 0:15:09Breguet changed everything.
0:15:09 > 0:15:14In the mechanism, in the techniques and in the aesthetic field.
0:15:16 > 0:15:19He worked on moon phase,
0:15:19 > 0:15:22he invented the gong for the minute repeater,
0:15:22 > 0:15:25so the chiming watches today are much more musical
0:15:25 > 0:15:29than they were prior to Breguet's appearance when gongs were used.
0:15:29 > 0:15:32There is pretty much nothing that he didn't refine.
0:15:33 > 0:15:38And he was quite interesting in going always a step further
0:15:38 > 0:15:43into inventing new things, new functions, new items
0:15:43 > 0:15:48and always keeping this into a very simple and elegant look.
0:15:52 > 0:15:55To this day, Breguet's name still lives on
0:15:55 > 0:15:58in some of the most exclusive shopping streets in the world.
0:15:58 > 0:16:01Rodeo Drive, Bond Street,
0:16:01 > 0:16:04and here in the Place Vendome in Paris.
0:16:06 > 0:16:10The brand is now owned by the Swatch group,
0:16:10 > 0:16:12and the Breguet boutique in Paris is home to
0:16:12 > 0:16:14a wondrous collection of his original work.
0:16:16 > 0:16:21What Stradivarius was to violins, Breguet was to watches.
0:16:21 > 0:16:25He had this unique talent to make time sing,
0:16:25 > 0:16:28and he did that so sweetly.
0:16:32 > 0:16:35At last, I am getting to see for myself
0:16:35 > 0:16:37some of Breguet's exceptional work.
0:16:41 > 0:16:44The first thing that strikes you is the design.
0:16:44 > 0:16:48Such gems of beauty.
0:16:48 > 0:16:52These watches are beautiful but minimal.
0:16:52 > 0:16:58They possess that increasingly rare quality of elegance.
0:16:58 > 0:17:03And they're all catalogued here beautifully.
0:17:03 > 0:17:05Breguet's watches had their own fonts
0:17:05 > 0:17:08long before the idea of a font.
0:17:08 > 0:17:11The dials of his watches were often engraved
0:17:11 > 0:17:15with intricate textured guilloche patterns.
0:17:15 > 0:17:20And the hands are thin with a little poppy-type bud
0:17:20 > 0:17:23tipped to a precision point.
0:17:23 > 0:17:30So, it's a rare privilege to be so close to so much ticking treasure.
0:17:30 > 0:17:33Well, I suppose this is one of the reasons I came to Paris,
0:17:33 > 0:17:37to have the joy and pleasure of actually holding
0:17:37 > 0:17:41a Breguet watch designed by him.
0:17:41 > 0:17:46With a Breguet watch, there was always a simplicity.
0:17:46 > 0:17:50In fact, this is one of his most minimal watches.
0:17:50 > 0:17:55It's from 1798 and is what was called a subscription watch,
0:17:55 > 0:17:57where the buyer would make a down payment
0:17:57 > 0:18:00and pay off the rest in instalments.
0:18:00 > 0:18:02There may be only one hand,
0:18:02 > 0:18:04but it's so designed that you can work it out
0:18:04 > 0:18:07with the halves and the quarters - even the minutes.
0:18:10 > 0:18:15But it has some distinctive Breguet innovations here.
0:18:15 > 0:18:17The poppy handle -
0:18:17 > 0:18:20and that's usual on nearly all watches now.
0:18:20 > 0:18:28The Breguet style is a combination between simplicity and utility.
0:18:28 > 0:18:33It's very subtle
0:18:33 > 0:18:37and it appears subtle
0:18:37 > 0:18:40even if it's very complicated,
0:18:40 > 0:18:42and it is a chic of Breguet.
0:18:44 > 0:18:47It is wonderful to hold it.
0:18:47 > 0:18:50It's like you can really feel the heartbeat
0:18:50 > 0:18:53of this beautiful piece of mechanism.
0:18:55 > 0:18:58The only thing that's excessive is the price.
0:19:00 > 0:19:04These simple watches are highly valued collector's items now.
0:19:05 > 0:19:09Earlier this year, one of Breguet's original pocket watches
0:19:09 > 0:19:12sold for over 3 million.
0:19:14 > 0:19:19But then, from the very beginning, Breguet's watches were luxuries.
0:19:19 > 0:19:24Luxuries that required rich patrons with deep pockets.
0:19:27 > 0:19:30Fortunately for Breguet's newly established business,
0:19:30 > 0:19:3316 miles away from the clock dock shop
0:19:33 > 0:19:38was a concentration of wealth, of vanity, of peacocking
0:19:38 > 0:19:41like nowhere else in the world.
0:19:41 > 0:19:45MUSIC: Symphony No. 3 by Gustav Mahler
0:19:49 > 0:19:50Versailles.
0:20:00 > 0:20:05Wealth, power, influence, fashion, money, patronage
0:20:05 > 0:20:10were all concentrated around the palace,
0:20:10 > 0:20:132,000 acres of extravagance,
0:20:13 > 0:20:17with King Louis XVI on the French throne and Marie Antoinette,
0:20:17 > 0:20:21his notoriously decadent queen by his side.
0:20:24 > 0:20:27And one of the more restrained parts of the palace
0:20:27 > 0:20:29is here at the Petit Trianon.
0:20:33 > 0:20:38This was a bolt hole that was gifted to the Queen Marie Antoinette.
0:20:39 > 0:20:42If she'd had enough of the Golden Palace, the masked balls
0:20:42 > 0:20:45or the fine wine, she could retreat down here.
0:20:48 > 0:20:50Though, it's hardly a hovel.
0:20:56 > 0:21:00Versailles was packed with aristocrats and archdukes
0:21:00 > 0:21:03trying to outdo one another.
0:21:03 > 0:21:06So how could a courtier compete?
0:21:07 > 0:21:10It was a great advantage, socially, to have a talking point,
0:21:10 > 0:21:14and what better for this purpose than a watch?
0:21:15 > 0:21:17And when that watch was exceptional,
0:21:17 > 0:21:20well, then the French would say it was tres a la mode.
0:21:22 > 0:21:26And owning a Breguet became the height of good taste.
0:21:26 > 0:21:30It was a very close circle of the very wealthy people,
0:21:30 > 0:21:35and so if one hold a Breguet watch, then others knew,
0:21:35 > 0:21:40so it was spreading inside the sort of rich community.
0:21:42 > 0:21:45So this was your iPhone 6 of the 18th century,
0:21:45 > 0:21:47and it did stuff that nothing else can do.
0:21:47 > 0:21:49And that was the thing about a watch - it wasn't just jewellery,
0:21:49 > 0:21:51it was jewellery that did stuff.
0:21:51 > 0:21:54And, a bit like today, with people sort of constantly looking
0:21:54 > 0:21:56at their tablets and things -
0:21:56 > 0:21:58"Oh, I've just got to have a look... Oh, have you seen my fob watch?"
0:22:01 > 0:22:05Producing a slim, modern Breguet watch,
0:22:05 > 0:22:08showing the moon cycle or the calendar
0:22:08 > 0:22:12allowed a courtier to exhibit their wealth, taste and modernity.
0:22:14 > 0:22:19Breguet was held in high regard in the highest circles of the palace
0:22:19 > 0:22:23and it resulted in the most important commission of his life
0:22:23 > 0:22:28when he was instructed to create a watch for the Queen of Versailles,
0:22:28 > 0:22:33the Queen of France, Marie Antoinette.
0:22:42 > 0:22:45Locked away in a secure vault are the original letters
0:22:45 > 0:22:49from Breguet's workshop that record this amazing commission.
0:22:52 > 0:22:54Emmanuel Breguet,
0:22:54 > 0:22:57the great-great-great-great- great-grandson
0:22:57 > 0:23:01of Abraham-Louis Breguet is showing them to me.
0:23:02 > 0:23:05It is a very interesting piece of archives.
0:23:05 > 0:23:09It's a register with all the details
0:23:09 > 0:23:15about the construction of the antique Breguet watches.
0:23:15 > 0:23:17So Breguet kept a record of
0:23:17 > 0:23:20- every single watch or clock he sold. - Oh, yes.
0:23:20 > 0:23:24On each page we have the details of about five watches.
0:23:24 > 0:23:28You have the names, the name of the watchmakers
0:23:28 > 0:23:31who worked on this specific watch,
0:23:31 > 0:23:36and you have the name of the buyer, of the client.
0:23:36 > 0:23:41You have the date, the date of sale, and you have the price.
0:23:41 > 0:23:49And an interesting page is the page about the watch 160,
0:23:49 > 0:23:54because the watch 160 is called Marie Antoinette watch.
0:23:54 > 0:23:57- This is the Marie Antoinette! - Yes, yes, yes.- Ooh!
0:23:57 > 0:24:00You have an idea of the work...
0:24:00 > 0:24:03'Breguet's 160th commission -
0:24:03 > 0:24:07'to make a watch fit for La Reine.
0:24:09 > 0:24:13'In front of me is the original record of all the years of work
0:24:13 > 0:24:15'that went into that watch
0:24:15 > 0:24:20'and that became known as the Marie Antoinette.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23'The details are extraordinary.
0:24:23 > 0:24:26'While most entries are a couple of lines,
0:24:26 > 0:24:30'this commission covers a page and a half.
0:24:30 > 0:24:32'And they had to insert an extra leaf
0:24:32 > 0:24:35'just to record all the complexities.'
0:24:36 > 0:24:39The watch was to be a ladies' watch
0:24:39 > 0:24:42that would chime the hours, the quarter hours,
0:24:42 > 0:24:44it should have a thermometer,
0:24:44 > 0:24:48it was to display day, date, month, years,
0:24:48 > 0:24:50and even leap years.
0:24:50 > 0:24:56It should tell solar time, it should be delicate but robust.
0:24:56 > 0:25:01Every bearing and roller, without exception, would be in sapphire.
0:25:01 > 0:25:07The watch would be the culmination of every complexity Breguet knew.
0:25:07 > 0:25:10A stunning, horological tour de force
0:25:10 > 0:25:14that was to be as beautiful as it was ingenious.
0:25:14 > 0:25:18The commission specifically stipulated...
0:25:35 > 0:25:42What was very special is the order was to do the maximum,
0:25:42 > 0:25:46the maximum of complications possible,
0:25:46 > 0:25:52the most beautiful materials possible,
0:25:52 > 0:25:56and probably something very dangerous -
0:25:56 > 0:25:58no limitation of time.
0:25:58 > 0:26:03And never say something like that to a watchmaker.
0:26:04 > 0:26:08It's absolutely a catastrophe.
0:26:08 > 0:26:12Bringing all the complications existing at the time into one watch
0:26:12 > 0:26:19was some sort of a challenge for him that he wanted to work on.
0:26:19 > 0:26:23It was a sort of summary of all which could be done
0:26:23 > 0:26:27and showing that Breguet can do each and every thing
0:26:27 > 0:26:31that goes into this very many complications.
0:26:31 > 0:26:34So, who was this mysterious commissioner
0:26:34 > 0:26:38granting Breguet limitless time and limitless amounts of money?
0:26:38 > 0:26:42We don't know the name of the commissioner, unfortunately.
0:26:42 > 0:26:47It's one of the many mysteries that surrounds the watch.
0:26:47 > 0:26:51And over the years, there has been much speculation.
0:26:52 > 0:26:57Legend has it that the story of the greatest watch ever made
0:26:57 > 0:27:01began with a certain tall, handsome Swedish character,
0:27:01 > 0:27:05someone who might be described as a dishy devil.
0:27:06 > 0:27:11Count Hans Axel von Fersen, a Swedish nobleman
0:27:11 > 0:27:13who, during his grand tour of Europe,
0:27:13 > 0:27:20stopped off here in Versailles and apparently created quite a stir.
0:27:23 > 0:27:27Fersen met Marie Antoinette at a masked ball.
0:27:27 > 0:27:31The Swedish Count and the French Queen became very close friends.
0:27:31 > 0:27:34Very close.
0:27:34 > 0:27:36It is one of the great mysteries of French history,
0:27:36 > 0:27:40whether, as was suspected, they became lovers.
0:27:41 > 0:27:44And it was at this same historical moment
0:27:44 > 0:27:48that somebody placed that very special order for the Queen.
0:27:50 > 0:27:55Whoever it was, the challenge clearly inspired Breguet
0:27:55 > 0:27:58because that order for that watch
0:27:58 > 0:28:02was to be the culmination of Breguet's life's work.
0:28:04 > 0:28:09It would take 44 years to finish,
0:28:09 > 0:28:11the Queen of Versailles would never see it,
0:28:11 > 0:28:15and the mysterious commissioner would never pay for it.
0:28:15 > 0:28:20Even Breguet would die before his masterpiece could be completed.
0:28:21 > 0:28:25But the watch that became known as the Marie Antoinette
0:28:25 > 0:28:29would be the greatest watch that the world has ever seen.
0:28:37 > 0:28:39At the beginning of the 1780s,
0:28:39 > 0:28:43France teetered on the brink of seismic change.
0:28:45 > 0:28:48But, for Breguet, business was booming.
0:28:49 > 0:28:52He was acclaimed by rich patrons,
0:28:52 > 0:28:54he became a French citizen,
0:28:54 > 0:28:57and was inducted as a master of a clockmakers guild.
0:29:01 > 0:29:05High in his workshop, in the Quai de l'Horloge,
0:29:05 > 0:29:07Breguet worked assiduously,
0:29:07 > 0:29:11experimenting, engineering, of course, creating.
0:29:11 > 0:29:17His clockwork creations were horology at its most harmonious,
0:29:17 > 0:29:20and for the time, very little friction.
0:29:24 > 0:29:29French society, however, was strained and fractured.
0:29:29 > 0:29:34The crops had failed, the people starved, conditions were abysmal.
0:29:35 > 0:29:39And there were whisperings against the frivolities at Versailles.
0:29:41 > 0:29:44The subjects were revolting.
0:29:48 > 0:29:52She never underestimates the divisions in French society
0:29:52 > 0:29:56in the years, the decades leading up to the French Revolution.
0:29:56 > 0:29:59If you like, Paris and Versailles were like two countries,
0:29:59 > 0:30:01two cities at war.
0:30:01 > 0:30:03They weren't the same place at all.
0:30:03 > 0:30:06In Versailles, you've got what I'd call the society of the spectacle,
0:30:06 > 0:30:09which is actually a very 20th-century idea,
0:30:09 > 0:30:11but really you can see it's all about performance,
0:30:11 > 0:30:16it's all about show, all in the name of the great destiny of France.
0:30:16 > 0:30:21The real life of the French in Paris is all about disease, death,
0:30:21 > 0:30:24poverty, people are dying of hunger,
0:30:24 > 0:30:30while the rich are spending their money on parties, fetes galantes
0:30:30 > 0:30:32and, you know, this whole spectacular world
0:30:32 > 0:30:33that they've created.
0:30:37 > 0:30:38Marie Antoinette.
0:30:39 > 0:30:42Of course, rumour has it
0:30:42 > 0:30:43that she made that famous remark
0:30:43 > 0:30:46when told that her subjects were starving
0:30:46 > 0:30:48and they hadn't got enough bread
0:30:48 > 0:30:51and she said, "Well, let them eat cake."
0:30:53 > 0:30:57I think it's really apocryphal, but it did give an indication
0:30:57 > 0:30:59of what was going on at the time.
0:31:02 > 0:31:06And the hungry people realised that feudal France wasn't working.
0:31:10 > 0:31:14Clockwork is a very seductive metaphor.
0:31:14 > 0:31:16When things in life go smoothly, we say,
0:31:16 > 0:31:19"They're running like clockwork."
0:31:19 > 0:31:22If only life could be so predictable,
0:31:22 > 0:31:25so logical, so harmonious.
0:31:25 > 0:31:28But, alas, it never is.
0:31:33 > 0:31:37In July 1789, with bread prices at an all-time high,
0:31:37 > 0:31:42an angry and hungry crowd stormed the Bastille fortress
0:31:42 > 0:31:47and paraded the governor's head on a pike around the streets of Paris.
0:31:47 > 0:31:51What would become known as the French Revolution had begun.
0:31:51 > 0:31:55On a national and international level, the revolution was seismic.
0:31:55 > 0:31:59On a personal level, events were calamitous for Breguet's business.
0:32:01 > 0:32:04The mysterious commission without a limit on price
0:32:04 > 0:32:06and destined for the Queen would have to wait...
0:32:07 > 0:32:11..because his wealthy and aristocratic customers
0:32:11 > 0:32:13had a habit of losing their heads.
0:32:15 > 0:32:18The aristocrats who could afford it fled abroad.
0:32:18 > 0:32:20The unlucky ones... CORK POPS
0:32:20 > 0:32:21Oh!
0:32:22 > 0:32:24..faced Madame La Guillotine.
0:32:26 > 0:32:27C'est bon. Merci beaucoup.
0:32:31 > 0:32:35Breguet was a supporter of the Revolution,
0:32:35 > 0:32:37but the mutinous streets of his beloved Paris
0:32:37 > 0:32:41were becoming ever bloodier.
0:32:41 > 0:32:45And anyone who was even suspected of harbouring sympathy
0:32:45 > 0:32:48for the hated royals and, in particular, Marie Antoinette,
0:32:48 > 0:32:50was in real danger.
0:32:53 > 0:32:56People were being killed left, right and centre
0:32:56 > 0:32:58and whatever your political connections -
0:32:58 > 0:33:02Breguet was connected to the court cos he sold them stuff -
0:33:02 > 0:33:05your life was in danger and the French historian Jules Michelet,
0:33:05 > 0:33:10I think he gives a good illustration of just how gory that period was.
0:33:10 > 0:33:13He describes, I think about 20 or 30 years afterwards,
0:33:13 > 0:33:16the executions on Place de la Concorde -
0:33:16 > 0:33:19animals couldn't cross the bridge at Place de la Concorde
0:33:19 > 0:33:21cos they could smell the blood
0:33:21 > 0:33:23and if you pressed down on a pave,
0:33:23 > 0:33:25blood would come to the surface.
0:33:25 > 0:33:29We've often got the Blue Peter version of the French Revolution.
0:33:29 > 0:33:33It was a gory, bloody, terrible period
0:33:33 > 0:33:35and severed heads were everywhere.
0:33:38 > 0:33:41In 1793,
0:33:41 > 0:33:43when the Terror was at its height,
0:33:43 > 0:33:45Breguet feared for his life...
0:33:47 > 0:33:51..so he fled Paris and took refuge in his native Switzerland,
0:33:51 > 0:33:54taking the Marie Antoinette, still under construction, with him.
0:33:57 > 0:33:59The watch was safe,
0:33:59 > 0:34:03but the Queen herself was not so lucky.
0:34:06 > 0:34:09Now hated by the French people,
0:34:09 > 0:34:13she was brought by a cart to the Place de la Revolution.
0:34:16 > 0:34:19It is said she had a small, simple steel Breguet watch
0:34:19 > 0:34:20pinned to her gown...
0:34:22 > 0:34:26..counting down her final hours, minutes and seconds.
0:34:29 > 0:34:30And at 12.15,
0:34:30 > 0:34:34on 16th October, 1793...
0:34:36 > 0:34:38..with the crowds booing her final minutes...
0:34:40 > 0:34:45..the guillotine blade sliced through Marie Antoinette's neck.
0:34:45 > 0:34:47CROWD CHEERS
0:34:49 > 0:34:51The world kept turning.
0:34:51 > 0:34:53The clocks kept ticking.
0:34:55 > 0:34:58And France began a new era.
0:35:02 > 0:35:05MUSIC: La Marseillaise
0:35:05 > 0:35:08There was a new anthem,
0:35:08 > 0:35:10a new flag
0:35:10 > 0:35:12and a new ethos.
0:35:12 > 0:35:15France would show the rest of the world
0:35:15 > 0:35:18its revolutionary new ways of thinking.
0:35:18 > 0:35:22So they decreed that measurements were to be decimalised.
0:35:22 > 0:35:27That meant litres, metres and a radical new ten-hour clock.
0:35:28 > 0:35:32When you think about it, there's some logic in that.
0:35:32 > 0:35:34A day should be ten hours,
0:35:34 > 0:35:36an hour should be 100 minutes
0:35:36 > 0:35:38and a minute should be 100 seconds.
0:35:40 > 0:35:45So the clock makers of Paris started to build decimal clocks.
0:35:48 > 0:35:51So there's a little clock,
0:35:51 > 0:35:53a little decimal clock.
0:35:53 > 0:35:57At the bottom, it actually shows the ten hours.
0:35:59 > 0:36:03But though the new-fangled decimal time was logical,
0:36:03 > 0:36:05ordinary people brought up on the traditional system
0:36:05 > 0:36:07were confounded by it.
0:36:10 > 0:36:13I mean, today, can you imagine trying to think in terms of
0:36:13 > 0:36:16a decimalised clock? No.
0:36:16 > 0:36:21It's too firmly established in our way of thinking and our psyche.
0:36:21 > 0:36:24Some of the post-revolutionary watches
0:36:24 > 0:36:26tried to show both the old and the new time.
0:36:26 > 0:36:32The decimalised system on this side, going up to the ten-hour clock
0:36:32 > 0:36:36and the other side, today's system,
0:36:36 > 0:36:38going up to the 12-hour clock.
0:36:39 > 0:36:43But fortunately for Breguet and his embryonic masterpiece,
0:36:43 > 0:36:46decimalisation never caught on.
0:36:46 > 0:36:50After just 17 months, that is traditional months,
0:36:50 > 0:36:54the French Republic reverted back to the old measurements.
0:36:58 > 0:37:00After two years in exile,
0:37:00 > 0:37:03Breguet returned to Paris in 1795,
0:37:03 > 0:37:06overflowing with ideas and innovations.
0:37:08 > 0:37:12It seems that Breguet was a true artist,
0:37:12 > 0:37:14not motivated by money or profit,
0:37:14 > 0:37:17but by perfection itself.
0:37:18 > 0:37:21And perfect he did.
0:37:21 > 0:37:24The revolutionary era was when Breguet came of age
0:37:24 > 0:37:26as a watchmaker,
0:37:26 > 0:37:29inventing such horological wonders
0:37:29 > 0:37:33as an overcoil balance spring in 1795.
0:37:33 > 0:37:36In 1798, he created a new escapement which had
0:37:36 > 0:37:41so little friction that it didn't require lubrication.
0:37:41 > 0:37:45All incredible innovations that advanced the art of watchmaking.
0:37:48 > 0:37:52It was in 1806, at an exhibition in Paris,
0:37:52 > 0:37:55Breguet revealed his greatest innovation to the world,
0:37:55 > 0:37:57the tourbillon.
0:38:01 > 0:38:03Just one turn.
0:38:03 > 0:38:05It is a tourbillon.
0:38:05 > 0:38:10It's a special device invented by Breguet and patented in 1801.
0:38:12 > 0:38:17A special device to avoid the effects of the Earth's gravity.
0:38:17 > 0:38:20Gravity meant some internal components
0:38:20 > 0:38:22wore out quicker than others.
0:38:22 > 0:38:26Breguet solved this by constantly rotating the internal workings
0:38:26 > 0:38:30of the watch itself, thus minimising wear and tear.
0:38:30 > 0:38:34We have all the small parts in a cage.
0:38:36 > 0:38:42The cage does a revolution in three minutes.
0:38:42 > 0:38:45It's a simple solution that requires complex clockwork
0:38:45 > 0:38:50that made watches more precise and that is vintage Breguet.
0:38:50 > 0:38:55I'm very happy to see the movement working.
0:38:55 > 0:38:57It's alive, it's like a human heart.
0:39:01 > 0:39:05Versailles was no more, but now there was a whole new court,
0:39:05 > 0:39:11presided over by Napoleon Bonaparte, and Breguet made watches for it.
0:39:11 > 0:39:15In 1810, he made a watch for Caroline Murat, the Queen of Naples.
0:39:15 > 0:39:19He mounted a thin watch on a little bracelet of hair and gold
0:39:19 > 0:39:21to be worn on the arm.
0:39:21 > 0:39:25It was the first wristwatch the world had ever seen,
0:39:25 > 0:39:28though sadly its whereabouts are now unknown.
0:39:30 > 0:39:32This stunning tact watch,
0:39:32 > 0:39:35the idea being that you could touch the watch in your pocket
0:39:35 > 0:39:38and tell the time, was made for Napoleon's wife Josephine,
0:39:38 > 0:39:42who was very keen that the watch should match her status.
0:39:43 > 0:39:47When she bought this watch in 1800,
0:39:47 > 0:39:53it was with small diamonds and when she became empress,
0:39:53 > 0:39:55she ordered bigger diamonds.
0:39:57 > 0:40:01Breguet was the most famous watchmaker in the world.
0:40:03 > 0:40:06He was appointed horologist to the French Navy.
0:40:06 > 0:40:10He was inducted into the prestigious Academy of Science.
0:40:10 > 0:40:13He was presented with France's highest accolade,
0:40:13 > 0:40:15the Legion d'Honneur.
0:40:15 > 0:40:19No other watchmaker in the world came close.
0:40:20 > 0:40:25But all the acclaim did not distract him from his obsession.
0:40:26 > 0:40:30The sum of everything Breguet ever learned was channelled into
0:40:30 > 0:40:33a watch which became his lifetime's work,
0:40:33 > 0:40:34his masterpiece.
0:40:36 > 0:40:41As an old man, he began to work on the watch with renewed intensity.
0:40:41 > 0:40:46From 1812 to 1814, he worked on little else.
0:40:46 > 0:40:51Nobody knew better than Breguet that time on this planet was finite
0:40:51 > 0:40:57and precious and his wondrous watch was so close to completion.
0:40:57 > 0:41:00But no matter how beautifully Breguet's clockwork creations
0:41:00 > 0:41:04measured the passing minutes, hours, days, years,
0:41:04 > 0:41:08not even he could control time itself.
0:41:08 > 0:41:10TICKING SLOWS TO A STOP
0:41:17 > 0:41:21And on September 17th, 1823,
0:41:21 > 0:41:24time ran out for Abraham-Louis Breguet.
0:41:35 > 0:41:39So I've come to the extraordinary Pere Lachaise graveyard
0:41:39 > 0:41:42in the centre of Paris,
0:41:42 > 0:41:44where alongside Chopin, Oscar Wilde
0:41:44 > 0:41:47and a popular singer called Jim Morrison,
0:41:47 > 0:41:49Breguet lies buried.
0:41:55 > 0:42:00The greatest watchmaker in Paris lived to the age of 76 years of age.
0:42:00 > 0:42:06Now, 76 was a pretty good age to achieve in those days,
0:42:06 > 0:42:09but unfortunately the records of the period are pretty scant,
0:42:09 > 0:42:12so we don't know very much about the man and what he was like.
0:42:12 > 0:42:16I like to think that he was very much like his watches -
0:42:16 > 0:42:20reliable, precise, unshowy,
0:42:20 > 0:42:23but underneath beat a very warm and genuine heart.
0:42:24 > 0:42:28Breguet was above all a magical engineer,
0:42:28 > 0:42:32with the ability, the talent to harness all the vagaries
0:42:32 > 0:42:35and challenges represented by time.
0:42:37 > 0:42:39What an impressive tombstone
0:42:39 > 0:42:43and with his statue at the top.
0:42:43 > 0:42:45The only thing is I think the hydrangea in front
0:42:45 > 0:42:47were probably put there on the day he died.
0:42:59 > 0:43:03The master was dead, but his lifetime's work
0:43:03 > 0:43:05had yet to come to life.
0:43:07 > 0:43:11The watch Breguet had been perfecting for over four decades
0:43:11 > 0:43:14was finally finished by his son,
0:43:14 > 0:43:19as the New Year fireworks filled the sky on the last day of 1827,
0:43:19 > 0:43:21four years after his father's death.
0:43:28 > 0:43:32It was the most complicated, sophisticated
0:43:32 > 0:43:35and beautiful watch in the whole world.
0:43:37 > 0:43:3944 years of work.
0:43:39 > 0:43:43The labour time alone would amount to 17,000 gold francs.
0:43:48 > 0:43:51Intriguingly, the first recorded owner
0:43:51 > 0:43:53was an associate of the late queen,
0:43:53 > 0:43:56the elderly Marquis de la Groye,
0:43:56 > 0:44:00who had been Marie Antoinette's page boy in his youth.
0:44:02 > 0:44:05When the marquis died in 1838,
0:44:05 > 0:44:09the watch happened to be in the workshop for repair
0:44:09 > 0:44:13and the Breguet family became its custodians once more.
0:44:13 > 0:44:18Keeping it under lock and key, the watch began to slip into obscurity.
0:44:21 > 0:44:26Not until the late 19th century did it emerge onto the market again.
0:44:26 > 0:44:28Finally sold by the Breguet family,
0:44:28 > 0:44:32it discretely traded through the hands of various watch collectors.
0:44:32 > 0:44:39Then, in 1917, the Marie Antoinette was gleefully purchased
0:44:39 > 0:44:42by a British industrialist and passionate collector
0:44:42 > 0:44:45called Sir David Salomons.
0:44:47 > 0:44:49Astonished by Breguet's work,
0:44:49 > 0:44:51Salomons proclaimed...
0:45:00 > 0:45:03Salomons idolised Breguet.
0:45:03 > 0:45:06He bought more than 100 of his watches
0:45:06 > 0:45:11and in the 1920s published a book that catalogued his collection
0:45:11 > 0:45:16including the first known photographs of the Marie Antoinette.
0:45:17 > 0:45:19He bequeathed the watch collection to his daughter,
0:45:19 > 0:45:24who then donated everything to the Museum of Islamic Art in Israel,
0:45:24 > 0:45:26which opened in 1974.
0:45:27 > 0:45:31That was the unlikely final resting place
0:45:31 > 0:45:33of the Marie Antoinette watch.
0:45:34 > 0:45:37It stayed in its glass case,
0:45:37 > 0:45:40silent and outside the world of watch enthusiasts,
0:45:40 > 0:45:42rarely mentioned...
0:45:43 > 0:45:45..until 1983...
0:45:47 > 0:45:50..when the world's greatest watch was stolen
0:45:50 > 0:45:53in the world's greatest watch heist.
0:46:00 > 0:46:04On April 15th, 1983,
0:46:04 > 0:46:08a small car rolled through the leafy suburbs of Jerusalem.
0:46:12 > 0:46:16Around midnight, it quietly pulled into a lane
0:46:16 > 0:46:18behind the Museum of Islamic Arts.
0:46:24 > 0:46:27A thin man dressed in black got out of the car.
0:46:30 > 0:46:32He took a bag of tools from the boot...
0:46:33 > 0:46:36..and crept to the back of the museum.
0:46:45 > 0:46:48He forced his way through a narrow window...
0:46:50 > 0:46:54..and so began the greatest watch heist in history.
0:46:58 > 0:47:03He cut circles into the glass cabinets, then carefully lifted out
0:47:03 > 0:47:09over 100 antique watches, some paintings and a couple of books.
0:47:09 > 0:47:12Millions of dollars of antiquities
0:47:12 > 0:47:16and amongst them was the jewel in the museum's crown,
0:47:16 > 0:47:18the Marie Antoinette.
0:47:18 > 0:47:20SIREN BLARES
0:47:20 > 0:47:22There's a bit of the Pink Panther to it.
0:47:22 > 0:47:26The brazenness, the scale of it and, ultimately,
0:47:26 > 0:47:29that piece being part of the cache,
0:47:29 > 0:47:33it's one of the most remarkable thefts of all time.
0:47:35 > 0:47:37Police photos of the crime scene
0:47:37 > 0:47:40show the Breguet burglar, or burglars,
0:47:40 > 0:47:45smoked cigarettes, could squeeze through a small window,
0:47:45 > 0:47:46and left some tools behind...
0:47:48 > 0:47:53..but bagged a haul worth millions and millions of dollars.
0:48:05 > 0:48:09So my Breguet pilgrimage takes me to the Holy Land...
0:48:11 > 0:48:14..towards Jerusalem and the scene of the crime.
0:48:16 > 0:48:21This well-planned, exquisitely executed horological heist
0:48:21 > 0:48:25was the biggest robbery in the history of Israel
0:48:25 > 0:48:29and it put Breguet's Marie Antoinette back on the map,
0:48:29 > 0:48:32even if it was missing.
0:48:32 > 0:48:35The police were left puzzled and confounded.
0:48:39 > 0:48:43It seems apt that a thief who's a genius at what he did
0:48:43 > 0:48:49should steal a watch which was made by a genius at what he did.
0:48:51 > 0:48:55It's the diamond in the crown, the biggest diamond in the crown,
0:48:55 > 0:48:57but he took the whole crown.
0:48:57 > 0:49:02Maybe he picked out the museum because of this watch, I don't know.
0:49:02 > 0:49:05And he did it. He succeeded.
0:49:06 > 0:49:08It was the perfect...
0:49:08 > 0:49:11It was the perfect job, what do you want?
0:49:11 > 0:49:15Who ever thought that somebody will go into this museum,
0:49:15 > 0:49:20steal the most expensive watches in the world, not to be caught?
0:49:21 > 0:49:23The police looked everywhere.
0:49:25 > 0:49:29They watched the airports, they asked Interpol for help,
0:49:29 > 0:49:31they monitored the collectors.
0:49:33 > 0:49:36But the Marie Antoinette fell silent.
0:49:36 > 0:49:39In spite of being the biggest robbery in the history of Israel,
0:49:39 > 0:49:43there was no trace of the stolen goods.
0:49:43 > 0:49:47I knew this guy who was an officer in the police.
0:49:47 > 0:49:51He went all over Europe. He went to everyone.
0:49:51 > 0:49:53Nobody knew who did this for years.
0:49:54 > 0:49:58The watch had vanished. By 2005,
0:49:58 > 0:50:00all hope was gone.
0:50:02 > 0:50:05Nicolas Hayek, the owner of the Breguet brand,
0:50:05 > 0:50:09was heartbroken and announced an ambitious plan
0:50:09 > 0:50:13to create a replica Marie Antoinette.
0:50:13 > 0:50:17Using just a few photographs and details from the Breguet archive,
0:50:17 > 0:50:21a team of engineers tried to rebuild this astonishing piece of artistry.
0:50:23 > 0:50:27Over two years, 823 handmade components
0:50:27 > 0:50:30were painstakingly put together
0:50:30 > 0:50:32and then, with perfect timing,
0:50:32 > 0:50:35just as the replica was about to be unveiled,
0:50:35 > 0:50:38there came a glimmer of hope that the original
0:50:38 > 0:50:41might still be in existence
0:50:41 > 0:50:43when an antique dealer called Zion Jakobov
0:50:43 > 0:50:46got a call in his family shop in Tel Aviv.
0:50:47 > 0:50:51The caller, a lawyer, repeatedly asked him to come and value
0:50:51 > 0:50:58some items which he was handling on behalf of an anonymous client.
0:50:58 > 0:51:01Eventually, Zion went along to a warehouse
0:51:01 > 0:51:03and the lawyer brought out a box.
0:51:05 > 0:51:09TRANSLATION:
0:51:26 > 0:51:28When he unwrapped the newspaper,
0:51:28 > 0:51:33Zion recognised the museum's priceless collection of Breguets.
0:51:51 > 0:51:54In shock and unable to sleep,
0:51:54 > 0:51:57Zion needed to speak with the curator of the museum,
0:51:57 > 0:51:59Rachel Hasson.
0:52:13 > 0:52:16At first, the curator would not believe the claim,
0:52:16 > 0:52:20but a meeting was arranged and she came face-to-face
0:52:20 > 0:52:23with the missing Marie Antoinette.
0:52:46 > 0:52:5296 of the 106 watches were eventually returned to the museum.
0:52:52 > 0:52:55They'd been taken by a man called Na'aman Diller,
0:52:55 > 0:52:58and whilst Diller was a master thief,
0:52:58 > 0:53:01he was a terrible salesman.
0:53:01 > 0:53:04Wary of being caught, he left the burgled Breguets
0:53:04 > 0:53:10in safe deposit boxes, where they sat abandoned for 23 years.
0:53:10 > 0:53:13Diller died of cancer in 2004,
0:53:13 > 0:53:16his crime undetected.
0:53:16 > 0:53:21On his deathbed, he confessed to his wife about the great watch heist.
0:53:21 > 0:53:24She hired a lawyer in Israel who started making calls
0:53:24 > 0:53:28to arrange the return of the stolen goods.
0:53:28 > 0:53:33And so, finally, after adventures in Paris and Jerusalem,
0:53:33 > 0:53:36after guillotines and dead queens,
0:53:36 > 0:53:39after cat burglars and wild-goose chases,
0:53:39 > 0:53:40it's time.
0:53:41 > 0:53:44I'm about to go and gaze on the face,
0:53:44 > 0:53:47or more correctly, I should say the dial,
0:53:47 > 0:53:50of the most famous watch in all the world.
0:53:52 > 0:53:55The recovered watch is once again the shining centrepiece
0:53:55 > 0:53:58of the museum's watch collection.
0:53:58 > 0:54:02And it's now in a secure case, in a secure room.
0:54:03 > 0:54:09Given that the estimated value of the watch is over 50 million,
0:54:09 > 0:54:13the museum have arranged for me and Marie Antoinette
0:54:13 > 0:54:16to finally meet one another,
0:54:16 > 0:54:19away from the visitors, in a secure back room
0:54:19 > 0:54:23used by the horologists and, for once, I'm speechless.
0:54:28 > 0:54:29And so...
0:54:30 > 0:54:32..here it is finally...
0:54:34 > 0:54:36..Breguet's masterpiece.
0:54:37 > 0:54:42So one has to put on the gloves for this. It is so precious.
0:54:44 > 0:54:48This is something you can say is truly unique.
0:54:49 > 0:54:53Oh, this is a special moment in my life,
0:54:53 > 0:54:57to actually hold the Marie Antoinette,
0:54:57 > 0:54:59the watch made by Breguet
0:54:59 > 0:55:00for the Queen.
0:55:01 > 0:55:04Through a rock crystal glass face,
0:55:04 > 0:55:06both back and front,
0:55:06 > 0:55:10the internal gold workings of the Marie Antoinette
0:55:10 > 0:55:12are there for all to see
0:55:12 > 0:55:14and become dazzled.
0:55:16 > 0:55:19All points of friction are in sapphire,
0:55:19 > 0:55:21the case itself is gold.
0:55:21 > 0:55:24There is a thermometer, a power indicator,
0:55:24 > 0:55:26a calendar, a tourbillon,
0:55:26 > 0:55:30everything Breguet knew in a single watch.
0:55:30 > 0:55:34It is truly a poem written in clockwork.
0:55:36 > 0:55:41So this watch has survived for over 200 years.
0:55:41 > 0:55:43It's survived a revolution,
0:55:43 > 0:55:45survived being stolen, disappeared,
0:55:45 > 0:55:47out of sight to everybody,
0:55:47 > 0:55:51lost and unseen in a safety deposit box somewhere,
0:55:51 > 0:55:54and eventually coming to light and being returned
0:55:54 > 0:55:56to the museum.
0:55:56 > 0:55:58It's emotional to look at it
0:55:58 > 0:56:02and I can understand that the curators here were so emotional
0:56:02 > 0:56:06when it came back that I believe they actually wept.
0:56:06 > 0:56:10The Queen had returned.
0:56:11 > 0:56:15'And then, unexpectedly, the watch began to tick.'
0:56:15 > 0:56:17Ah!
0:56:17 > 0:56:19That's the second hand there.
0:56:19 > 0:56:23Breguet's engineering genius meant that just a little momentum
0:56:23 > 0:56:27can power up the watch's perpetual mechanism.
0:56:27 > 0:56:30So after years of being static,
0:56:30 > 0:56:32I held it in my hand
0:56:32 > 0:56:37and as if rewarding an elderly man after a long quest,
0:56:37 > 0:56:42the 200-year-old watch, for a few miraculous seconds,
0:56:42 > 0:56:44came back to life,
0:56:44 > 0:56:47before being returned to the safety of its case.
0:56:49 > 0:56:52I've often wondered what life would have been like
0:56:52 > 0:56:55if I had chosen to pursue a career in engineering,
0:56:55 > 0:56:57rather than as an entertainer.
0:56:58 > 0:57:02But it's interesting that my great hobby of clocks
0:57:02 > 0:57:05is all about the subject of time
0:57:05 > 0:57:08and I'm in a profession where the essence of success
0:57:08 > 0:57:11is all about timing.
0:57:11 > 0:57:13'Graham, it's lovely to have you back,'
0:57:13 > 0:57:18so will you start off the show - very apt, "clock-watching".
0:57:18 > 0:57:20LAUGHTER
0:57:25 > 0:57:29But there's something satisfying that at this point in my long career
0:57:29 > 0:57:34in entertainment, I'm once again back with my love of clocks.
0:57:34 > 0:57:39You could say an old timer has finally met another one.
0:57:39 > 0:57:42Time well spent?
0:57:42 > 0:57:44About 75 years ago,
0:57:44 > 0:57:45a very long time ago,
0:57:45 > 0:57:48I first started taking an interest in clocks -
0:57:48 > 0:57:52taking them apart, repairing them, mending them and recreating them.
0:57:52 > 0:57:54And it's interesting how times have changed,
0:57:54 > 0:57:58because then telling the time was a mechanical process,
0:57:58 > 0:58:02then it became digital and now it's even atomic.
0:58:02 > 0:58:05So something as beautiful as Breguet's watch here,
0:58:05 > 0:58:09the Queen, in one sense it's obsolete.
0:58:09 > 0:58:15But it now just exists really as a beautiful machine,
0:58:15 > 0:58:17but with a heartbeat.
0:58:17 > 0:58:21So what does Breguet's masterpiece tell us?
0:58:21 > 0:58:25That it's important in life to count every second,
0:58:25 > 0:58:30but it's also very important to make sure every second counts.
0:58:32 > 0:58:36MUSIC: Just In Time by Frank Sinatra
0:58:39 > 0:58:41# Just in time
0:58:41 > 0:58:45# I found you just in time
0:58:45 > 0:58:49# Before you came, my time
0:58:49 > 0:58:52# Was running low
0:58:52 > 0:58:58# And changed my lonely life that lovely
0:58:58 > 0:59:01# Lonely life, that lovely
0:59:01 > 0:59:07# Lonely life that lovely day. #