Acting like the wonderful barometers of old to show the warm commitment to promoting European culture and history- it’s the famous Swiss watch manufactureBreguet. The good people at Breguethas made it possible for the most recent display of 18th-century French decorative arts in theLouvre Museum, Paris to see the light of day, with the reopening 33 dedicated galleries, previously closed for nearly a decade.
The association between Breguet and the Louvre are many. The founder of the revered watch company Abraham-Louis Breguet had exhibited his movements at the second Exhibition of Industrial Products held at the Louvre. Additionally Vivant Denon, the Louvre’s first patron, acquired a Breguet minute repeater and a biscuit porcelain clock in 1810 and 1811, respectively.
The museum lays claim to a fine collection of Breguet creations but with no marine watches in sight. One such notable timepiece includes the No. 1391 subscription pocket watch in a 57-mm gold case with an engine-turned dial. Joining this fine creation is the No. 2585 half-quarter repeating watch in a gold hunter case with a silver-plated back engraved with a map of an impressive nine Italian administrative regions featuring a thermometer and three off-centre dials for seconds, day of the week and date. More recently, in 2009, the museum held the exhibitionBreguet at the Louvre: An Apogee of European Watchmaking.
Today, at the Louvre, visitors don’t need to concern themselves any longer over their deprivation of one of the world’s finest collections of 18th-century French decorative furnishings and objets d’art – all thanks to Breguet.
