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Marie Antoinette (watch)
The ''Breguet No. 160'' '' "The Grand Complication''," more commonly known as the ''Marie-Antoinette'' or ''the Queen'', is a case watch designed by Swiss watchmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet, and was his 160th watch. It has been called 'a poem in clockwork'. The watch is thought to have been commissioned in 1783 by Swedish count Axel von Fersen the Younger the lover of the French Queen, Marie Antoinette. Work on the watch was begun in 1783 and completed in 1802. The watch is a central plot point in the novel ''The Grand Complication'' by Allen Kurzweil. History The watch is thought to have been commissioned in 1783 by an unknown admirer of the French Queen, Marie Antoinette. It took nineteen years to complete. Marie Antoinette did not live to see the watch, as it was completed 9 years after she was executed. Work stopped for around seven years (1789–1795) during the period of Breguet's exile. It was finally finished in 1802. The "Marie Antoinette" remained in the possession ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grand Complication
In horology, a complication is any feature of a mechanical timepiece beyond the display of hours, minutes and seconds. A timepiece indicating only hours, minutes and seconds is known as a simple movement (clockwork), movement. Common complications include date or day-of-the-week indicators, alarms, chronographs (stopwatches), and automatic winding mechanisms. Complications may be found in any mechanical clock, but they are most notable in mechanical watches where the small size makes them difficult to design and assemble. A typical date-display chronograph may have up to 250 parts, while a particularly complex watch may have a thousand or more parts. Watches with several complications are referred to as ''grandes complications.'' Types Timing (visible) * Chronograph, with a second hand that can be stopped and started to function as a stopwatch. ** Double chronograph or ''rattrapante'', multiple second hands for split-second, lap timing or timing multiple events ** Flyback c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Minute Repeater
A repeater is a Complication (horology), complication in a mechanical watch or clock that chimes the hours and often minutes at the press of a button. There are many types of repeater, from the simple repeater which merely strikes the number of hours, to the minute repeater which chimes the time down to the minute, using separate tones for hours, quarter hours, and minutes. They originated before widespread artificial illumination, to allow the time to be determined in the dark, and were also used by the visually impaired. Now they are mostly valued as expensive novelties by watch and clock enthusiasts. Repeaters should not be confused with striking clocks or watches, which do not strike on demand, but merely at regular intervals. History The repeating clock was invented by the English cleric and inventor, the Edward Barlow (priest), Reverend Edward Barlow in 1676. His innovation was the ''rack and snail'' striking mechanism, which could be made to repeat easily and became th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Patek Philippe Calibre 89
The Patek Philippe Calibre 89 is a commemorative pocket watch created in 1989, to celebrate the company's 150th anniversary. Declared by Patek Philippe as ''"the most complicated watch in the world"'' at the time of creation, it has 33 complications, weighs 1.1 kg, exhibits 24 hands and has 1,728 components in total, including a thermometer, and a star chart. Before Calibre 89, Patek Philippe Henry Graves Supercomplication (created in 1933) had been the world’s most complicated timepiece ever assembled with a total of 24 different functions. Patek Philippe Calibre 89 was made from 18 carat (75%) gold or platinum, with an estimated value of $6 million. It took five years of research and development, and four years to manufacture. Four watches were made: one in white gold, one in yellow gold, one in rose gold and one in platinum. The yellow-gold and the white-gold Calibre 89 were sold at auction by Antiquorum in 2009 and 2004, respectively, and both watches currently rank ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Patek Philippe Henry Graves Supercomplication
The Patek Philippe Henry Graves Supercomplication (no. 198.385) is one of the most complicated mechanical pocket watches ever created. The 18-karat gold watch has 24 complications and was assembled by Patek Philippe. It was named after banker Henry Graves Jr. who supposedly commissioned it out of his desire to outdo the Grande Complication pocketwatch of American automaker James Ward Packard. The two were both at the top of the watch collecting world, regularly commissioning innovative new timepieces. History Patek Philippe produced its first grand complication pocket watch in 1898 (no. 97.912); it had previously been believed the firm's first grand complication had been produced in 1910, and the second was delivered to Packard in 1916. The rivalry between Packard and Graves, who both commissioned timepieces from Patek Philippe, included two singular grand complication watches for Packard, one delivered in 1916 with sixteen complications (''foudroyante'', no. 174.129), and anoth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nicolas Hayek
Nicolas George Hayek (19 February 1928 – 28 June 2010), was a Swiss businessman of Lebanese descent, and the co-founder, CEO and Chairman of the Board of The Swatch Group. Early life and education Hayek was born the second of three children, to Lebanese parents from Greek Orthodox Christian Lebanese families. His father trained as a dentist at Loyola University Chicago. He had an older sister, Mona, and a younger brother, Sam. Hayek studied mathematics, physics, and chemistry at the University of Lyon. Personal life Hayek met Marianne Mezger, an au pair and the daughter of Swiss industrialist Eduard Mezger, in Beirut in 1950. They married in 1951 and moved to Switzerland. They had two children, Nayla and G. Nicolas "Nick" Jr. In 1964, the family moved to Meisterschwanden, a village west of Zürich. Hayek lived there for the rest of his life. Hayek was awarded the title of Doctor honoris causa of Law and Economics of the Faculty of ''Beni Culturali'' of the University of Bo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Breguet (watch)
Breguet is a Swiss- French luxury watch, clock and jewelry manufacturer founded by Abraham-Louis Breguet in Paris in 1775. Since 1999, it has been a subsidiary of the Swiss Swatch Group. Headquartered in L'Abbaye, Switzerland, Breguet is one of the oldest surviving watchmaking brands and a pioneer of numerous watchmaking technologies such as the tourbillon, which was invented by Abraham Breguet in 1801. Abraham Breguet also invented and produced the world's first self-winding watch (the ''Perpétuelle'') in 1780, as well as the world's first wristwatch in 1810 (the Breguet No.2639, for Caroline Bonaparte, Queen of Naples). Breguet is a highly regarded watch manufacturer. Over the years, notable Breguet patrons and timepieces owners include King George III, Queen Victoria, Alexandre I of Russia, Napoléon Bonaparte, Ettore Bugatti, Sir Winston Churchill, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Gioachino Rossini, Arthur Rubinstein and so on. In particular, the ''Breguet & Fils, Paris No. 2667 (1814)' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Repeater (horology)
A repeater is a complication in a mechanical watch or clock that chimes the hours and often minutes at the press of a button. There are many types of repeater, from the simple repeater which merely strikes the number of hours, to the minute repeater which chimes the time down to the minute, using separate tones for hours, quarter hours, and minutes. They originated before widespread artificial illumination, to allow the time to be determined in the dark, and were also used by the visually impaired. Now they are mostly valued as expensive novelties by watch and clock enthusiasts. Repeaters should not be confused with striking clocks or watches, which do not strike on demand, but merely at regular intervals. History The repeating clock was invented by the English cleric and inventor, the Reverend Edward Barlow in 1676. His innovation was the ''rack and snail'' striking mechanism, which could be made to repeat easily and became the standard mechanism used in both clock and wat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shock Absorber
A shock absorber or damper is a mechanical or hydraulic device designed to absorb and damp shock impulses. It does this by converting the kinetic energy of the shock into another form of energy (typically heat) which is then dissipated. Most shock absorbers are a form of dashpot (a damper which resists motion via viscous friction). Description Pneumatic and hydraulic shock absorbers are used in conjunction with cushions and springs. An automobile shock absorber contains spring-loaded check valves and orifices to control the flow of oil through an internal piston (see below). One design consideration, when designing or choosing a shock absorber, is where that energy will go. In most shock absorbers, energy is converted to heat inside the viscous fluid. In hydraulic cylinders, the hydraulic fluid heats up, while in air cylinders, the hot air is usually exhausted to the atmosphere. In other types of shock absorbers, such as electromagnetic types, the dissipated energy can be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Power Reserve
A power reserve indicator (originally called ) is a complication of the watch, which is designed to show the amount of remaining stored energy. The power reserve indicator indicates the tension on the mainspring at any particular moment. Overview The power reserve indicator is one of the most useful features of a mechanical watch besides the actual time display. A mechanical watch is operated by either automatic or manual winding. In order to run at a regular rate a mechanical timepiece needs to have at least 30 per cent of its mainspring wound. An automatic timepiece needs to be worn for about 10–15 hours before it is fully wound. The power reserve indicator displayed on the watch with automatic- winding movement shows how long a watch will function when not worn. On a manual winding watch, it shows the time left until the watch needs winding. Brief history There are numerous devices for recording the amount of mainspring power stored in the barrel. Power reserve indicator ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chronograph
A chronograph is a specific type of watch that is used as a stopwatch combined with a display watch. A basic chronograph has an independent sweep second hand and a minute sub-dial; it can be started, stopped, and returned to zero by successive pressure on the stem. More complex chronographs use additional Complication (horology), complications and can have multiple sub-dials to measure seconds, minutes, hours and even fractions of a second. In addition, many modern chronographs use moveable bezels as Tachymeter (watch), tachymeters for rapid calculations of speed or distance. Louis Moinet invented the chronograph in 1816 for use in tracking astronomical objects. Chronographs were also used heavily in artillery fire in the mid to late 1800s. More modern uses of chronographs involve aircraft piloting, auto racing, Underwater diving, diving and submarine maneuvering. Since the 1980s, the term ''chronograph'' has also been applied to all Watch#Digital, digital watches that incorpor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thermometer
A thermometer is a device that temperature measurement, measures temperature or a temperature gradient (the degree of hotness or coldness of an object). A thermometer has two important elements: (1) a temperature sensor (e.g. the bulb of a mercury-in-glass thermometer or the pyrometric sensor in an infrared thermometer) in which some change occurs with a change in temperature; and (2) some means of converting this change into a numerical value (e.g. the visible scale that is marked on a mercury-in-glass thermometer or the digital readout on an infrared model). Thermometers are widely used in technology and industry to monitor processes, in meteorology, in medicine, and in scientific research. History While an individual thermometer is able to measure degrees of hotness, the readings on two thermometers cannot be compared unless they conform to an agreed scale. Today there is an absolute thermodynamic temperature scale. Internationally agreed temperature scales are designed to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Perpetual Calendar
A perpetual calendar is a calendar valid for many years, usually designed to look up the day of the week for a given date in the past or future. For the Gregorian and Julian calendars, a perpetual calendar typically consists of one of three general variations: # 14 one-year calendars, plus a table to show which one-year calendar is to be used for any given year. These one-year calendars divide evenly into two sets of seven calendars: seven for each common year (the year that does not have a February 29) with each of the seven starting on a different day of the week, and seven for each leap year, again with each one starting on a different day of the week, totaling fourteen. (See Dominical letter for one common naming scheme for the 14 calendars.) # Seven (31-day) one-month calendars (or seven each of 28–31 day month lengths, for a total of 28) and one or more tables to show which calendar is used for any given month. Some perpetual calendars' tables slide against each othe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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