Press conference was held in the White Hall of the Winter Palace at which the joining of efforts by Montres Breguet S.A. and the State Hermitage was announced. The cooperation will result in the opening of the first in a series of exhibitions of antique Breguet watches in Russia.

This exhibition of antique Breguet watches in the State Hermitage will open on 10 June 2004 in the Blue Bedroom of the Winter Palace. It points to the long time relations between the watch manufacturer and Russia. Chairman of the Board of Directors and President of Montres Breguet S.A. Nicholas G. Hayek plans to organize similar exhibitions in the largest museums of the world – in Europe, in the USA, and in Asia – to demonstrate Breguet’s contribution to European culture.

More than 100 exhibit items will be on display in the State Hermitage, among them watches from the Breguet museum, from private collections, and also from the Louvre, Musee des arts et metiers in Paris, the British Museum, the Kremlin Museums, the National Museum of Switzerland, and the State Hermitage itself.

Included in the exhibition are the military field watch with pedometer that belonged to Emperor Alexander I; the watch called ‘Sympathique’ of Grand Duke Konstantin; carriage clocks that were made for Napoleon Bonaparte and Prince Demidov; ceremonial watches of the Emperor on which the maps of Russia and St Petersburg were engraved; and also the Duc de Praslin watch. The latter is considered one of the most complex watches ever made by A.-L. Breguet.

In the Hermitage collection there are 12 Breguet watches with micro-engraving, that is to say company originals; six watches which belonged to the Princes Yusupov, who bought them directly in Paris; and six watches from the collection of the antique store held by Agathon Faberge which came his way from Russian aristocrats. The Museum collection has three watches with the company name “Breguet et Fils” appearing on the watch face and security cover; as well as watches bearing the markings “Breguet” and others marked “Breguet a Paris”.

News source: www.hermitage.ru
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