Queen Marie Antionette's 'smart watch' on display in London
WeirdNews
The watch, one of the most beautiful, complex and most expensive ever made, was commissioned in 1783
LONDON (Reuters) – A pocket watch designed for Queen Marie Antionette, with an incredible number of features, even by today's standards, is among the artefacts on display in an exhibition celebrating the science of the royal court at Versaille.
The watch, one of the most beautiful, complex and most expensive ever made, was commissioned in 1783 but was not completed until decades after the Queen's execution.
"It took so long to create that it wasn't finished until long after Marie Antoinette had met her unfortunate end," Dr Glyn Morgan, Curatorial Lead for Exhibitions at the Science Museum in London, told Reuters.
"It's the smartwatch of its time," Morgan said.
"It has a stopwatch, a thermometer, a shock absorber. It self-winds. It has a calendar. It is an absolutely remarkable and beautiful piece."
It's features, known at the time as complications, include on-demand sounding of the hour, quarter hour and minute; a perpetual calendar corrected for the leap year; a thermometer, and an independent second hand that acts as a stopwatch.
The exhibition, Versailles: Science and Splendour, examines how scientific knowledge, including horology, became widespread, fashionable, and a tool of power to enhance France’s prestige during the 17th and 18th centuries.
"Everyone thinks they know the story of Versaille," Morgan said.
"They think it's a story of power and opulence and maybe the French Revolution. This exhibition is about all of that, but it's also about a revolution of a different sort, a scientific revolution."
