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Title: Marie Antoinette's Watch

Subtitle: Adultery, Larceny, & Perpetual Motion

Author: John Biggs

Narrator: Rick Barr

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 46 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-14-17

Publisher: Ray Bridge Press

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: History, European

Publisher's Summary:

"Marie Antoinette's Watch is a wonderful book." - William Gibson, author of Neuromancer

Across continents and into and out of the hands of royalty, revolutionaries, smugglers, thieves, and the world's greatest tech engineers, was Marie Antoinette's watch, the "160" worth an estimated $40 million in today's dollars. Perhaps the most sought after personal technology device of the last 200 years, the timepiece, designed by the legendary Abraham-Louis Breguet, is the launching point for a thrilling and fluidly woven set of narratives that are, in part, forbidden love story, historical document, and police procedural.

Marie Antoinette's Watch also deftly lays out the history of horology and the 18th Century engineering feats attained in Paris's answer to Silicon Valley, the Ile de la Cite, that made the watch the most intricate and prized personal device of its time - something that's come full circle today.

In the hands of Techcrunch's East Coast Editor, John Biggs, Marie Antoinette's Watch is by turns edifying and lurid, historical and utterly modern. Culminating in a heist in a Tel Aviv antiquities museum in the 1980s, Biggs tells the story of how one object can transform countries, cultures, high technology, and time itself.

Members Reviews:

The story is spiced with a touching romance revealed through the life of Marie Antoinette who was married off young to the Frenc

This is a masterful writing effort. I can only imagine the research that went into it. The writing is superb. Biggs intertwines the history of watchmaking with historical events of the 1700's up to more recent times.. The story is spiced with a touching romance revealed through the life of Marie Antoinette who was married off young to the French King and eventually discovered the love of her life. Intrigue is introduced through scheming thieves. Biggs gets into their heads in a way that is fascinating. Whatever inspired Biggs to write a book of such detail about watches and their creators is puzzling, but he tamed the task. A creative, resolute composer and a master of the craft of writing, he delivers an exceptional historical account on a rare topic.

Wonderful writing but needs more pictures!

This book tells a number of stories, which are all linked by a single and singular time piece, the Marie Antoinette or the No 160. Some of teh stories are tragic but others show the heights to which artistry can elevate the human spirit. My only complain about this book is the lack of pictures of the watch. The writing and research are a solid five starts but it cries out for visual details of the "complications" of the watchmaker's art that he describes, as well as illustrations of the watches themselves.

I very much enjoyed the book

I very much enjoyed the book. Like many watch collectors I am familiar with much o fthis story but the book adds a lot most watch types might find of interest but is not included in the other works on this particular watch.

It is not four stars because while the author leary has done research and spoken to experts, he does not seem to have talked to many avid collectors.