The history of horology in the 18th century would not be complete without the probably greatest genius of watchmaking that ever lived, Abraham Louis Breguet.Among his numerous inventions, the best-known are the Breguet spiral, found until today in every quality watch and wristwatch, and the tourbillon, the whirlwind - an ingenious device that Breguet invented to compensate for gravity influences on the balance spring in pocket watches. Among his other inventions were a new striking mechanism for repeaters, a new escapement, the so-called echappement naturel, similar to the chronometer escapement (1789), in 1790, the parachute shock protection system, the cylinder escapement with a ruby cylinder, and improvements of Perrelet's automatic winding mechanism, implemented in his around forty Perpetuelles.Furthermore, Breguet made what we consider today as the first Grande Complication in the history of horology, the watch known as the Marie-Antoinette. The Marie-Antoinette was a self-winding watch with a perpetual calendar, equation of time indication and a minute repeater. It has disappeared since 1983 when it was stolen from the Jerusalem Institute of Islamic Art.
