The L.A. Mayer Museum for Islamic Art in Jerusalem presents "The Mystery of Lost Time," an exhibition of clocks and watches from the personal collection of Sir David Solomons, the husband of the museum's founder. Many of the exquisite, venerable timepieces are the work of the brilliant Swiss horologist Abraham Louis Breguet, who revolutionized watch-making, essentially invented the wristwatch centuries before it became fashionable, and personally designed timepieces for Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette.

 

The clocks and watches in the exhibition have a colorful history: in 1983, the whole collection was stolen right out of the museum by Israeli super-thief and watch aficionado Naaman Diller, who snuck alone into the museum one night and made off with the entire collection. The pieces were only recovered three years ago after a dying Diller, hiding in America, confessed to his wife where exactly their cache of exquisite vintage clocks had come from. Ninety percent of the collection was then restored to the museum.