Jaeger-LeCoultre
Manufacture Jaeger-LeCoultre SA, or simply Jaeger-LeCoultre, is a Swiss luxury watchmaker and clock manufacturer founded by Antoine LeCoultre in 1833 and is based in Le Sentier, Switzerland. Since 2000, the company has been a fully owned subsidiary of the Swiss luxury group Richemont.
Jaeger-LeCoultre is regarded as a top-tier Richemont brand. It has hundreds of inventions, patents, and more than one thousand movements to its name, including the world's smallest movement, one of the world's most complicated wristwatches, and a timepiece of near-perpetual movement. Watch enthusiasts refer to the brand as the watchmaker's watchmaker.
History
Early history
The earliest records of the LeCoultre family in Switzerland date from the 16th century, when Pierre LeCoultre, a French Huguenot, fled to Geneva from Lizy-sur-Ourcq, France to escape religious persecution. In 1558, he obtained the status of “inhabitant” but left the following year to acquire a plot of land in the Vallée de Joux. Over time, a small community formed and in 1612, Pierre LeCoultre's son built a church there, marking the founding of the village of Le Sentier where the company's factory is still based.In 1834, following his invention of a machine to cut watch pinions from steel, Antoine LeCoultre founded a small watchmaking workshop in Le Sentier, where he honed his horological skills to create high-quality timepieces. In 1844, he invented the world's most precise measuring instrument at the time, the Millionomètre, and in 1847 he created a keyless system to rewind and set watches. Four years later, he was awarded a gold medal for his work on timepiece precision and mechanization at the first Universal Exhibition in London.
In 1866, at a time when watchmaking skills were divided up among hundreds of small workshops, Antoine and his son, Elie LeCoultre, established the Vallée de Joux's first full-fledged manufactory, LeCoultre & Cie., pooling their employees' expertise under one roof. Under this set-up, they developed in 1870 the first partially mechanised production processes for complicated movements.
By the same year, the business employed 500 people and was known as the "Grande Maison of the Vallée de Joux", and by 1900, it had created over 350 different calibres, of which 128 were equipped with chronograph functions and 99 with repeater mechanisms. From 1902 and for the next 30 years, LeCoultre & Cie. produced most of the movement blanks for Patek Philippe of Geneva.
Re-organization
In 1903, Paris-based watchmaker to the French Navy, Edmond Jaeger, challenged Swiss manufacturers to develop and produce the ultra-thin movements that he had invented. Jacques-David LeCoultre, Antoine's grandson who was responsible for production at LeCoultre & Cie., accepted the challenge, giving rise to a collection of ultra-thin pocket watches, including the thinnest in the world in 1907, equipped with the LeCoultre Calibre 145.The same year, French jeweller Cartier, one of Jaeger's clients, signed a contract with the Parisian watchmaker under which all Jaeger movements for a period of fifteen years would be exclusive to Cartier. The movements were produced by LeCoultre. Edmond Jaeger also acquired the patent for the atmospherically driven clock Atmos from its inventor Jean-Léon Reutter and licensed it to LeCoultre from 1936 for France, and in 1937 for Switzerland.
The collaboration between Jaeger and LeCoultre led to the company being officially renamed Jaeger-LeCoultre in 1937. Before that, LeCoultre of Switzerland and Jaeger of France also formed a company in England, Ed. Jaeger Limited, in 1921 to make instruments for prestige car manufacturers. In 1927 Jaeger LeCoultre sold 75 per cent of the company to S Smith & Sons and in 1937 the company name was changed to British Jaeger Instruments Limited. The 1930 Bentley Speed Six also features gauges made by Jaeger and a clock by S. Smith & Sons.
American LeCoultre watches 1932-1985
Due to the Smoot Hawley Tariff Act, from 1932 to approximately 1985 watches were cased in locally produced cases in North America and sold under the name LeCoultre by the company Vacheron-LeCoultre, a subsidiary of Longines-Wittnauer, with slightly different case designs.After 1985, Jaeger-LeCoultre was adopted uniformly worldwide. According to factory records, the last movement to be used in an American LeCoultre watch was shipped out of Le Sentier in 1976.
Some collectors and misinformed dealers have made the erroneous claim that American LeCoultre is not associated with Jaeger-LeCoultre Switzerland. The confusion stems from the 1950s, when the North American distributor of LeCoultre watches was the Longines-Wittnauer Group, which also was responsible for the distribution of Vacheron Constantin timepieces. Collectors have confused this distribution channel with the manufacture of the watches. According to Jaeger-LeCoultre enthusiast Zaf Basha, the "Galaxy", an upmarket mysterious dial diamond watch, is a collaboration between Vacheron & Constantin and LeCoultre for the American market. It features “LeCoultre” on the front and “Vacheron & Constantin — LeCoultre” stamped on the case. Watches for ladies also bore "LeCoultre" on the front.
The LeCoultre trademark expired in 1985 and was replaced by the Jaeger-LeCoultre trademark.
Watch manufacturing
Notable inventions and patents
Since Jaeger-LeCoultre's founding, the company has produced over 1,242 different calibres, registered approximately 400 patents and created hundreds of inventions.- In 1844, Antoine LeCoultre invented the Millionomètre, which was the first instrument in history capable of measuring the micron, allowing for the precise manufacture of watch parts. The invention was never patented, as no such system existed in Switzerland at the time. However, its unique composition was kept a closely guarded secret, used by the company for more than fifty years. It was presented at the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1900.
- In 1847, Antoine invented a keyless watch, the second simple and reliable winding and time-setting system to do without a key after Patek Philippe's version of 1845. Instead, it relied on a small push-piece that activated a lever to change over from one function to another. Again, the invention was not patented, allowing other watchmakers to quickly implement the system.
- In 1866, for the first time in watchmaking history, LeCoultre & Cie. began to manufacture calibres with small complications in small series, and in 1891 combined the chronograph and minute repeater complications into a double complication calibre. This subsequently led in the mid-1890s to the production of grandes complications, or watches comprising at least three classic horological complications, such as a perpetual calendar, chronograph and minute repeater. In 2004, Jaeger-LeCoultre created the Gyrotourbillon I, its first grande complication wristwatch, featuring a tourbillon gravitating on two axes, along with a perpetual calendar with double retrograde indicators and a running equation of time. In 2006, it released the Reverso grande complication à triptyque, the first watch in history to be equipped with three dials driven by a single movement, and in 2009 the company produced one of the world's most complicated wristwatches, the Hybris Mechanica à Grande Sonnerie with 26 complications.
- In 1907, the LeCoultre Calibre 145 set the record for the world's thinnest movement at 1.38 mm thick, appearing in pocket watches that remain to this day the thinnest in their category. From 1907 until the 1960s, the movement was produced in some 400 copies.
Environmental rating
In jewelry and watchmaking industry, there are general concerns over the lack of transparency in manufacturing activities and the sourcing of precious raw materials such as gold, which is a major cause of environmental issues such as pollution, soil degradation and deforestation. The situation is especially serious in the developing countries which are top producers of gold, including China, Russia and South Africa. It is estimated that the watch and jewelry sector uses over 50% of world's annual gold production, but in most cases the watch companies are not able to or are unwilling to demonstrate where their raw materials come from and if the material suppliers use eco-friendly sourcing technologies.
Notable models
Reverso
Its name inspired by the Latin “I turn around”, the Reverso was created in 1931 as a watch capable of surviving the hard knocks of a polo game: The origin of the watch creation is rooted in the early 1930s when a group of Polo players asked César de Trey, a watch dealer, to create a timepiece that could withstand the rigours of their sport. César de Trey followed up on the request with a letter to his colleague and watch manufacturer, Jacques-David LeCoultre. René-Alfred Chauvot, was a French engineer with LeCoultre, and was engaged to develop this new watchcase. Mr. Chauvot designed a reversible case that could protect the fragile dial and glass of the watch. The final design, that is still in use today, allows for the case to be swivelled in its carrier to protect the watch glass. The design is considered a classic of Art Deco.A list of notable watches from the Reverso line include the following:
- The Reverso Classic Large Duoface Small Second, available in stainless steel.
- The Reverso Tribute Small Seconds Burgundy Red, available in stainless steel.
- The Grande Reverso Ultra Thin Tribute to 1931, available in stainless steel.