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The Vallée de Joux, where time stands still. At 1,000 meters in the Jura Hills of Switzerland's Canton Vaud lies a valley called the Vallée de Joux - a name with magical connotations for those who appreciate and collect fine watch making. The valley, with its twin lakes bounded by forested hills, is famous for its harsh and persistent winters. Houses are clad in metal against westerly gales. In the 16th Century, Huguenots sought refuge from religious persecution in the secluded Vallée de Joux and began to develop their craft skills with puritanical tenacity. Specializing in metalwork, they raised their art to the manufacture of the first complex mechanical devices, such as music boxes, automations and watch components. By the 19th Century, the valley dwellers - known as "Combiers" - were acquiring every conceivable manual skill in the art of making watches, developing a degree of proficiency unequalled in the world. Today many people believe the Vallée de Joux is the home of the worlds best watchmakers. The LeCoultre family in particular made a name for themselves through unrelenting industry and constant invention. In the town of Le Sentier, the LeCoultres began by making razors, then music boxes, keyboard instruments and, finally, watch components of the highest precision. And it is in Le Sentier, in 1833, that the chronicle of the Jaeger-LeCoultre watch manufacture begins. Since then, the company has consistently made watch making history. In 1803, Le Sentier saw the birth of a boy who was to make the name LeCoultre world-renowned. Descendant of Pierre LeCoultre who settled in Le Sentier in 1559, Antoine LeCoultre was the son of Henri David, owner of a forge that produced mechanical instruments. It was here that he completed his apprenticeship and specialized in metallurgy and gear-mechanisms. In 1833, Antoine left the family workshops and founded a business manufacturing watch gearing with his brother Ulysse in Le Sentier. Antoine invested his energy and engineering talent in the development of new production processes and methods. His Millionometer of 1844 was the first instrument capable of measuring components to the nearest micron - a millionth of a meter. The growing business made watch-blanks as well as precision parts, and, by 1860, it employed 100 people. Antoine LeCoultre's son, Elie, Paul and Benjamin, followed him in the business. LeCoultre became an early source for complicated movements, creating repeaters, chronographs and calendars. By the time Elie's son, Jacques David, joined the business in 1899, LeCoultre had become the Vallée de Joux's leading manufacturer. It was Jacques David who, in 1903, entered into a business relationship in Paris with the chronometer-maker Edmond Jaeger. This partnership opened the way into the luxury market for LeCoultre and resulted in the name of Jaeger-LeCoultre, which was to become synonymous with high-grade watch making. In the early 18th Century, the leading watch manufacturers were the French and the British. Both were sea-faring people with merchant fleets and navies that needed precise timekeeping to navigate the globe. But, by the mid-19th Century, their watch making dominance was undermined by Swiss watchmakers who began turning out high-value watches in greater quantities. The portable timepiece, once a symbol of rule and power, became available to a wider population. At the same time, watch making came under new influences. One of the sources of new ideas and opportunities was Antoine LeCoultre, who designed and built machine-tools that could produce watch-parts to unprecedented precision. Among these was his Millionometer, which established the metric system as the watch-industry measurement standard. In 1847, Antoine LeCoultre developed a crown winding system that also set the time. His successors have inherited his pioneering spirit; since 1833, the manufacture has filed more than a hundred patents. Within a few decades, LeCoultre & Co. had become a leading watchmaker, delivering an increasingly complicated succession of movements. In 1890, it produced a range of 125 different movements, and, in 1903, its workshops unveiled the slimmest movement for pocket watches. At 1.38 mm thick, it remains an unbroken record. Other exceptionally thin movements followed: a 2.8 mm chronograph and a 2.7 mm minute-repeater. As wristwatches superseded pocket watches, LeCoultre found new fields to conquer. The tiny wristwatches of the Art Déco era were fitted with the thin-level rectangular douplan movement, invented in 1925. It was followed, in 1929, by Calibre 101 - still the smallest mechanical watch movement ever made and still in production. In 1928, a revolutionary clock appeared. The Atmos was the only clock that derives its energy from the slightest temperature changes of the surrounding air. The Reverso, which was introduced in 1931, is among the world's best known watches and, as an Art Déco classic, has entered into the history of the decorative arts movement. The fifties and sixties saw a number of innovative wristwatches. The Geomatic had a chronometer movement, and the Geophysic had special antimagnetic protection as well. The remarkable Calibre 497 automatic movement needed no winding crown in the Futurematic watch of 1953. And the Memovox was the first automatic alarm wristwatch in 1956. After the "Quartz Years" that nearly put an end to mechanical watches, the pent-up ideas in the manufacture were suddenly released in 1980, resulting in a series of watch making achievements that were new to the world. The Manufacture's book of Timepieces tells the story of their past and their future.
Chronological Landmarks 1833:The year Eugéne Delacroix paints "Fantasia Arabe". Antoine LeCoultre establishes a watch making workshop in Le Sentier. It is still a manufacture today, where the component of the watch are made hand-finished and assembled in a single complex of specialized workshops. It is a extremaly time-consuming way of making watches, but without it, the watchmakers would be unable to express their love or their craft by finishing and decorating each detail of the watch to perfection. 1844:Samuel Morse makes the World smaller with the first telegraph link. At the same time, Antoine LeCoultre's Millionometer reduces the smallest measurement distance to one thousandth of a millimeter, thus introducing watch making to a higher level of precision. 1847:In Le Sentier, LeCoultre & Co. produce the first movement with a crown winding and setting system, making the key-wound watch obsolete. In Mauritius, the first philatelic mistake is made when postage stamps are printed with the words "Post Office" instead of "Post Paid". 1851:The great exhibition open in London where Antoine LeCoultre wins his first gold medal for a gold chronometer with the new keyless winding and setting system. 1903:The Wright Brothers take off on the first powered flight. Closer to the ground, LeCoultre & Co. unveil the world's flattest pocket-watch caliber. The 1.38 mm high movement still holds the record. 1925:The year Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse is born also sees the introduction of Jaeger-LeCoultre's Duoplon watch - way ahead of its time for its modular construction and accurate timekeeping. 1928:An engineer called J.L. Reutter invents a remarkable clock while Maurice Ravel composes his Bolero. The Atmos table-clock never has to be wound. It creates all the power it needs from tiny changes in the air temperature. Built in Le Sentier since 1936, Atmos clocks are frequently presented to distinguished foreign representatives in Switzerland. 1929:The year the stock-market crash brings reduced circumstances around the world, Jaeger-LeCoultre reduces the mechanical watch movement to its smallest ever. Calibre 101, measuring 14 x 4.8 x 3.4 mm, comprising 98 parts and weighing approximately a gram, remains the world's tiniest watch movement. 1931:Auguste Piccard goes higher than man dreamed possible in his hydrogen balloon. Far below, in Le Sentier, Jaeger-LeCoultre starts building the Reverso, a wristwatch with a swivel case that turns its back to shocks to protect the delicate mineral glass. It perfectly captured the Art Déco style for posterity. 1932:Jaeger-LeCoultre creates a movement of heart-stopping beauty (coinciding with the development of the pacemaker in the United States). The harmonious linear arrangement of the Baguette clock movement is always presented in a glass case. 1953:While Hillary and Tensing conquer Everest, Jaeger-LeCoultre completes the first fully automatic watch. The Futurematic had a power-reserve indicator and needed no winding crown. 1956:Brigitte Bardot incarnates dreams in "And God Created Woman". Memovox, the first automatic alarm wristwatch from Jaeger-LeCoultre, brings thousands back reality. 1982:Jaeger-LeCoultre wins the contest for the smallest quartz movement, in the year Italy wins the World Cup. The Calibre 601 movement, with a diameter of 11.7 mm, is only 1.8 mm thick. It renews Jaeger-LeCoultre's quest for improved timekeeping and increased miniaturization. 1987:Vincent Van Gogh's "Sunflowers" grabs world attention for the price it fetches at auction. Jaeger-LeCoultre concentrates on making the smallest complete chronograph movement. The Calibre 630 Mecha-Quartz movement combines the complexity of a mechanical chronograph with quartz precision. 1989:The Manufacture produces the Grand Réveil. It is a self-winding perpetual-calendar wristwatch with moon phases and a unique feature - an alarm-bell struck by a hammer. Meanwhile, astronomers discover a new moon orbiting Neptune. 1991:Jaeger-LeCoultre celebrates the 60th birthday of the world's longest-running watch model - the Reverso - with a special limited edition of 500 of this celebrated watch, a traveling exhibition "Journey to the Center of Time" and a lavishly illustrated book "Reverso. The Living Legend". In the same year, Switzerland looks back on seven centuries as a nation. 1992:The eyes of the world are on Earth Summit at Rio de Janeiro, In Le Sentier, watchmakers are putting the most thoroughly tested wristwatch of its era through its paces. The Master Control 1,000 Hours sets a new standard for mechanical reliability. 1993:Advanced measuring systems from Switzerland shrink the world's highest mountain by two meters, putting Everest's official height at 8,846 m. The same concern for absolute precision inspires the Reverso Tourbillon with power-reserve indicator in a limited edition of 500 pieces. 1994:The Stones keep rocking. The doyen of rock-bands thrills millions on its explosive US tour. In Le Sentier, the small, clear sound of tiny hammers striking acoustic-steel gongs is heard from the first of 500 Reverso Répétition Minutes. 1996:Germany wins the European soccer championship, while Jaeger-LeCoultre accumulates watch making distinctions. The Master Geographic is awarded the title Watch of the year by the Swiss public, while the Reverso wins the Grand Prix of the Vicenza Fair, a prize willingly accepted by Giorgio Corvo, the greatest Reverso admirer of all time. Moreover, collectors of sports watches can henceforth time their best exploits with the Reverso Chronographe Rétrograde, providing they were able to acquire one of the 500 in the limited series. 1998:The Manufacture Jaeger-LeCoultre was developing numerous horological innovations, ready to make a sensational entry into the market on the threshold of 21st Century.