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"Create your own, as unique as you are"
To enter the world of Jaquet Droz is to open the doors to a unique experience in the world of luxury goods and fine watchmaking. Astounding and enthralling through innovation, whilst pushing the boundaries of creativity... each and every timepiece we have designed meets the challenge of these exacting criteria.
The legend of time, since 1738
Pierre Jaquet-Droz was one of the greatest craftsmen of the 18th century. Born in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1721, he was a master watchmaker of genius and vision who played a decisive role in the history of watchmaking with his works of mechanical jewelry, watches and clocks featuring automata or music, such as singing birds, and extraordinary humanoid automata. Since Jaquet Droz joined the Swatch Group in 2000, it has continued its never-ending quest to perpetuate the history and spirit of its founder. To this day, the Jaquet Droz Atelier de Haute Horlogerie continues to employ exceptional craftsmanship to develop timepieces with unique character, notably including its automaton models – which never cease to astound and enthrall – and its Ateliers d’Art limited editions. For more than 280 years, the brand has cultivated a spirit of excellence and innovation, passing down the values of emotion and poetry while building its future day after day.
The Philosophy of the Unique
For almost three centuries, Jaquet Droz has been creating astonishing timepieces that embody its approach to excellence and inexhaustible creativity. The brand has bolstered this unique philosophy with customization options to ensure exclusivity. In the 18th century, the Jaquet-Droz family were pioneers in the art of luxury decoration, always with a particular passion for minerals. Enameled cases embellished with paillons, painting on enamel, and sculpted and engraved ornamentation contributed enormously to the family’s success and fame. Jaquet Droz still offers discerning customers the option to customize the dial of their timepiece and to pay tribute to the Ateliers d’Art tradition and the natural brilliance and ever-changing emotion inspired by minerals and precious stones.
Atelier de Haute Horlogerie
Pierre Jaquet-Droz's expertise lives on today in the brand's Atelier de Haute Horlogerie where all of the timepieces are assembled and where, day after day, master watchmakers meticulously perform their tasks overlooking a classic panoramic view of La Chaux-de-Fonds, home of its founder. Jaquet Droz wrote a new chapter in its history by adding a silicon balance spring in the escapement of its movements and revisiting their aesthetics.
With its striking aesthetics and sleek, avant-garde design, the Grande Seconde has been celebrating the magic of time in its most infinitesimal fractions since the 18th century. This model embodies the Jaquet Droz brand and is universally recognized as one of the most astonishing creations in watchmaking history. From the most pared down design to the integration of precision horological complications, the Grande Seconde collection is an inexhaustible source of inspiration and features infinite variations.
Ateliers d’Art
Jaquet Droz makes it a priority to develop its Ateliers d’Art within the Atelier de Haute Horlogerie in order to integrate and preserve the centuries of special expertise that define the brand’s identity. In tribute to the meticulous expertise of these craftsmen, miniature painting, sculpted and engraved ornamentation and "plique-à-jour" or paillonné enameling adorn certain exceptional pieces in the Jaquet Droz collection or in very limited editions.
The skilled hands of the artisans strive to perform the most painstaking, delicate work to create these exclusive pieces. Unique expertise contributes to every stage of the process, from development of new projects to the beautiful finishes which adorn the contemporary timepieces and which are a mark of their distinction.
Atelier Automates
By pushing attention to detail even further, Jaquet Droz achieves an unprecedented and astounding effect: throughout the process to develop its automata, watchmaking experts work alongside all the artistic trades that have become the brand's specialty, with this fusion the driving force behind the exclusive, captivating result. Forged by human hand, and boasting superior technology, the sound and movement they produce will not fail to spark the same fascination experienced by the royal families in the 18th century, proving that emotions can travel through time. As with all Jaquet Droz creations, beauty goes hand in hand with mechanical ingenuity. These pieces of fine watchmaking mark the start of a new arena of exploration for the brand: mechanical animation of timepieces in three dimensions.
Find out more about the brand: https://www.jaquet-droz.com/en