The legacy of Jaquet Droz dates back to when Pierre Jaquet-Droz and his son Henri-Louis traveled the world to bring their creations to influential cities like Paris, Lyon, Madrid, London, Berlin, and Amsterdam among others. Maintaining the avant-garde spirit and refined taste of its founders, every creation that comes out of Jaquet-Droz is a work of art, love, and dedication; a little treasure that epitomizes a father and son relationship that gets further celebrated by the two 7-point stars part of their logo and that are carefully engraved on the crown and on the oscillating weight of Jaquet Droz timepieces.
If you’re thinking about celebrating your Dad with a special Father’s Day gift, this might be the perfect way to go considering that close father and son relationship Pierre Jaquet-Droz and his son Henri-Louis had. At the end of the day, all watches tell a story and wearing a Jaquet Droz will forever remind you of that father and son bond.
The History and Art of Watchmaking
Pierre Jaquet Droz was born in 1721 in La Chaux-de-Fonds. At age seventeen in 1738, Pierre opened his first workshop for clock making and produced a series of grandfather clocks with very sophisticated movements beyond anything that had been produced earlier. A decade later, after losing his wife and daughter, Pierre built a special carriage to take six clocks to be sold in Spain. Upon his return to La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1759 and after his successful sales in Spain, he focused exclusively on making watches, clocks, and automatons. In 1774, he successfully completed three humanoid automatons —The Writer, The Draughtsman, and The Musician— that were presented in La Chaux-de-Fonds and a year later in France to Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette.
Years later, the Jaquet Droz fame and success reached the confines of Asia, to the point where the fifth emperor of the Qing Dynasty started collecting some of his masterpieces including clocks and automatons.
Acquired in 2000 by the Swatch Group, the brand returned exclusively to La Chaux-de-Fonds —after closing former operations in London and Geneva— and moved into its new 'Atelier de Haute Horlogerie' in the summer of 2010.
But besides its rich history and the entrepreneurial spirit of its founders, there are many other things that make Jaquet Droz very special and exclusive. From its signature figure-eight dial layout to its limited production of no more than 3,000 watches a year, Jaquet Droz masters certain watchmaking techniques like no other watch manufacture does.
With most of their creations in limited series of 8, 18, 28 or 88 pieces, Jaquet Droz honors its close relationship with China’s fifth emperor of the Qing Dynasty as the number eight is auspicious in Asian culture.
Masters of Grand Feu enamel, hand-engraving, hand-painted dials, and integrated automatons in their timepieces, Jaquet Droz offers a little bit of everything for those in search of the best.
Additionally, Jaquet Droz is the only watch manufacture still doing the art of paillonné. Paillonné enameling is a very complex old technique that dates back to the 19th century, which consists in meticulously positioning tiny paillons —thin pieces— of gold, one by one —in this case birds and other figures—, to create a perfectly geometrical pattern placed on the colored enamel itself, and then subsequently setting the design under a coat of translucent enamel fondant utilizing the Grand Feu enamel technique.
The Collections
Offering an array of timepieces across seven collections, Jaquet Droz really offers a little bit of everything for most watch connoisseurs. Unlike any other watch brand out there, Jaquet Droz and its figure-eight layout offer a prominent seconds hand that takes the center stage. This oversized seconds indicator can be had by itself or paired with other functions like date or moon phase and in a centered or off-centered dial layout. If you strive for a more simplistic look where hand-painted art takes the center stage, the Petite Heure Minute delivers on it with some incredible creations, most of them depicting wild animals, birds, or flowers.
However, if you are the type that is looking for something bold, less dressy, and on a rubber strap or a bracelet, the SW collection is a sporty reworking of the brand's iconic model with a design that plays on a subtle mix of sportiness and modernity.
Lastly, for those looking for an ultra-modern look that resembles independent watchmaking and capitalizes on the art of skeletonization, the relatively new Grande Seconde Skelet-One is the way to go. The Jaquet Droz Grande Seconde Skelet-One incarnates the essence of Jaquet Droz and for the very first time, it incorporates a sapphire dial integrated within an open-worked movement.
But whichever way you decide to go, you just can’t go wrong with any of the Jaquet Droz watches that offer that sense of exclusivity with unparalleled craftsmanship and unique design. Furthermore, if you want a watch that will forever remind you and your father of that lifetime bond you share, the two Jaquet Droz stars will always tell that father and son story like no other timepiece out there.
For more info on Jaquet Droz click here.
