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How Edmond Jaeger and Jacques-David LeCoultre Joined Forces

January 5, 2022 By Stephen Leave a Comment

Much has been written of the history of Jaeger-LeCoultre, but little has been said of the complex history that gave us this unusual name. How did an Alsatian immigrant to Paris come to be so closely connected to one of the most famous watchmaking families of the Vallée de Joux? This is the story of the partnership between Edmond Jaeger and Jacques-David LeCoultre, and those that helped them to become Jaeger-LeCoultre, including a group of French aviation pioneers and a Swiss daredevil with a famous family name.

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Antoine LeCoultre, Cartier, Cartier Santos Dumont, Edmond Audemars, Edmond Jaeger, Gustave Delage, Jacques-David LeCoultre, Jaeger-LeCoultre

Blancpain, F. Piguet, Biver, and the Path Forward

March 16, 2021 By Stephen Leave a Comment

Blancpain is billed as “the world’s oldest watchmaker”, but the history of the company is far more complex. Founded before 1735 in Villeret, the modern Blancpain traces its heritage to 1981, when Jean-Claude Biver purchased the name to be a mechanical rebuke of quartz watches. Blancpain and movement specialist Frédéric Piguet would be acquired by what is now the Swatch Group in 1992, with Biver leading the renaissance of mechanical watchmaking.

Filed Under: History, The Watch Files Tagged With: Blancpain, Edmond Capt, Europa Star, Frédéric Piguet, Harwood, Jean-Claude Biver, Le Brassus, Lemania, Moeris, Nicolas Hayek, Omega, Rayville, SMH, SSIH, Swatch Group, Villeret

The Nadir of Jaeger-LeCoultre and the Reverso

April 15, 2020 By Stephen Leave a Comment

Most enthusiasts could instantly name the watches pictured below, but they’d be wrong: This isn’t a Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso, its an Eska Sesame! By the 1980s, Jaeger-LeCoultre’s signature model was forgotten and the company was struggling to survive. Yet just a decade later, the Reverso would lead the entire industry back from the brink. This is the story of the fall of Jaeger-LeCoultre and the resurrection of the Reverso.

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Eska, Eska Sesame, Günter Blümlein, IWC, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso, Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Grande Complication à Triptyque, LMH, Royce, Royce Mexico

The History of the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Chronograph

April 12, 2019 By Stephen Leave a Comment

The Royal Oak Chronograph was a latecomer to this celebrated line and has remained remarkably consistent throughout its two-decade life. All share the same movement and a single lineage passes from the original Ref. 25860 to the subtly-redesigned Ref. 26300, the up-sized Ref. 26320, and the new Ref. 26331. It was only this year that a second model, the 38 mm Ref. 26315, was added. Yet on closer examination, a world of differences emerges, from the City of Sails to the Leo Messi, to the new 41 mm dial. Through it all, the Royal Oak Chronograph remains one of the classiest and most comfortable watches available.

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Audemars Piguet, Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Chronograph, Chronograph, FP 1185

My Visit to the Swiss Jura, Home of Watchmaking

October 24, 2014 By Stephen Leave a Comment

Like many watch fans, I was enticed by the concept of visiting the picturesque mountains of French-speaking northwest Switzerland, the Jura region, home of so many of my timepieces. But I was not entirely clear on what this visit would entail. Most of the articles about such visits focus on special arrangements by manufacturers or general overviews of the towns in the cantons of Neuchâtel and Geneva. I would be traveling alone and unannounced, however. What would await me in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Le Locle, Bienne-Biel, Le Sentier, and the rest?

Filed Under: Commentary Tagged With: Geneva, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Jura triangle, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Le Locle, Switzerland, Val-de-Travers, Vallée de Joux

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