Jaeger-LeCoultre

Was founded by Antoine LeCoutre in 1833 and is a luxury Swiss watch and clock manufacturer based in Le Sentier, Switzerland.

Antoine invented a machine to cut watch pinions from steel in 1833 and as a result founded a small watchmaking workshop in Le Sentier, honing his watchmaking skills enabling him to create high-quality timepieces. In 1844 he invented the world’s most precise measuring instrument, capable of measuring the micron which enabled the creation of incredibly precise watch parts. Four years later, at the Universal Exhibition in London he was awarded a gold medal for this work on timepiece mechanisation and precision.

Antoine didn’t just innovate the mechanics of watchmaking, he also transformed production methods. With his son Elie Le Coultre (1842-1917), he established the regions first ‘factory’ in 1866, where all their employees expertise was concentrated under one roof. This was highly unusual at a time when watchmaking was essentially a cottage industry with watchmaking skills divided up amongst hundreds of small workshops. With this set up they were able to develop the first partially mechanised production processes for complex movements in 1870.

From 1902 until 1932 their factory produced most of the movement blanks for Patek Philippe of Geneva.

As a truly innovative company, Jaeger-LeCoultre have produced over 1,242 different calibres, registered around 400 patents and created hundreds of inventions including one of the world’s most complicated wristwatches, the world’s smallest calibre and a timepiece of near-perpetual movement.

Since 2000 the company has been a fully owned subsidiary of the Swiss luxury group Richemont.