After almost a year of renovations, Jaeger-LeCoultre inaugurated its Heritage Gallery on the eve of the company’s 175th anniversary on 4 October. Housed in the original workshop in which founder Antoine LeCoultre crafted his first timepieces in 1833, the gallery is a showcase of Jaeger-LeCoultre’s much venerated watchmaking history, with more than 300 current and historical timepieces, and watch movements on display. Our Technical Director of Horology was on hand to witness the Gallery’s grand opening.
The Jaeger-LeCoultre Manufacture has decided to preserve their heritage in their new “Heritage Gallery”.
Jaeger-LeCoultre's refurbished Heritage Gallery
The gallery was conceived to exist within the “ancient” building of the
manufacture encompassing the area that was originally Antoine
LeCoultre’s working space. Incorporation of the Heritage Gallery within
the Manufacture called for a major renovation of this historical
building that began in 2006. As with any renovation, things can be
tricky especially when the building itself has already previously
undergone many renovations and expansions. In the end, though, the
engineers, architects, designers, and constructors prevailed. The
Heritage Gallery was inaugurated October 4th 2007 in a celebration of
fireworks.
An old photograph showing the original Antoine LeCoultre's workshopIt was in 1833 when Jaeger-LeCoultre’s founder Antoine
LeCoultre started his manufacturing business in its present location,
the Rue de la Golisse 8 in Le Sentier, Switzerland. The above photo is
possibly the earliest known of what is now the Jaeger-LeCoultre
Manufacture. What I find astounding is that this iconic building still
remains the company’s business and manufacturing headquarters, and
official address. It was in the upper floor of this building (see photo above) that Antoine LeCoultre made it his personal den where he worked
his genius on crafting exquisite mechanical devices. The underlying
floors of the building (in the beginning) were living quarters and a
working farm.
Jaeger-LeCoultre’s founder Antoine
LeCoultre
Antoine
LeCoultre's million-meter
One of Mr. LeCoultre’s earliest and most important inventions was the
million-meter (or micrometer, see photo below) that is purportedly the first instrument
capable of dividing the newly accepted meter unit (the French Metric
System) to within one millionth of a meter – an amazing accomplishment
in the mid 1800s. This tool went on to prove instrumental in the future
success of Jaeger-LeCoultre manufacturing, providing superb precision
measurements in an industry that had previously adopted “variable”
standards as their working platforms. Timepieces with movements as thin
as 1.4 mm were being manufactured using the precision measurement
capabilities developed many years earlier by Mr. LeCoultre.
Lobby and Reception Area of the Heritage Gallery
Fast
forward to 2007, and this historical building, after a makeover, stands
as a proud testament to the vision and achievements of Antoine
LeCoultre as a watchmaker, and the legacy of Jaeger-LeCoultre
Manufacture as a distinguished watchmaking atelier. It is thus not
surprising that the Manufacture has decided to preserve their heritage
in this iconic building. From Grand Complications, exquisite Reversos,
jewelry watches, and tourbillions, the Jaeger-LeCoultre Heritage
Gallery is well worth a visit and you don’t need to be a JLC fanatic to
enjoy. As a matter of fact, if you own another brand of complicated or
high grade mechanical watch made any time in the past 150 years, there
is a chance that the movement (ebauche) might very well have began its
life at Rue de la Golisse 8 in Le Sentier, Switzerland, or in other
words the manufacture of Jaeger-LeCoultre.
Interior of the Heritage Gallery
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