Jaeger-LeCoultre

Antoine-LeCoultre founded his first workshop in 1833, just after the invention of a machine that would produce watch making pinions. Ever since then, the Manufacture Jaeger-Lecoultre has constantly developed around the founder's original workshops. Surprisingly, it was neither a physicist nor an engineer who was the first to measure the micron; it was in fact Antoine LeCoultre in 1844. LeCoultre had created watch components that were so perfect no tool could actually detect the slightest degree of inaccuracy. He then needed to invent the world's most accurate instrument: the Millionometer, which served as a standard for over half of a century. In 1903 the Parisian named Edmond Jaeger gave Swiss watchmakers the challenge of producing ultra-thin calibres. These two men would later give birth to the Jaeger-LeCoultre brand in 1937. In the year 1908, LeCoultre created its first rectangular-shaped calibre as an answer to the challenge created to miniaturize watches small enough to wear on the wrist. By the time of the "Roaring 20s" (1920s), very small ladies' wristwatches were indeed quite popular, but extreme miniaturization always leads to a problem with reliability and precision. The Duoplan cleverly solved this problem by arranging its parts on split levels leading to the world's smallest movement, the Calibre 101 which weighed in at barely one gram and was just 74 parts. That record is still unmatched to this date. Since its founding, the Manufacture of Jaeger-LeCoultre has created and produced over 1,000 different calibres in many varieties. Over 200 patented inventions have contributed to the progress of Swiss watch making in the field of movements, cases, bracelets, dials, and watch functions.