Jaeger-LeCoultre: A Visit to the Manufacture to Understand Precision

On a quest to understand precision at Jaeger-LeCoultre, Prestige talks to the brand’s CEO Catherine Rénier and visits the brand’s manufacture to look at its time-measurement innovations. 

Timekeeping, by definition, must be precise. There can be few watchmakers that wouldn’t count precision as an essential criteria as to what makes a decent watch. Yet there’s a fine line between vision and sheer obsession. And for Jaeger-LeCoultre – and its founder, Antoine LeCoultre – the pursuit of precision veers towards the latter.

In 1833, in the heart of Switzerland’s Vallée de Joux, LeCoultre’s reputation as one of the most accurate watchmaking ateliers was fast spreading. He was as much an inventor as a watchmaker, and in order to ensure absolute precision in his calibres he took it upon himself to create tools that didn’t exist in his time. They included machines that could cut watch pinions from steel, and the Millionometre, which was the first instrument capable of measuring the micron, a unit of measurement that neither existed at the time, nor have a name. On its introduction in 1844 and for a while after that, it was the world’s most precise measuring instrument.

The obsession over precision perpetuates to this day at Jaeger-LeCoultre: succinctly, and by no means comprehensively, it includes the first chronometer Grande Complication pocket watch in 1890, the extreme miniaturisation of the Calibre 101 in the 1920s, the Chonomètre Geophysical in 1958, the 1,000 Hours Control protocol in 1992, the Gyrotourbillon in 2004, the Duometre system in 2007 and the patented S-shape hairspring in 2014. 

Over more than 190 years, Jaeger-LeCoultre has of course been known for more than just precision. It’s long been known as the “watchmaker of watchmakers”, as it designed, produced and assembled some of the world’s most important movements – not just for itself, but for other prestigious houses. Since the 1930s, the maison has also been synonymous with the Reverso, and it has deep roots in alarm and repeater watchmaking, as well as astronomical complications and the arts. 

All these key pillars can be found in Jaeger-LeCoultre’s museum, I’m assured by the brand’s current CEO Catherine Rénier, just before I’m due to visit. She ticks off some of the most important storytelling elements at the maison and how each has been celebrated by the brand in the last few years. “Our sound-making expertise, the celestial inspiration, the Reverso … and this year, precision. We wanted to really highlight the Duometre as the thematic of precision for the maison this year.”

The new Duometre collection, launched in April at Watches and Wonders in Geneva, was five years in the making, Rénier tells me. “The revamp of the whole collection, from designing the new case, which is really a work of detail and an inspiration from the past, to the new heliotourbillon movement and the chronograph moon movement, took about five years. But time flies in watchmaking. You may think five years, my goodness, but it takes time to reach excellence. That’s what we often say.”

Introduced in 2007, the Duometre Chronograph was a true innovation in movement design, in that it took the two barrel configuration, which already existed in pocket watches in the late 19th century and was later employed in wristwatches, to the next level by separating its energy to power two separate functions: timekeeping and the chronograph.

“Having several barrels was already an established way of providing more energy to the movement, except that the energy would go through one gear train and it couldn’t be split between complications and timekeeping,” explains Rénier. “But the Duometre offered a proprietary solution to precision. In 2007, it was very innovative of us to give each barrel a gear train, so you’d have two barrels and two gear trains linked to the regulating organ, where one would power precision timekeeping and the other would power the complication.”

For 2024, there’s also an entirely new tourbillon configuration: the patented Heliotourbillon rotates on three axes and creates a spinning-top effect to fight gravity; it compliments the existing multi-axis tourbillons in Jaeger-LeCoultre’s portfolio, including the Gyrotourbillon and the Spherotourbillon. Rénier felt strongly about a new expression of the tourbillon in the new Duometre. “Precision has many aspects and, of course, tourbillons are also an important element of precision to fight gravity – and at Jaeger we’re the pioneers of the multi-axis tourbillon,” she says. 

It’s one thing to see the finished watches, but quite another to really experience them yourself at the manufacture, which is where we find ourselves some days after Watches and Wonders has ended. The manufacture’s sprawling site in Le Sentier is a sight to see, and with more than 180 skills housed under one roof, visits are often structured to focus on a specific area – in our case, we’re there to see and understand precision.

After donning white jackets, we’re first led down to the Heritage Gallery, which houses the memory of Jaeger-LeCoultre, from written records, drawings, patents and books, to Antoine LeCoultre’s original workbench, and a monumental glass wall encasing 300 historic movements made and assembled by Jaeger-LeCoultre. Of course, we also get a close look at the Millionometre, Antoine LeCoultre’s major contribution to the watchmaking industry, as well as the Restoration Workshop, where 10 watchmakers meticulously repair and replicate parts for antique timepieces and pocket watches. 

In the next building, we’re privy to plans and sketches for the Duometre dual-barrel and gear-train systems – and more importantly, shown how it works. We see how the Gyrotourbillon cages are created and finished. Regulating organs are broken down and explained. And then, at the end of our tour, we’re brought to the Atelier d’Antoine, a new space on top of the original building where educational programmes and discovery workshops are held. 

If it’s clear on this eye-opening journey that innovation has always pushed the brand forward, it’s clearer still that nothing Jaeger-LeCoultre does diverges from its heritage. The new Duometre is a good example of taking something from the past – a 2007 invention plus 19th-century-inspired design – and making it relevant to the present day.

“In a maison like ours, which is more than 190 years old, you have to be inspired by the past to build your future,” says Rénier. “If you don”t look back at understanding who you are as a maison, and what have been the driving forces for your maison, you might just lose your identity or what makes you unique.” 

The Duometre collection achieves this, precisely. 

You can discover Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Manufacture tours here.

This article was first published in Prestige Hong Kong