JAQUET DROZ

Pierre Jaquet-Droz (1721-1790), founder of the modern watchmaking house that bears his name, was not only one of the most renowned watchmakers of the 18th century; he was also a pioneer in the development of automatons, which are now considered the first mechanical computers. His lifelike, moving figures, controlled by complex clockwork-like mechanisms, are now on display in museums and inspired smaller versions on Jaquet-Droz’s clocks and music boxes, which featured singing birds and other mobile creatures. The spirit of these fascinating inventions lives on in the timepieces of today’s Jaquet Droz, which resides alongside Breguet and Blancpain among the Swatch Group’s high-luxury houses. Whereas much of the collection consists of elegantly designed timepieces with more conventional complications — many of them part of the flagship Grande Seconde series, whose figure-eight arrangement of hours-and-minutes and running seconds on two different-sized, overlapping subdials has become a brand hallmark — the most breathtaking Jaquet Droz watches combine minute repeater mechanisms with miniaturized automatons on the dials, which move at the push of the same slide that activates the repeater’s chimes. To mark its namesake’s 300th birthday in 2021, Jaquet Droz unveiled the Bird Repeater 300th Anniversary Edition, with tiny birds singing and fluttering against the lush, miniature-painted natural landscape of the enamel dial as the watch chimes the time.

Founded: 1738

Headquarters: La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland

Ownership: Swatch Group

Notable models: Grande Seconde, Skelet-One, Bird Repeater

Did you know: The three most famous automatons created by Pierre Jaquet-droz and his sons — the Writer, the Musician, and the Draughtsman — are still functional and on display at the Musee d’Art et d'Histoire Neuchâtel, Switzerland.