A major player in watchmaking history since the 19th century, Jaeger-LeCoultre celebrated 180 years of watchmaking, starting in its founder’s original workshop, in 2013, and continued to present new horological innovations at the 2014 SIHH. In Chapter One of our serialized history of the brand, we documented the years 1559-1907, and the founding of the Jaeger-LeCoultre watch brand. In Chapter Two, we covered the introduction of such iconic Jaeger-LeCoultre timepieces as the Duoplan, the Atmos clock, and the Reverso, covering the years 1912 to 1931. In Chapter Three, we revealed the origins of the Memovox, Jaeger-LeCoultre’s groundbreaking alarm watch. In Chapter Four, we explored more modern timepiece collections from the late-20th to early 21st Century, including the Master Control and the first complicated Reversos. Now Chapter Five brings us nearly up to date with 21st-century horological marvels such as the Gyrotourbillons.

Dominated by the spirit of invention, the first years of the 21st century are proving to be some of the most fertile in the entire history of Jaeger-LeCoultre. Since the year 2000, the manufacture has created no less than 75 new calibers, including Grandes Complications, tourbillons, minute repeaters, chronographs, perpetual calendars, 15-day power reserves, the first lubricant-free caliber, et cetera. In parallel, over 80 patents have been filed to protect inventions relating both to movements and cases.