| Copyright (c) 2008 WatchesOnNet | | | | Manufacture in the Vall?de Joux. |
| A brilliant inventor and self-taught watchmaker, | | | | It was in 1903 when the Parisian Edmond Jaeger set |
| Antoine-LeCoultre founded his first workshop in 1833, | | | | Swiss watchmakers the challenge of producing |
| following the invention of a machine to produce | | | | ultra-thin calibres. It would lead to the Calibre 145, the |
| watchmaking pinions. Ever since, the Manufacture | | | | world's thinnest mechanical movement, measuring no |
| Jaeger-Lecoultre has developed constantly around | | | | more than 1.38 mm, and the friendship of Antoine |
| the founder's original workshops. | | | | LeCoultre's grandson, Jacques-Devid LeCoultre. These |
| Surprisingly enough, it was neither a physicist nor an | | | | two men would give a rise to a range of horological |
| engineer who first measured the micron; it was | | | | wonders, and eventually the birth of the |
| Antoine LeCoultre, in 1844. He had created watch | | | | Jaeger-LeCoultre brand in 1937. |
| components that were so perfect no tool could | | | | In the year 1908, the Manufacture created its first |
| actually detect their degree of inaccuracy. He | | | | rectangular-shaped calibre in response to the |
| followed that up by inventing the world's most | | | | challenge created to miniaturize watches to wear on |
| accurate instrument: the Millionometer, which served | | | | the wrist. By the "Roaring 20s" (1920s), very small |
| as a benchmark for over half a century. | | | | ladies' wristwatches were all the rage, but extreme |
| In 1847, LeCoultre created a revolutionary system | | | | miniaturization always led to a loss of reliability and |
| that was to do away with the need for keys to | | | | precision. The Duoplan brilliantly solved this problem by |
| rewind and set watches. His simple and brilliant | | | | arranging its parts on split levels. It would lead to the |
| solution was a pushbutton that activated a lever to | | | | world's smallest movement, Calibre 101. Outdoing the |
| switch from one function to another. It was the first | | | | Calibre 145, Jaeger-Lecoultre miniaturized the Duoplan |
| keyless winding mechanism, and the first reliable | | | | caliber to the extreme, weighing in at barely one |
| system that eliminated the need for keys to wind or | | | | gram and comprising of 74 parts. Its record is still |
| set a watch. | | | | unmatched to this date. |
| In 1866, when Swiss watchmaking was still structured | | | | Since its founding, the Manufacture has created and |
| around small home-run workshops, Antoine LeCoultre | | | | produced over 1,000 different calibres in many |
| and his son Elie decided to bring together under one | | | | varieties. Over 200 patented inventions have |
| rood the many skills involved in making watches, and | | | | contributed to the progress of Swiss watchmaking in |
| installed a steam-driven machine to operate their new | | | | the field of movements, as well as that of cases, |
| tools. LeCoultre & Cie thus became the first | | | | bracelets, dials, and watch functions. |