Pierre Jaquet Droz

Henry-Louis Jaquet Droz

Many innovations which contributed to the ad-vancement of horology and associated industries, like that of mechanical singing birds, were invented and popularized by the Jaquet Droz. The whistle with sliding piston, highly important to the deve-
lopment of mechanical singing birds, is attributed to them, and was undoubtedly created in their workshop by Jacob Frisard. This innovation revolu-
tionized singing bird pieces by replacing the bulky serinette pipes used until then by a single, small whistle pipe in which a piston slid freely, allowing a much greater miniaturization and a more naturalistic imitation of bird song. The Jaquet Droz were the first of their time to create singing bird pieces, a specialty which was to flourish over the next century and even beyond.

Numerous other innovations of the period were immediately seized upon by the Jaquet Droz, always quick to recognize ideas with potential. Jaquet Droz was, for example, one of the first Swiss horologists to make self-winding watches. He was the only watchmaker to construct self-winding clockwatches wound by double gold weights.
The unusual oval form which he used on occasion for his watches was afterwards adop-ted by watchmaker William Anthony, who would make it one of his "signature" forms. Jaquet Droz also was the first in Switzerland to make double-train independent seconds watches with flirt on the escape wheel pi-nion, as invented by Jean-Moïse Pouzait in 1776.
And finally, acutely aware that Oriental taste favored pairs, Jaquet Droz was the first to produce true pairs of watches and tabatières for the Chinese market, in which the painted enamel scenes are mirror images of one an-other.

Jaquet Droz & Leschot, London. Made for the Chinese market,
circa 1785.
Gold, enamel and pearl-set self-winding stop watch with center sweep
seconds.
Originally made as a pair, like virtually all pieces made by Jaquet
Droz, the pendant piece is in the collection of the Musee International
d’Horlogerie of La Chaux-de-Fonds.

- winding by means of a slide on the band, first used in a singing bird watch, later for winding the repeating trains of other types of watches
- self-winding by means of two gold oscillating weights. Jaquet Droz was the only watchmaker to produce self-winding watches in which both the going train and striking train were wound by this means
- pump-winding devices for watches, both for the going or the musical train
- independent seconds watches
- the application of the Neuchâtel clock-type striking cadrature to watches
- double-train independent seconds watches with flirt on the escape wheel pinion

Pierre Jaquet Droz seems to have particularly admired the work of French watchmaker Jean-Antoine Lépine. Whether or not the two men actually knew each other has not been established. They were almost exact contemporaries, however, Lépine being born in 1720 and Pierre Jaquet Droz in 1721. Nevertheless, it is interesting to note the number of characteristics of Lépine watches that were adopted by Jaquet Droz :
- The so-called "Lépine caliber", the bridge ca-liber with free-standing barrel invented by Lépine in 1770, which Jaquet Droz was the first in Switzerland to make use of. He never claimed to have invented it, and his account books constantly make mention of "montres à la Lépine". Others followed Jaquet Droz in his use of the Lépine caliber, among them Anthony and Ilbery. The fact that they, in turn, directed their sub-contractors in Fleurier to make use of it led to the caliber's widespread, and, indeed, almost exclusive use in watches destined for the Chinese market, being subsequently adopted by makers such as Bovet, Juvet, and Texier.
- The engravings with which Jaquet Droz was apparently the first to decorate the bridges of this caliber. The elegant and delicate engravings used by Jaquet Droz were gradually adapted to Chinese tastes, evolving into the elaborately engraved, typical "Chinese caliber" watches.
- The pump-winding system devised by Lépine, in which the watch was wound by depressing the pendant, thus making a key unnecessary, was employed by Jaquet Droz in some of his watches.
- The virgule escapement invented by and much employed by Lépine, appeared in Jaquet Droz' work before that of any other Swiss maker.
- The case form characteristic of Lépine's watches, in which the movement was fitted from the back and the case closed by means of concealed hinges, was also used by Jaquet Droz.

However, whereas Lépine preferred a sober, simple design, Jaquet Droz favored a more elaborate style, no doubt adapted to the tastes of the Chinese market. His cases consequently featured enamels over engine-turned grounds, painted enamel scenes often embellished with gold paillons, and bezels adorned with half pearls or alternating pearls and rubies. To produce these cases, Jaquet Droz worked with some of the finest enamelers and casemakers of the time, among them Jean-Georges Rémond.
- The "mixed" numerals which Lépine sometimes employed for his dials, curiously juxtaposing Arabic and Roman numerals in an attempt to achieve a graphic balance, were chosen by Jaquet Droz on occasion.
- Jaquet Droz often used the fancy gold open-work hands reminiscent of those featured on Lépine's watches.

However, the influence was not merely one-sided. Although Jaquet Droz adopted many features of Lépine's work the mixed numbers, the caliber, the hands, the case form, etc., on occasion, Lépine used characteristics typical of Jaquet Droz' work. A watch by Lépine which has recently come to light, decorated with the "peacock feather" motif often used by Jaquet Droz. At present, it is not known which of the two men was the first to use this motif, how-ever the Lépine watch bears punch marks for 1786.

The Jaquet Droz firm clearly played an essential role in the popularization, throughout Switzerland but particularly abroad, by means of their commercial relations with London and China, of the sober neoclassical style favored by Lépine in France, which was later to be amplified and sublimated by Breguet.
The Jaquet Droz were also visionaries in the business world, founding the first true horological factory in Geneva in 1784, one year before Vacheron Constantin did so. They clearly intended their Genevese activities to be on a larger scale than those that took place in their home workshop in La Chaux-de-Fonds. The May 1786 inventory of the Geneva workshop mentions "2 workbenches with drawers for 12 people". An operation which employs up to 24 workmen is no longer a family industry, but can be considered semi-industrial.

Trail-breakers who did not seek the safest path but rather the most difficult one, the Jaquet Droz were uncompromising in their search for perfection. Visionaries themselves, they were generous in re-cognizing, and popularizing, important work done by others.
Pierre Jaquet Droz' talents and vision took him far from his native village, and far beyond the wildest dreams of most of his contemporaries. His son Henry-Louis inherited his gifts, and with the instruction he had received at the hands of his father, would no doubt have gone even farther, had he lived longer. Yet they were able, along with their associate Leschot and the many exceptional artisans mentioned in this article, to build an empire that remains legendary even today.

The lives of Pierre (1721-1790) and Henry-Louis Jaquet Droz (1752-1791) are well-documented. Rather than repeat their biographies here, we prefer to present those of some of the most important artisans who worked for them.

Jean-Frederic Leschot (1746 - 1824)

The Jaquet Droz' closest co-worker was born in 1746 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, the son of Frederic Leschot and Esabeau Dubois-dit-Bon Claude. His father was a sometime clockmaker who remarried after the death of his first wife. Thus the young Jean-Frederic soon found himself with several half-brothers and half-sisters. It is said that his neighbor Pierre Jaquet Droz, sensing that this intelligent and affectionate child felt unloved in the recomposed family, welcomed him into his own home. Leschot was six years ol-der than Henry-Louis, and the two boys must surely have played together before becoming the students and helpers of Jaquet Droz senior, and finally, his co-workers.
Around 1764, at the age of 18, Leschot was already an integral part of Jaquet Droz workshop, directing the work when the Jaquet Droz were away. In 1772 Jean-Frederic Leschot "ceased to be on the payroll of Monsieur Jaquet Droz the elder, and entered the Service of Monsieur Jaquet Droz the younger".
During the 1780's, Leschot went on a tour to Europe, ta-king the automata to Flanders, to Paris, and to Lyon. In 1784, Leschot moved to Geneva to follow the Jaquet Droz, who established a workshop there in that year. In 1786, Leschot married Suzanne Catherine Himely, the daughter of Doctor Barthelemy Himely from La Neuveville, with whom he had four children: Marianne Sophie, Frederic Henry, Julie Louise Marie, and Georges Auguste Leschot, who would follow in his father's footsteps, becoming a fine clockmaker and a valued employee of the Vacheron-Constantin firm.

In 1769, Leschot became a partner in the Jaquet Droz firm.
After the death of Henry-Louis Jaquet Droz in 1791, Leschot took over the firm, continuing the same type of work in his own name. He was, however, no doubt a better employee than director, and in addition, he greatly suffered from the difficult business conditions brought about by the French Revolution. Jean-Frederic Leschot retired to Cologny around 1810, and died on June 12, 1824.

Decombaz

Active from the late 18th century to approximately 1820, he was Abraham-Louis Breguet's correspondant, furnishing him with "perpétuelle" and "Grande Sonnerie" watches. He was a member of Geneva's Société des Arts during the same period as Henry Louis Jaquet Droz and Jean-Frédéric Leschot. (Jacob Frisard was also a member from 1803 to 1809). In November 1795, Decombaz presented the candidature of A.L. Breguet to the Société des Arts, following which Breguet was made honorary member.
On 7 Germinal, an 7 (March 28, 1801) a certain Decombaz, no doubt the same man, entered into a partnership with John Rich, a maker of fine musical and automaton pieces in Geneva. That partnership was dissolved four years later.

Isaac Daniel Piguet (1775-1841)

Born in 1775 in Le Chenit in the Vallée de Joux, Isaac Daniel Piguet was the son of Pierre Moïse Piguet and Elisabeth Nicole. He married Jeanne Françoise Capt around 1795, and toward 1800 settled in Geneva with his family (a son, Charles Auguste, had been born in 1796). Isaac Daniel Piguet became associated with his brother-in-law Henri Daniel Capt on February 10, 1802. During the same period, he worked for Jean-Frédéric Leschot (he is mentioned in the Leschot account books under the heading "payments to workers"). It is around this time as well that he is said to have made a "small musical movement made up of 5 notes executed by steel springs, to replace the watch in a ring".
In Piguet's 1815 application for the "bourgeoisie" of Geneva -- which was granted him -- a group of eminent makers, including Mouliníé, Bautte et Moynier, Isaac Ruegger, Rémond, Lamy et Mercier, and the Frères Duchène, claim : "he is the first to have established musical pieces here, of which genre he is the inventor", and that furthermore, he "occupies and supports a great number of our fellow citizens".
In 1815, and until the end of his association with Meylan in 1828, both Piguet and his partner lived with their fa-milies in the same house, number 45 of the rue Chevelu (today rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau).
Piguet had a physical handicap, as attested to in his bourgeoisie application by a surgeon : "I.D. Piguet has undergone several operations, whose marks can be seen on his back; he has lost some of the bone in his spinal column…" This handicap was enough to exempt Piguet from military service, and it must have caused him a certain amount of suffering in his daily life.
After the association between Piguet and Meylan came to an end in 1828, Piguet and his son David Auguste esta-blished a new company, "Piguet père & fils", located at 69 rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau. At the time, the Piguet family no longer lived in the rue Chevelu, but had moved to the large country home, in Pregny. This house was that of Piguet's new wife (his first wife having died, in 1824 Isaac Daniel Piguet had remarried). The bride, Claudine Françoise Jaquet, was the daughter of a successful Genevan sculptor and architect.
In March 1832, the company of Piguet and his son was dissolved, the commercial portion of it being taken over by Charles Philippe Piguet of Morges, and the horological portion being reincorporated into a new entity, "Piguet et Cie", headed by David Auguste, the son of Isaac Daniel.
Isaac Daniel Piguet died in Geneva, on January 20, 1841, at the age of 66.
As concerns Piguet's relationship with Jaquet Droz and Leschot, an incident bears noting : Leschot complained to his London merchants Duval and Michely that a ring with automata and music which they had purchased was to be found at a lower price seven months later, because: "one of the workmen stole my cylinders to copy them and had several made which he sold more cheaply." It is impossible to affirm that this workman was Isaac Daniel Piguet. Piguet was, however, employed by Leschot at the time, and he did subsequently become famous for exactly that type of piece. Without entering into old quarrels, suffice it to say that Piguet was one of the most important makers of mechanical musical pieces in early 19th century Geneva, and that he learned his trade, at least partially, in the Jaquet Droz workshop.

Jacob Frisard (1753-1810)

Born in January 1753 in Villeret, he was the son of Louis Frisard and Marie Madelaine Bourquin. Jacob had several brothers, among them François-Louis, born in 1744, who served his apprenticeship in La Chaux-de-Fonds and in St-Imier, and Jean-Henri, born in 1748. There were three sisters, Marie-Madeleine, Elisabeth and Marianne. It has been said that he served his apprenticeship, along with two of his brothers, in La Chaux-de-Fonds, from approximately 1765 to 1770.
From around 1772 to 1784, Frisard lived and worked in the city of Turin, Italy. By 1784, he was living in Carouge, near Geneva. It was probably during this period that Jacob Frisard began to work for the Jaquet Droz, beco-ming their specialist in mechanical singing bird movements. Frisard was probably the most inventive genius in the field of singing birds at the time, and his collaboration with the Jaquet Droz and Leschot resulted in many masterpieces of the genre. In 1792, however, a turning point was reached in his work with Leschot, for, fearing the consequences of French annexation of Geneva (which indeed soon happened), Jacob Frisard took his family to Biel. It must have reassured Jacob to move to that city, where his brother lived and worked. For Leschot, how-ever, it was a source of many headaches, as the two were obliged to communicate by mail and it became necessary to send the fragile pieces back and forth several times, often causing them to be damaged in the process.
Toward the end of the century, Frisard became increa-singly dissatisfied with his lot in life and embarked upon what he hoped would be a successful solo career.
In the ninth year of the new French Republic he impressed a prefect named Harmand, who warmly recommended Frisard's work to the Minister of the Interior Lucien Bonaparte. The prefect's account, no doubt dictated by Frisard, completely occults his work with the Jaquet Droz and Leschot:
"Before the war, Citizen Frisard sent shipments of his mechanical pieces to China, through the intermediary of the English. The commune of Biel was then part of Switzerland, but since the war, the cost of insurance and the fickleness of the English have not allowed the continuation of his commerce. The sale of his articles, though they are very expensive, has not made him rich. He has many children and he is the sole known artist in his domain". The Minister's laconic response put an end to Frisard's dreams of Imperial glory : "I sincerely regret, Citizen, not to be in a position to make good on your promises by calling Citizen Frisard to Paris, but the state of the Public Treasury and the government's need to dispose of all its funds... make the smallest disbursement impossible..." In 1809 Jacob Frisard exhibited mechanical pieces in Zurich. Shortly afterward, he embarked on a journey to Constantinople, from which he was never to return: Frisard died suddenly in Dranowa, Bulgaria, in August 1810.

Henry-Daniel Capt (born 1773)

Born in Chenit in the Vallée de Joux in April 1773, he was the son of Jacques Samuel Capt, member of the Grand Conseil of the Canton de Vaud, and of Susanne Piguet. On January 1, 1796, he married Henriette Piguet. Capt settled in Geneva around 1789, and worked for the Godemar frères (of whom one, probably Guillaume Godemar, was married to a Dorothée Capt). Capt was almost certainly one of Jacob Frisard's sub-contractors in the work he did for Jaquet Droz and later, Leschot. He is mentioned at length in Leschot's letters to Frisard.
"I think it best to treat him (Capt) with tact even if he is not capable of finishing anything on his own. He could harm us by going over to Humbert or Rojard. Can't you find something to busy him with, despite your being so far away ? By my intermediary, you could safely send pie-
ces to be confided to him - what do you think?" (March 13, 1793)
Indeed, Capt went on to work for others, rivals of Leschot (and therefore copiers of the "Jaquet Droz style"): his brother in law Isaac Daniel Piguet, and Godemar frères.
After Piguet left in 1811, to join Philippe Meylan in a new partnership, Henry-Daniel Capt continued to work on his own - and later with his son Charles Henri - until around 1830, when he went into partnership with Aubert and son, Place Bel-Air.
In Henry-Daniel Capt's 1815 request for the "bourgeoisie" in Geneva, it was stated that he was a "horloger-mécanicien, établisseur", with many workmen. His request was granted in 1816.
Henry-Daniel Capt, along with Isaac Piguet and Philippe Meylan, was one of the foremost makers of small musical automata at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries. He made a name for himself as a specia-list in the production of complicated watches, musical watches and automaton watches. Among the first in Geneva to use the musical mechanism with pinned cylinder and tuned-tooth comb, he became famous for his snuffboxes with music and automaton scenes.

The Frères Rochat

These three brothers from Le Brassus in the Vallée de Joux were the sons of David Rochat (1746-1812), who had been received master in 1766 and who made a specialty of singing birds. They were:
François Elisée Rochat, (1771-1836).
Frédéric Rochat, (1774-1848).
Samuel Henri Rochat, (1777-1854).
David Rochat formed an association with these three sons around 1800. At the end of the 18th and in the early years of the 19th century David Rochat and sons had furnished bird ebauches to Jaquet Droz, and continued to do so when Jean-Frédéric Leschot took over the Jaquet Droz firm in 1792, following Henry-Louis Jaquet Droz' death. In this they essentially followed the specifications given them by Jacob Frisard, the singing bird specialist of Jaquet Droz and Leschot. When Frisard, seeking to deve-lop his own business, became less available after 1800, Leschot sought to replace him with the Rochats, but this collaboration was short-lived.
After the death of their father in 1812, the three Rochat brothers moved to Geneva and went into business on their own account. They worked there, in the Terreaux de Chantepoulet, until about 1820, at which point Frederic and Samuel moved to the rue de Coutance 76, where they were later aided in their singing bird manufacture by Frederic's sons Antoine-Frédéric Auguste (b. 1799) and Charles-Louis François (b. 1795)
François, who continued in the Terreaux de Chantepoulet, was soon aided in his manufacture of singing bird pieces by his son Ami-Napoleon François (1807-1875, known as Ami).
Nicolas-Constant Lemaire (1757-1852)
Lemaire (also called Maire) had worked at the Ferney manufacture, and then for the Jaquet Droz, particularly in their London office. Along with Glaesner, he was director of the short-lived Versailles clockmaking factory beginning in 1796. Lemaire is mentioned several times in Leschot's correspondance. In September 1793, he put Frisard on his guard: "I must also warn you that Mr. Maire is back from London, I need not tell you to be on guard against him ..." In November of that year, Henry Maillardet told Leschot of his imminent arrival: "Le Maire left about three weeks ago, saying he was going to Geneva. You will have a great rival, but only a copier." This seems indeed to have been true, for shortly afterward, Leschot wrote : "(Lemaire) … has come to see me since his arrival here, and he gave me proof of being a good copier, for he showed me a little bird, exceptionally well executed, which moves in all directions on a stick, like our large ones which hop." When Nicolas-Constant Lemaire made a report to the French Commission of Agriculture and Arts concerning the creation of a clockmaking factory in Besançon, he boasted rather shamelessly (and not quite truthfully) of his connection with the Jaquet Droz : "the Citizen Le Maire is the best student of the famous Jaquet Droz. The best clockmakers give ho-mage to his genius as an inventor, and to his brillant hand as a workman. His specialty is automatic horology, tabatières with carillon, figures, and animals, common in clocks during a certain period, pieces so precious that they are sold in London for up to a thousand guineas, and sold again by the India Company for up to four thousand." In any case, Lemaire had learned his lessons well when he worked with the Jaquet Droz ; at the Exposition de l'an VI, he presented a clock with flutes and carillon, probably very much inspired by their work.

Jean-Moïse Pouzait (1743-1793)

Was a Genevan watchmaker who invented a double-train independent dead seconds watch which was precursor of the chronograph. The two trains were linked by a flirt on the escape wheel pinion. He presented a memoire concerning this invention to the Genevan Société des Arts in 1776. Pouzait also devised a very special lever escapement which was associated with a large seconds-beating balance. Due to its spectacular aspect, and in spite if its inertia sensitivity, Pouzait's escapement was much appreciated by the Chinese, before the invention by Jacot of the so-called "Chinese duplex" escapement, enabling the production of dead center-seconds watches. In 1786 Pouzait made a model of his anchor escapement which he also presented to the Geneva Société des Arts.

Godemar Frères

They specialized in repetition and automaton watches. They were associated with Pouzait from 1787 to 1793, as "Godemar Frères et Pouzait". Henry Capt is said to have worked with them, making musical watches and no doubt automaton pieces. In a letter to Frisard dated September 25, 1793, Leschot had sensed that this might happen : "I have just heard that the Godemar brothers have approached Capt, hoping to employ him. I beg you, dear friend, to make sure he doesn't slip through our fingers, by sending me some blanks for him to finish. I will let him use my cabinet, and he is to come within a few days."

Henry Maillardet (1745-bef. 1830)

Jean Henry Nicolas Maillardet, the best known of the three important horological Maillardets, was born in Greng in 1745. In 1769, Henry Maillardet and his bro-ther Jean-David were employed in the new Royal Watchmaking Fabrique established by Frederic II of Prussia in Berlin. By 1771, Henry Maillardet had returned home. That year he was to be found along with his brothers in La Chaux-de-Fonds, and it may be that this period marked the start of their relationship with the Jaquet Droz family. In May 1783 Henry Maillardet became director of the London branch of the Jaquet Droz firm, located in "the House situated in Bartlett's Buildings in London". Since it had been agreed that Henry-Louis Jaquet Droz would only visit once a year, Maillardet was in complete charge of affairs. He had se-veral employees under his orders, among them Jacob Jacot, Huguenin, Borel and Parain.
Henry Maillardet married Louise Mourer from Lausanne. In 1785 their daughter Louise Henriette was born; in 1786, they had a son, Edouard Frédéric. The firm of Jaquet Droz and Maillardet was dissolved around 1789, before the death of the younger Jaquet Droz. Henry Maillardet is said to have been associated for a time afterwards with a Neuchâtelois named Matthey, but that association was apparently short-lived. Afterwards, as many others did, Maillardet tried the life of traveling showman, exhibiting mechanical pieces, among them ones by Jaquet Droz and Leschot.
Towards the end of his life, Henry Maillardet lived in Malines, Belgium. No trace seems to have remained of the wealth he must have enjoyed during his association with the Jaquet Droz; his will, drawn up in 1827 when he was 82, and proven in 1830, directed that the little remaining him go to his son.

Jacques-Rodolphe Maillardet (1743-1828)

Jacques-Rodolphe, the least known of the three Maillardet brothers, was also linked to the Jaquet Droz. Born in 1743, he was working as a clockmaker in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1771. He appears in the Jaquet Droz archives on October 15, 1785, when Henry-Louis Jaquet Droz paid 84 livres of France for "relay springs for the mechanism of Jaques Maillardet". Jacques-Rodolphe also made a "mechanism for a cage on the model sent from London" for which he received 344 livres of France on August 15, 1786, three similar mechanisms on January 2, 1787, and on June 27, 1787, "a mechanism for cage".
In 1789, Jacques-Rodolphe Maillardet applied for permission to go to London where his son Jean-Daniel, also a clockmaker, was already working; he probably inten-ded to work with his brother Henry. It seems, in any case that Jacques-Rodolphe remained in London until at least 1796.

Jean David Maillardet (1748- aft. 1827)

This younger brother of Henry Maillardet was born on May 23, 1748. He married Henriette Droz-dit-Busset, and they had a large family of at least fifteen children. Two of them, Julie and Aimé-Louis, were godchildren of Jacques-Louis Perrot and his wife Julie Jaquet Droz. Another, Julien-Auguste, was the godson of Jean-Frederic Leschot. His first two children were born in La Chaux-de-Fonds, but towards 1776-1777, Jean-David Maillardet returned to his family's native village of Fontaines, exercizing the profession of "clockmaker and expert machi-nist in this genre".
When did he first come into contact with the Jaquet Droz family ? Probably between 1771 and 1777, when living in La Chaux-de-Fonds. The Jaquet Droz account books tell us that in 1783, Jean-David made the "main gears, with appendages, for a writer and a draughtsman", for Henry-Louis Jaquet Droz, for which he received 924 livres of France. In April 1785, he furnished "two large carillons" to Jaquet Droz and Maillardet, and again in September of that same year, "two carillons and two large mechanisms…" In October 1785, we see that he made "two large carillons with endless screw, at 476.6 livres of France, two serinettes with brass cylinder and their fi-nished mechanisms, at 10 1/2 Louis a piece".

After a brief period of political agitation, Jean-David devoted himself to his profession. Among other things, he furnished some singing bird pieces to clock merchants Humbert and Mairet from La Chaux-de-Fonds: "The two large cages… the large bird hopping, with natural song, for the price of 96 Louis, or livre of France 2340.
The large "Paris" cage, with a bird perched on top of the cage on the waterfall which falls from top to bottom, with three basins, the piece matte gilt for the price of 50 Louis, or in Livres of France 120.

The two ordinary cages with two birds and waterfall at 37 Louis a piece...."

Jean-David became associated with his son Julien-Auguste, but the firm went bankrupt in 1808. The date of his death is not known, although in 1827 he was still alive, for he wrote then to one of his grand-children: "When you are in London, if you have enough time, would you please ask about my brother, whom I believe dead ? He has a son I think is alive, who exercizes the profession of dentist, and it should be easy to find him. The father, Henry Maillardet, is known by many and by all people of Swiss extraction generally; his son is named Fredrich…"

Jaquet Droz, London. Made for the Chinese market, circa 1785. Gold, enamel, pearl- and ruby-set self-winding clockwatch with center sweep seconds. Jaquet Droz was the only watchmaker to produce self-winding clock-watches in which both the going and the striking trains were wound by means of oscillating gold weights.

Attributed to Jaquet Droz. Made for the Chinese market, circa 1785.
Gold, enamel, pearl- and ruby-set singing bird watch. The Jaquet Droz are credited with the invention of the whistle with sliding piston (here shown out of the whistle tube) which allowed the creation of miniature pieces, as
well as a more “natural” bird song.

Attributed to Jaquet Droz, circa 1780. Gilt bronze and enamel hanging singing bird cage clock. Elaborate cages such as this one were made by the Jaquet Droz for the Oriental and Turkish markets.

Attributed to Jaquet Droz. Made for the Chinese market, circa 1780. Gold and enamel, oval center seconds watch. The Lépine caliber movement is elaborately engra ved; this characteristic of Jaquet Droz watches would later be adopt -ed by all makers of watches produced for the Chinese market.

Attributed to Jaquet Droz. Made for the Chinese market, circa 1785. Silver watch with center sweep seconds. The movement is “à la Lépine”, with a free standing barrel and bridges very finely engraved with foliage.

Recordon & Dupont, attributed to Jaquet Droz. Made for the Chinese market, circa 1785. Gold and enamel musical snuffbox with a center seconds watch. The Jaquet Droz account books confirm that it was they who supplied such boxes to Recordon & Dupont. On the inner gold panel is engra ved: “Ta ken from the Summer Palace, Peking, 8 October 1860...”, proving that this snuffbox was part of the Chinese Imperial collection.