The Jaeger-LeCoultre manufacture has a long and tumultuous history. In 1833, Antoine LeCoultre opened his own workshop for the production of gear wheels. Having made his fortune, he then did what many other artisans did: In 1866, he had a large house built and brought together all the craftspeople needed to produce timepieces from the watchmakers to the turners and polishers. “La Grande Maison” was the first watch manufacture in Vallee de Joux.

At the start of the twentieth century, the grandson of the company founder, Jacques-David LeCoultre, built slender, complicated watvhes for the Paris manufacturer Edmond Jaeger. The Frenchman was so impressed with these that, after a few years of fruitful cooperation, he engineered a merger of the two companies.

In 2000, Richmont Group acquired Jaeger-LeCoultre.  Today the company boasts more than 1,000 employees, making it the largest employer Vallee de Joux – just as it was back in 1860’s.