Platinum, diamond and sapphire set bracelet watch. Circa 1920

The history of the LeCoultre family dates back to the 16^th century when Pierre LeCoultre, a French Huguenot fled from Lizy-sur-Ourcq, France to Geneva, Switzerland to escape religious prosecution.

In 1558, Pierre obtained the status of “inhabitant” but left the following year to acquire a plot of land in Vallée de Joux in the Jura mountains. A small community formed and in 1612 a church was built in the village by his son marking the founding of the village of Le Sentier where the company’s manufacturing is still based today.

From there in 1833, Antoine LeCoultre started a watchmaking workshop following his invention of a machine to cut watch pinions from steel. In 1844, LeCoultre had invented the most precise instrument capable of measuring time the Millionomètre and in 1847 he created a keyless system to rewind and set watches in the world.

In 1866, at a time when watchmaking skills were divided up among hundreds of small workshops. Together with his son, Elie LeCoultre established the Vallée de Joux's first full-fledged manufacture, LeCoultre & Cie., pooling their employees’ expertise under one roof. Under this set-up, they developed in 1870 the first partially mechanised production processes for complicated movements

In 1903, Paris-based watchmaker to the French Navy, Edmond Jaeger, challenged Swiss manufacturers to develop and produce the ultra-thin movements that he had invented. Jacques-David LeCoultre, Antoine's grandson who was responsible for production at LeCoultre & Cie., accepted the challenge, giving rise to a collection of ultra-thin pocket watches, including the thinnest in the world in 1907, equipped with the LeCoultre Calibre 145