Jaquet Droz

THE STORY OF THE JAQUET-DROZ FAMILY Jaquet-Droz was born in 1721 on a small farm in La Chaux-de-Fonds. He began to take a serious interest in clockmaking and precision mechanics under the tutelage of older relatives from the Brandt-dit-Grieurin, Sandoz and Robert families. It proved to be a true revelation for him. From 1738 to 1747, Jaquet-Droz devoted himself entirely to clockmaking. He produced a series of longcase (or “grandfather”) clocks whose increasingly sophisticated movements outclassed anything that had yet been produced. His manual dexterity, meticulous nature and serious approach to his craft, as well as the reasoned application of mechanical principles, led him to enhance his watchmaking movements with music and automata. Within no time, his creations had caught the attention of a wealthy and demanding clientèle.