Timeless Art - #2

It is in this light that the workshop's approach should be understood. Unclassifiable, iconoclastic. Disruptive. Jaquet Droz was the first Maison in the world to eliminate all reference to collections, ranges, catalogs or model references. This was perceived as an unconventional approach, which was both true and false: against industry norms, certainly, yet resolutely in line with the Maison's history and its artistic vision. Did we ever see Watteau paint the same painting twice? Did the Rolling Stones record the same album twice?

Did Le Corbusier, in La Chaux-de-Fonds, reproduce his buildings from a catalog? Jaquet Droz never creates the same piece twice, thereby crossing the artificial line that separates Watchmaking Art from Art itself.

Talent incubator

To bring this vision to life, Jaquet Droz has brought together a multitude of skills that give form to its works of art. Each piece is shaped, in the creative silence of the La Chaux-de-Fonds workshops, by all the talents the arts have to offer: miniature painting, artisanal lacquer, grisaille, sculpture, engraving, Grand Feu enameling, gem-setting, paillon work, manual cutting of minerals, and many more-not to mention the art of watchmaking itself, which drives the movements of varying complexity housed in every Jaquet Droz work of art. All these individual “métiers” converge toward the same goal: to give form to the artistic vision of a collectors who is equally unique.

The recent partnerships forged by the workshop continue to pursue this direction. With TimeForArt, Jaquet Droz supports the Swiss Institute to encourage the widest possible public access to exhibitions and interactions with emerging talents. In partnership with the Académie de Meuron - School of Visual Arts of Neuchâtel, the Jaquet Droz Prize allowed one winner to present their work for a month at the Neuchâtel Museum of Art and History, the canton in which the workshop has been based for nearly three centuries. High in the Tour du Fantastique, still in Neuchâtel, visitors can now discover the art of John Howe, the artistic director for The Lord of the Rings.

This is a territory into which watchmaking seldom, if ever, ventures. Yet science fiction is the space in which, by definition, anything is possible. Creativity is freed from the constraints of the rational. It opens onto an infinite field of possibilities, where each project can unfold without limits.

What could be a more natural expressive territory for Jaquet Droz? The La Chaux-de-Fonds workshop has always conceived parallel universes in which each collector is free to develop their own personal imagination. Within a wristwatch or pocket watch, anything becomes possible thanks to the mastery of Jaquet Droz's artisans. Painting, engraving, sculpture, enameling and gem-setting bring to life unknown worlds, lush forests and mythological creatures where realism meets magic.

John Howe, the artistic director for The Lord of the Rings, also lives in the canton of Neuchâtel, where Jaquet Droz made its home three centuries ago. It was therefore natural that the man and the workshop would come together, given their artistic as well as geographical proximity.

John Howe has designed for Jaquet Droz the emblematic animal of his universe: the dragon. He presented the workshop with a unique design, which they then made their own to create a unique automaton. He defined its shape, texture and dimensions, down to the most minute details of the scales, tongue and gaze.

Jaquet Droz's artists incorporated it within a creation that has already known several incarnations, against different backgrounds (mother-of-pearl, onyx, etc.) and in various materials (white gold, red gold and sapphire), but always with a stone, held within its claws, that rotates on demand-among a total of nine animations running across its spine, head and eye, among others. The movement developed by Jaquet Droz comprises no fewer than 437 components dedicated solely to the automaton part.

More recently, Jaquet Droz and John Howe opened a unique museum space, also in Neuchâtel, within the Tour du Fantastique-an iconic venue dedicated to imaginary worlds and contemporary creation. The artist will be regularly in attendance, working on his projects in a studio recreated for the occasion.

To translate the quest for eternal love, the passing of time, and the perfect approach that contributes to the timeless transmission of one's art. Such was Wang Limin's intent. The artist, specializing in gold thread embroidery, worked with Jaquet Droz to conceive an automaton that carries this ambition. The Luo River Automaton embodies the Philosophy of the Unique taken to its pinnacle.

The driving force behind Jaquet Droz can be summed up in four words: Philosophy of the Unique. Here is where philosophy and uniqueness merge. At the origin of the project is Wang Limin, a custodian of the Quejinxiu embroidery tradition, and her mastery of the art of gold thread and its associated techniques-dyeing, painting and inlay. Inspired by a 3rd-century poem and a painting from the following century, she set about writing a new chapter celebrating the river of time, eternal love, the aspiration to immortality and her own art, all woven in silence and precision.

This union of hand and mind was a natural fit for Jaquet Droz. Wang Limin oversaw every detail with exacting precision: materials, colors, appliques, animations, decoration. It took two years of discussions to design the piece, followed remotely through Studio 8 and its 4K cameras.

For the Luo River Automaton, nearly all of the Maison's artisans were involved: engraving, sculpture, painting, gem-setting, watchmaking. At the center, the hours are displayed on a pale imperial jade dial featuring two red gold hands. Around it, a rotating ring (30 seconds) of hand-painted mother-of-pearl evokes water and time. This is adorned with gold water lilies; one of them reveals, in turn, a purple sapphire, blue sapphire or emerald, every ten seconds.

Opposite it swims a carp, powered by a dedicated barrel that can run for up to four minutes, activated on demand by a pusher at 3 o'clock.

A red gold applique dominates the scene: water dragons drawing a winged chariot, a metaphor for ascension and immortality. Composed of two elements secured at three points, the piece is elevated above the dial, with reins and ribbons applied and hand-painted to one-tenth of a millimeter.

With a diameter of 43 mm, the Luo River Automaton features a green fabric strap, hand-embroidered by Wang Limin.

With this creation, Jaquet Droz ventures into hitherto unexplored artistic territory: an aesthetic drawn directly from Inflatable Art, where forms swell with volume, soften into rounded contours and embrace an almost playful dimension. The birds and flowers seem shaped from color itself, as if the material had been gently inflated to take on a sculptural form. The effect is instant: the dial gains depth, presence and a sense of vitality. It conveys more than just a scene: it breathes life into an entire universe.

Joyful Birds “Great Wall” is not merely a unique piece: it heralds the beginning of a creative promise. Jaquet Droz's historic birds rest here as a timeless signature, destined to appear across myriad landscapes, where heritage serves as a starting point and poetry becomes a form of freedom.

A fusion of art, material and spirit, the Petite Heure Minute Red Gold - Japanese Garden is a unique piece that brings to life the vision of an ideal Japanese garden, as imagined by a private collector. It brings together all the elements of Japanese culture that foster serenity, harmony and inner peace. At the top of the dial stands a traditional temple. The brilliance of its execution lies not only in the extreme delicacy of its roof, its carved balconies and the perspective of its floors, but specifically in the three-dimensionality conjured by a subtle layer of semi-translucent gray paint.

However, the temple does not merely appear in the background: it embodies it entirely thanks to 25 appliques, most of which are made from carved and engraved mother-of-pearl. These are affixed to a dial which is itself made from mother-of-pearl. The work of a precision goldsmith, executed by hand to within one-tenth of a millimeter. A unique piece and a synthesis of excellence.

The bond between Jaquet Droz and nature is long-standing-nearly three centuries of naturalistic inspiration bear witness to it. From the first “Bird Cage” automata to the latest whistling wristwatches, the inspiration has flowed continuously.

The Charming Bird models are the ultimate representatives of this long tradition. In 2015, the arrival of this rare and precious creation did not go unnoticed by professionals: It won the Mechanical Exception Watch Prize at the GPHG, the “Oscars of Watchmaking”. The jury recognized the feat of successfully miniaturizing on the wrist the sonic mechanics of bygone automata.

Since then, the iconic Charming Bird has had several lives. A 47 mm case houses a bird of an impressive 13.5 mm, dancing and whistling a perfectly audible melody thanks to a discreet lateral opening that allows air-and thus the melody-to flow outward. The Charming Bird also showcases Jaquet Droz's technical mastery. The Maison recently released a version with a titanium case-the most challenging metal to work with - which reduced the weight of the most famous bird in watchmaking by 40 grams.

Jaquet Droz collectors each have a distinct vision for their future unique piece. But it is up to the workshop to decide how to translate it onto a watch dial. Its various “métiers d'art” offer infinite possibilities. Jaquet Droz can offer engraved appliques and miniature painting for this collector, who wishes to bring together the three zodiac signs of his family on his watch. For this admirer of the peacock, painting and engraving enhance its plumage, paired with a minute repeater. But to capture the vibrancy of a pair of parrots, the choice fell on an automaton fully set with emeralds.

Studio 8 is the private space where most of these decisions are made. This online environment, equipped with immersive 4K cameras, allows each collectors to follow the development of their project in near real time. The very best of tradition and innovation.