History of Jaeger LeCoultre Watches

Today, the Jaeger LeCoultre Reverso is one of the most famous watches ever produced.  In addition to producing movements for its own watches, the company has also produced movements for famous watch houses such as Vacheron Constantin, Audemars Piguet, IWC and even Patek Philippe. Then as now, Jaeger-LeCoultre was considered one of the finest watch makers in . The year was 1833 when thirty-year-old Antoine LeCoultre, son of Vallee de Joux watch maker Jacques LeCoultre, opened a small factory in the town of Le Sentier . 

LeCoultre's success was so great that between 1900 and 1919, 40,000 raw watch movements were produced. Watch movements sold for between 100 and 400 francs each, not an inconsiderable sum of money back then. 

In 1925, the grandson of the firm's founder, David LeCoultre, merged his company with that of Edmond Jaeger, the exclusive supplier of watch movements to Cartier. This is when the modern company known as Jaeger LeCoultre first came into existence. 

1931 saw the introduction of the Reverso, a wristwatch that could be turned 180 degrees within the case, thereby protecting the crystal and dial. Changing fashions coupled with the advent of waterproof watches might have forever doomed the watch to obscurity, had it not been for an Italian dealer who visited the factory in the 1960's and noticed a number of unused Reverso cases sitting in a watch makers' drawer. The Italian dealer bought the cases and fitted them with movements. The finished watches were an instant sell-out and today the Reverso is by far Jaeger LeCoultre's most popular model. 

Jaeger LeCoultre is one of the few Swiss companies that still produces its own watch movements, cases, dials, hands, and bracelets. Virtually every single component in a Jaeger LeCoultre watch is hand-finished.

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