Visiting the Jager-LeCoultre factory in Le Sentier, from which icons such as the Reverso or the Atmos pendulum clock are made, is tantamount to a full immersion in all aspects of the production of a high-quality watch. From the movement to the case, from the decorations to the complications, everything here is in-house. And for a day, Club members were able to see behind the scenes of one of Switzerland's most prestigious manufactures, usually inaccessible to the public, and immediately grasp the brand's distinctive features. According to Andrea Corteggi: "Jaeger-LeCoultre is the manufacture par excellence, one of the few to have assembled its own calibres from the very beginning. And now that having a manufacture movement in one's timepiece is so important, I would define Jaeger-LeCoultre in a nutshell as having always been a manufacture". Massimo Monaco was impressed by "the organisation of the structure and the uniqueness of the brand. The area of the building at the centre of the industrial complex, which was originally intended for workshops and offices, has been transformed into a sophisticated environment in which original designs, complete watches, accounting documents and correspondence with end customers, promotional material, working tools, components and, in general everything that was once part of the production cycle, is displayed as in an art exhibition, but, at the same time, it is living material that is often consulted or even used (as in the case of certain components), for current production or for the numerous specimens that are sent back to the factory each year for restoration. Among the marvels preserved in the archive is a very fine pocket watch from the 1930s, which demonstrates the level of excellence achieved by Jaeger-LeCoultre in the field of ultra-thin watches, long before they became a fashion phenomenon. Or the series of jewellery watches equipped with the 101 calibre, the smallest mechanical movement in the world, still in the Guinness Book of Records. When, on 2 June 1953, Elizabeth II of England walked down the aisle of Westminster for her coronation ceremony, she wore a diamond bracelet on her left wrist, which was actually a one-off Jaeger-LeCoultre piece, inside of which was a 101 calibre. What strikes all members, like anyone who crosses its threshold for the first time, is the size of the company. Antonio Follari: 'I was struck by the impressiveness of the manufacture, which I thought was much smaller, and by the number of direct employees. With 1,200 employees and a headquarters that has developed around the five-storey core, it is a decidedly imposing structure, yet one that respects the landscape in which it is set, on the shores of Lake Joux. Inside, the working environments are often dominated by the warm colours of natural wood, in many cases antique, used for the floors and the technicians' workstations. Guglielmo Statelli's opinion is that: "It is clear from the visit that for Jaeger-LeCoultre, tradition and technological research are closely linked". Fabio Bianchi is of the same opinion: "The brand is historic, reliable, well anchored in its roots, but at the same time leaning towards the future. The atelier also produces all the enamel decorations that customers can request to personalise their watch. The only limit is imagination (and the law: requests for political or religious symbols are usually rejected), so it can happen that a famous painting is reproduced in every detail on the back of a 40×24 mm Reverso. But the difficulty of working with enamel is not only the small size of the surfaces to be decorated. The custodians of this ancient art also have to be able to predict precisely the hue that the colours will take on after the various passages in the kiln, working practically blind, because when in a liquid state, enamels can have very different colours from those they will take on after firing in the kiln, which is necessary to make them solidify. Among the specialists in the atelier are also those who skeletonise the components of the most sought-after models. This operation concerns bridges, plates and movement supports, but it too is carried out in the atelier, because it is, to all intents and purposes, artistic workmanship, aimed exclusively at enhancing the aesthetics of the watch. If the Métiers d'Art atelier represents the top from an artistic and creative point of view, the Grande Complications atelier is where the brand's top-of-the-range models are created. Thirty-eight highly specialised technicians work here, giving life to small masterpieces such as, for example, the Duomètre Chronographe, in which, thanks to the Dual Wing system, a single regulating organ manages the time display and chronograph functions, powered by two separate barrels. Or the Duomètre Sphérotourbillon, which pushes the performance bar even higher, with a tourbillon that rotates on two axes, almost completely cancelling out the effects of gravity. From the manufacture in Le Sentier also comes the Atmos pendulum clocks, a unicum in the watchmaking world that has been boasting an ever-growing number of enthusiasts for decades. Long before quartz movements were invented, or other forms of power supply such as sunlight, Jaeger-LeCoultre had discovered a potentially inexhaustible and totally ecological source of energy that needed no human intervention. "Completing a movement and seeing it work is a beautiful emotion" (Fabio Bianchi). "The visit to the Métiers d'Art atelier and the master class on the 770 calibre, for me who loves art and mechanics, were unforgettable experiences" (Andrea Corteggi). And, undeniably, for first-time enthusiasts, the moment when the balance starts swinging again is a beautiful emotion. The visits organised by L'Orologio Club are intended to reveal to members all the work and organisation behind the great manufactures and, judging by the feedback, the objective has been achieved. "I have always valued the brand, now even more so," Antonio Follari. "The excellent opinion I already had has been reinforced. JLC stands for absolute quality,' Fabio Bianchi. "I have had the wonderful concept of manufacturing confirmed,' Guglielmo Statelli. If there is a moral that can be drawn from first-hand knowledge of a company like Jaeger-LeCoultre, it is that the best results only come from the perfect balance between two elements which, on their own, do not bear lasting fruit: the tireless pursuit of excellence in the technical field, managed directly by men endowed with a deep love for their work, talent and experience, and the image of a workstation in the Métiers d'Art atelier, with an electronic microscope resting on a wooden bench dating back to the 1800s, sums up better than a thousand words the essence, past and future, of the business.
