Founded in 1833 in Le Sentier by Antoine LeCoultre, the company was born of a spirit of innovation and precision. At just thirty years of age, Antoine created the Millionomètre (1844), the first instrument capable of measuring the micron, and the keyless winding system (1847), eliminating the need for a winding key. These inventions placed LeCoultre at the heart of the industrial revolution in the Vallée de Joux.

The rise of complications (1860–1900)

From the 1860s onwards, the workshop went beyond simple ébauches to focus on highly complex movements. Minute repeaters, calendars, chronographs and split-seconds chronographs left its benches. Between 1860 and 1900, more than 350 different calibres were created, nearly half of them with complications.

Prestigious houses such as Audemars Piguet, Vacheron Constantin and Patek Philippe fitted their watches with LeCoultre movements. In the shadows, the Le Sentier manufacture established itself as the discreet workshop of Haute Horlogerie, particularly renowned for its chronographs.

Integration and alliance with Jaeger (from 1903)

Under Jacques-David LeCoultre (1875–1948), the company embraced fully integrated production under one roof, transforming the workshop into a true manufacture. The meeting with Edmond Jaeger in Paris in 1903 led to a decisive collaboration that would, over the decades, give birth to Jaeger-LeCoultre.

Heritage and transmission

Although the 20th century would see the creation of icons such as the Reverso (1931) and the Memovox (1950), it is above all the early heritage that earned the house the nickname “Grande Maison”: a unique savoir-faire in the design of complicated movements and reference chronographs, supplied for decades to the elite of watchmaking.

Still based in Le Sentier, the manufacture continues this founding spirit: a place where innovation and precision bring the most demanding complications to life.