The Worlds of Jaquet Droz. Horological Art and Artistic Horology

SANDRINE GIRARDIER

THE WORLDS OF

JAQUET DROZ

HOROLOGICAL ART AND ARTISTIC HOROLOGY

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ISBN 978-2-940506-39-2 English Translation: Susan Jacquet, Transcribe Printing: Courvoisier-Attinger Arts graphiques SA, Bienne, Switzerland See our watch and jewelry publications on our website: www.watchprint.com Montres Jaquet Droz SA invites you to explore its Atelier de Haute Horlogerie via its website: www.jaquet-droz.com

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART I

FOREWORDS

7

Marc A. Hayek: Rebirth of a Maison

Christian Lattmann: Three centuries of history on the threshold of the 21 century 11

PART II

CELEBRATING THE LEGACY OF PIERRE JAQUET-DROZ

13

Introductory remarks

15

Current state of knowledge

16

Available sources

17

PART III

WHERE IT ALL BEGAN

21

Local beginnings

23

Spanish success story

36

Passing on mechanical expertise

43

PART IV

JAQUET-DROZ AUTOMATONS. PROMOTIONAL ANDROIDS

49

An exceptional technical project

51

An acclaimed mechanical show

57

The golden age of automatons

62

PART V

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS

71

Building a technical and commercial reputation in London

73

Earning renown for decoration in Geneva

84

The scattered nature of luxury watchmaking

93

PART VI

COMMERCIAL DISTRIBUTION

103

To sign, or not to sign?

105

Business objective: China

110

Resilience required

129

9 st

3

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART VII

CROWNING ACHIEVEMENTS

133

Technical innovations

135

Societal implications

144

Last stages

148

Geniuses?

152

PART VIII

WHAT CAME NEXT: THE JAQUET-DROZ IN WATCHMAKING HISTORY

155

Several Jaquet-Droz stories

157

Jaquet Droz in the 20 century

162

20 years of patents

178

PART IX

A FEW CONCLUDING REMARKS

187

PART X

CATALOG OF SELECTED MODELS

191

The Writer

192

The Draughtsman

196

The Musician

200

Etching of The Grotto

204

Shepherd’s clock

206

th

Birdcage

208

Snuffbox with songbird

210

Flask-shaped table clock

212

Urn, musical automaton

214

Technical drawing of a prosthetic leg

216

PART XI

APPENDICES

219

Handwritten sources and abbreviations used / Printed sources

220

Bibliography

222

226

Current newspapers and Websites

Endnotes

227

Illustration credits

239

Acknowledgments

247

5

The partnership formula required a shared capital contribution and a well-established and renewable period of validity (seven years in this instance, from 1783 to 1790). It actually ensured the production of “Mechanical Works, Clocks etc. which will be found suitable by the Contractors”. 67 The contract was signed privately in the presence of the watchmaker Abram-Henry Favre and the aforementioned James Cox as witnesses.

While responsibility for the management of the workshop thereafter fell to Henry Maillardet, it was Henry-Louis Jaquet-Droz who determined the broad outlines of production.

“Henri Louis Jaquet Droz undertakes to have executed in Switzerland any branch of the Mechanical Works, Clocks etc. serving to facilitate & advance the execution of the Works which will be ordered in London & which can be shipped to England & to charge them to the Company at cost price in Switzerland & without any profit whatsoever” .68

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INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS

The complementary nature of the workshops in London and Geneva, where Henry-Louis Jaquet-Droz settled in 1783, is thus highlighted.

69

Probably as early as 1784, he entered into a partnership with Jean-Frédéric Leschot upon the latter’s return from his European tour with the automatons between 1777 and 1783.

Leschot resided in the Port du Molard,70 an important commercial area of Geneva, on the lake shore, while Henry-Louis Jaquet-Droz initially set up home in an apartment not

ABOVE This view of 18th century Geneva shows the Cathedral perched on its hill, the tall houses built all around and on the banks of the Rhone, crossed by wooden bridges and footbridges.

far from the Cathedral,71 with Louise-Suzanne Bennelle (1760-1838), whom he married in 1787.72 In 1788, their daughter Cécile-Madeleine (1788-1815) was born and the couple acquired an estate in Chambésy,73 in the Geneva countryside,74 like many of the rich families established in the city.

Before selling them, Henry-Louis Jaquet-Droz exhibited the automatons one last time in Geneva in 1785. His personal inventory of 1786 lists the automatons that belonged to him, as well as their value in French livres: The Grotto (12,000), The Draughtsman (7,200), The Musician (4,800), a sculpted concert game (2,400) and the cogs of a second Draughtsman (100).75

81

DOUBLE PAGE This splendid gold pocket watch, set with pearls, adorned with enamels and featuring a songbird, unites several skills exercised within or enlisted by the Jaquet-Droz workshops.

It was from this time onwards, 1783/1784, that Jaquet-Droz activities were more accurately documented. The production range includes large clocks, but also smaller models, demonstrating a progressive process of miniaturization, without this proving a definitive trend. One does not, in this instance, go from a large grandfather clock to a ring-watch without witnessing reversals based on customer orders. As is often the case, Jaquet-Droz production varied in step with changing fashions and adapted to the tastes and income of its customers.

Production in Geneva was characterized by a set of luxury mechanical objects that almost systematically included complications, musical tunes, automatons and songbirds. One should also note the great care devoted to the decoration of the pieces, for which various techniques are deployed such as: engraving, guilloché work, paillonné, enameling and gemsetting.

At the end of the 18th century, Geneva had 25,000 inhabitants with 1,200 watchmakers active there, as well as the 3,000 or so case makers, jewelers, goldsmiths, enamelers and other craftsmen of the Fabrique,80 many of whom were subject to the regulations of the watchmakers’ guild.81 A veritable international commercial hub between Germany, France and Italy, Geneva was a major watchmaking center in the 18th century, exporting up to 85,000 watches

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COMMERCIAL DISTRIBUTION

As a result, a number of new and high-quality artefacts, including mechanical objects, were presented to the imperial court.

121

by Vulliamy & son,

122

These included planetary gear and vase-shaped table clocks

chronometers by Josiah Emery, watches by Edward Ellicott, a wheelchair

by John Joseph Merlin,123 various measuring, optical and mathematical instruments by Nairne & Blunt and William Fraser, theodolites by Jesse Ramsden,124 as well as telescopes by P. & T. Dollond.125 While the Jaquet-Droz family is not mentioned in the documents pertaining to Macartney’s mission to China – which does not necessarily preclude the possibility that some of their objects were part of this ensemble – we know that several watchmakers, mechanical engineers and manufacturers of scientific instruments, whose objects were purchased to be presented to the Emperor, were part of the Henry-Louis Jaquet-Droz network. We also know that the writer automaton by Timothy Williamson, which contains a mechanism made in the JaquetDroz workshop, entered the imperial collections after Macartney’s126 mission.

PREVIOUS PAGE Gifted by the King of England to the Emperor of China via his ambassador Macartney in 1793, this planetarium serves to depict the movement of the planets in the solar system.

A means of giving material expression to the advanced technical and scientific skills of Great Britain and of negotiating advantageous terms for developing trade in China.

BELOW This bird’s-eye view of the town of Canton, dating from the second half of the 18th century, features certain errors. Western ships could not anchor in Canton Bay, but had to do so at Whampoa. It also exaggerates the mingling of cultures. It does, however, indicate a changing society, as evidenced by the presence of European warehouses.

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CROWNING ACHIEVEMENTS

professional relationship, but they also met within the framework of Geneva’s Société des Arts, to which we will return later. Once again, this demonstrates that 18 century watchmaking th

was not a closed environment and that technical emulation between its stakeholders was far more frequent than one might imagine.

In the same vein, the adaptation of the Lépine movement, named after its creator, French watchmaker Jean-Antoine Lépine (1720-1814),136 enables watches to be slimmer and thus more elegant. These were the first movements in which bridges replaced the upper plate, making it possible to intervene on the movement without having to dismantle everything and thus affording both aesthetic and practical advantages. Many watches are described as “à la L’Epine” in Jaquet-Droz documents, as confirmed by Leschot’s correspondence which provides

PREVIOUS PAGE Most likely produced for the Chinese market, this pocket watch features a refined enameled medallion.

A woman and two children appear in an idyllic garden; a cage containing a bird is placed on a low wall, cypress trees tower in the background, and the space is framed by a palisade with slender fences and a sculpted pedestal topped with a vase.

more details of this particular niche activity:

“I make almost nothing in terms of ordinary watches, but instead complicated watches in the Lépine style, with or without seconds, watches with two gear trains & deadbeat seconds, watches with perpetual oscillating weight, etc. Depending on my clients’ orders, the cases usual feature enameling & painting, with or without pearls, others with enamel backgrounds & arabesque paintings, etc.” 137 This provides a better idea of the sheer diversity of the artistic and horological techniques concentrated in the Jaquet-Droz workshops. The watches referred to as equipped with a “self-winding perpetual oscillating weight”138 were the automatic watches of the time. As for the “pump” winding systems, which enabled watches to be wound by pressure on the watch, they are attributed to the Jaquet-Droz workshops without this technique being specifically mentioned in the documents.

It is undoubtedly important to point out the whistle with sliding piston, attributed to Jacob Frisard as part of his activity within the Jaquet-Droz workshops. This technical innovation, essential to the success of the company, made it possible to miniaturize the songbird mechanism.

The piston, housed in a small tube, was actuated by cams that regulated the air supply and the notes to be played.

143

NEXT PAGE On this pocket watch, the “pump winding” is done by repeated pressure on the bellows. The seconds are displayed in central mode, along with the hour and minute hands, and feature a balancestop mechanism.

No legislation to protect an invention or to consign it to posterity was in place in 18th century Geneva, and even less so in La Chaux-de-Fonds. This is of course why the Jaquet-Droz did not register their own innovations, although this did not prevent them from developing techniques or adapting others to their products.

The technical innovations developed during this period must therefore all be seen in context.

It was a thriving environment where technical and scientific emulation reflected the many individual and collective issues at stake; in short, a context in which the desire for progress went hand in hand with commercial interests.

SOCIETAL IMPLICATIONS This flourishing reality went far beyond the strictly commercial framework of the company. Indeed, in parallel with day-to-day business, Henry-Louis Jaquet-Droz joined the Société des Arts de Genève in 1786,139 and Jean-Frédéric Leschot followed suit in 1787. We would say today that the two mechanical engineers thus became part of a public-interest organization. Like many others born and growing in Europe at that time, this society drew on the potential offered by the arts, and the mechanical arts in particular, in order to contribute to the development of trade and industry, as well as to improve the daily life of the population. Together with the other members of this society composed of watchmakers, artists, merchants and scholars, Henry-Louis Jaquet-Droz and Jean-Frédéric Leschot contributed their in-depth knowledge of the world of watchmaking and its related sectors to further the public good.

While the Fabrique de Genève was strongly represented by the members of the Society and watchmaking issues took up most of their time, other areas were also examined. The wide and varied range of examples includes a discussion of the benefits of swimming, which led to organized swimming lessons; a reminder of the upcoming execution of a criminal with the aim of carrying out a dissection, useful for pupils in anatomy and drawing; as well as an attempt to make the most of potatoes, already present in Europe, but only consumed in case of famine.140

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CATALOG OF SELECTED MODELS

Like The Writer and The Draughtsman, The Musician’s eyes are also activated by a mechanism that gives the impression that it is watching its hands running over the keyboard. The bellows inside its torso simulate breathing and enable it to take a timid curtsy after finishing the piece.

In addition to creating the illusion of being alive, which was recognized and appreciated by contemporaries, The Musician places music firmly center-stage. Music was a core aspect of Jaquet-Droz production from the beginning of Pierre’s mechanical activity. Henry-Louis’ training also included music lessons. Inventories of his personal possessions include various instruments: a piano, a violin, a cello and a flute, which indicate his passion for music also expressed through The Musician and another non-android automaton, capable of imitating the playing of several instruments together.198

203

SNUFFBOX WITH SONGBIRD SIGNED JAQUET DROZ LONDON, GENEVA, CIRCA 1790 H 3.3 x L 9 x P 6 CM

In Jaquet-Droz production, a snuffbox is a small oval or rectangular box usually containing a timepiece, rich decorations and a songbird, without any indication that it actually served to hold tobacco. It is a precious collector’s item.

The birds adorning the snuffboxes measure between one and two centimeters high and are activated when the lids, decorated with enameled medallions, are opened.

Musical production, also characteristic of Jaquet-Droz, was adapted according to the objects manufactured and was gradually miniaturized. To house the musical mechanism of the songbird in a snuffbox, or in a watch, a single pipe housing a sliding piston was fitted to the models.

The piston in question is driven by a system of cams of which one determined the sequence of notes of the tune and the other operated the bellows which provided the air necessary to produce the sound made by the bird. This innovation, attributed to Jacob Frisard, chief artisan for Henry-Louis Jaquet-Droz and then Jean-Frédéric Leschot, makes the birdsong produced by the Jaquet-Droz workshops unequaled in its refinement and naturalness.

Historian Sharon Kerman talks about the quality of the birds produced by Jaquet-Droz:

“Endowed with great agility, the sliding piston whistle could execute trills and slides and repeat notes in rapid succession. As a result, it imitated bird songs better than a serinette barrel organ.” 206

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FLASK-SHAPED TABLE CLOCK ATTRIBUTED TO THE JAQUET-DROZ WORKSHOP, CIRCA 1790 , H 11 x W 5 x D 1.7 CM

“As far as flasks are concerned, I don’t have any ones already made at the moment. They are almost as big as the gold mechanical cartels, [...] cost from 150 to 160 new Louis each. Moreover, I do not believe that these flasks, although very curious and complicated, would be appreciated in your part of the world. They are luxury oriental objects, which in my opinion, would be less appropriate in this country than the gold cartels and mechanical songbird watch; which are made in such a way that they can be placed on a mantelpiece [...] [and] create a very pleasant effect. […]” 207 With these words, Jean-Frédéric Leschot discourages his contact, a merchant and transporter active in what is today Belgium, from placing an order for flasks. Since Romberg regularly transports the merchandise to London, he knows the refinement of the merchandise and enquires about it. At the risk of missing a possibly isolated sale, he points out that these flasks, endowed with an aura of “oriental luxury”, are destined for the East.

Although its counterpart composing a pair is missing, this clock was most likely made for the Chinese market. It is one of some 30 pieces of this type that have been listed in the documents. Like Jaquet-Droz snuffboxes, flasks are also valuable collector’s items.

Adorned with a pink enamel base, painted with garlands of flowers and ribbons, the flask has a cover that, when lifted, reveals a small dial showing the hours and minutes. The balance wheel, enhanced with diamonds, is visible above the dial. The back is openworked to enable the chime to sound freely.

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CATALOG OF SELECTED MODELS

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There are names in horological history that echo much more than just watches... Such is the case of Jaquet-Droz, 18th Swiss watchmakers with an international horizon, whose ceremonial clocks, prodigious androids, fashionable birdcages, pocket watches with moving scenes or collector’s snuffboxes remain the stuff of dreams for passionate enthusiasts. Today, the Maison Jaquet Droz continues to draw its inspiration from this rich heritage in order to reinterpret techniques and aesthetics, pushing back the boundaries of watchmaking and representing a perpetual source of fascination for collectors.

Based on the latest research on the subject and published on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the birth of Pierre Jaquet-Droz (1721-2021), this book offers a deep dive into the history of characters with a captivating journey. Born in La Chaux-de-Fonds, in what was then the principality of Neuchâtel, Pierre Jaquet-Droz founded a watchmaking workshop and developed it through a combination of technical, artistic and commercial skills enabling it to reach international markets. His son Henry-Louis developed the family business and further diversified production, a significant portion of which found its way to China and its dignitaries, devotees of luxurious and ingenious mechanical marvels.

This richly illustrated book aims to enable a rediscovery of their mechanical masterpieces as well as those of the Maison Jaquet Droz, whose rebirth and recent history are recounted here. These splendid historical and contemporary pieces embody a love of technical challenges and a taste for artistic refinement, adhering as much as possible to the sources of inspiration offered by Nature. The Worlds of Jaquet Droz thus reveals part of the expansive universe of pre-industrial watchmaking while drawing parallels between past and present productions.

ISBN 978-2-940506-39-2