The inventor Antoine LeCoultre catapulted watch production into a new era. The fact that he succeeded in manufacturing all watch parts on machines marked the beginning of the watch industry. But disputes in the family almost prevented his success.

For three years, Antoine LeCoultre had forged razors during the day to earn his living. And at night, he tinkered with his machine. In the summer of 1832, he finally had a milling machine in his forge that cut perfectly shaped watch gears from steel in a single operation.

In the Vallée de Joux, the Swiss valley of watchmakers, this innovation was naturally viewed with skepticism and fear. For centuries, farmers there sawed gears with simple tools during the long winters. Virtually overnight, LeCoultre is now catapulting the traditional craft into the age of industrial mass production.

Together with his brother Ulysee, Antoine now sets up his own workshop. The brother takes care of the business, Antoine of the inventions. Soon his gears are made so precisely that inaccuracies can no longer be sounded out with existing instruments. So Antoine invents the milliometer - now he is able to measure a thousandth of a millimeter deviation. A new standard of precision in watchmaking is created.

Business success, writes book author Alex Capus in his work "Patriarchs," does not fail to materialize. Watch manufacturers from all over the world buy LeCoultre's gears and pay almost any price for them. Along the way, Antoine develops the crown winding system with rocking bar and a machine for making the escapement. By 1847, at the age of 44, he was able to manufacture all the parts of a watch by machine.

But as is so often the case, at the height of success there are problems in the brotherly partnership. Who is more important? According to legend, jealous wives also play a role. How the separation takes place has not been handed down. Only the result: Ulysee takes over the profitable gear production. Antoine is left with debts and machines.

But the inventor did not give up. At the 1851 World's Fair, he produced his first LeCoultre made entirely by machine. A sensation. Back in Switzerland, he began mass production and apparently fell into the family trap once again. The son-in-law Jean Gallay offers to take over the business part - and Antoine Le- Coultre makes him an equal partner. Unfortunately, however, Gallay is not a good businessman. In 1858, the bailiff arrives at the door of "Antoine LeCoultre & Fls". Antoine now even has to sell his country estate. He is left only with his beloved machines.

In 1860, he starts a new attempt - but this time with external partners. Shareholders contribute the capital to the LeCoultre company, Antoine the machines. In return, he receives 62 of the 142 shares and becomes technical director. The 100-year flowering of the Swiss watch industry, which was now beginning, brought LeCoultre a huge demand. And even in terms of family, his luck turns. His sons Elie, Paul and Benjamin not only join the company. They also showed foresight and gradually bought back the shares. In 1877, the prospering company once again belonged to the family. At that time, it was a watch movement manufacturer of renowned brands such as Vacheron Constantin, Patek Philippe and A. Lange & Söhne. Then in 1903, the grandson Jacques-David LeCoultre will meet the Frenchman Edmond Jaeger, who wants to build extremely flat watches. The two will eventually - in 1937 - merge. In 1948, Jacques-David LeCoultre dies, and with him the last family member in the company's management.

In the coming decades, various names alternate until 1978 - in the wake of the quartz crisis - Jaeger-LeCoultre also gets into serious trouble. The German car instrument manufacturer VDO buys the company. The former VDO owner Liselott Schindling is said to have made the acquisition primarily to obtain fine watches more cheaply, with which the successful dressage rider (gold medal in 1972) liked to impress the judges. By the time the mechanical industry was experiencing its renaissance, LeCoultre had been restructured and was sold to the Richemont Group in 2001. Today, Jaeger-LeCoultre employs 1400 people in Le Sentier and manufactures over 60,000 luxury watches a year.

Text: Klaus Peter Fuchs / Gerd Gregor Feth