The name Jaquet Droz is synonymous with automaton ever since founder Pierre Jaquet-Droz wowed royalties from France to China with his three humanoid automata, The Writer, The Draughtsman and The Musician, in the late 18th century.
Swatch Group acquired the brand in 2000, but it was only 12 years later that Jaquet Droz revisited this tradition, this time incorporating it on a wristwatch in the form of the Bird Repeater. Combining mechanical and decorative art, this animated minute repeater was more than a watch; it was a magnificent work of art to be preserved for generations to come.
Jaquet Droz followed this up with the Charming Bird featuring a mechanical songbird chirping out musical notes, the only wristwatch to date to boast such an appendage. Its beauty and intricacy eventually won it the Mechanical Exception prize at Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Geneve (GPHG) in 2015.
The same year, Jaquet Droz unveiled the Lady 8 Flower, the first feminine timepiece to be endowed with an automaton - a lotus that bloomed on demand. This year, the La Chaux-de-Fonds watchmaker released new versions of the Lady 8 Flower, the award-winning Charming Bird as well as last year’s Loving Butterfly.