Jaeger-LeCoultre was founded in 1833 by Antoine LeCoultre, in the Vallée de Joux, Switzerland. LeCoultre turned his family’s small barn into a watchmaking studio and started producing timepieces of great accuracy.

The Jaeger part of the name entered the picture in 1903, when Edmund Jaeger, watchmaker to the French Navy, challenged his Swiss counterparts to produce ultra-thin movements, similar to those he himself had invented. By this time Antoine LeCoultre’s grandson Jacques-David was running production and he stepped up to meet the challenge.

The brand boasts hundreds of inventions, patents, and more than one thousand movements, including the world's smallest movement, and one of the world's most complicated wristwatches, the Grande Complication.

Whether it’s the Rendez-Vous, the Reverso, or the legendary Memovox with its iconic mechanical alarm, every “JLC” has been designed and developed to withstand the toughest, most challenging conditions since the start of the 20th century.

Since 2000, the company has been a fully owned subsidiary of the Swiss luxury group Richemont and is very much regarded as a top-tier brand.