Pierre Jaquet Droz

The famous Swiss mechanic Pierre Jaquet-Droz (1721-1790) became famous for his interior animated clocks with singing birds and fountains, music boxes with singing birds and android automatons, mechanical toys and devices imitating the movements of people and animals. He founded the Jaquet Droz company, which to this day specializes in the production of exquisite luxury mechanicals.
In 1738, Pierre Jaquet-Droz opened his first manufactory, Jaquet-Droz & Leschot, in La Chaux-de-Fonds. Subsequently, together with his son Henri-Louis Jaquet-Droz (1752-1791) and companion Jean-Frederic Leschot (1746-1824), they opened two more workshops – in London (1774) and Geneva (1784), where they invited the best masters of their time. The company exported sophisticated automata through the East India Company in London to China, where they were highly valued as gifts for the Emperor and his entourage. Thus began the history of one of the most prestigious watch brands.

The most famous automatons of the company were: a writing boy, a girl playing the organ, and a drawing boy. Thanks to his creations, Pierre and his creations were presented to the royal courts of Europe, Russia and China. At the same time, the creation of automatons was only a way to attract the attention of noble people to sell watches.
Automatons can be considered the first robots. They were so skillfully executed that wherever they were shown, they always made a sensation. Today automatons can be seen in the Museum of History and Art in Neuchâtel (Switzerland).

Today, the Jaquet Droz company can order the Calligraph automaton, up to 80 cm tall. The production of the toy will take a little less than a year, depending on what face, torso and dress, makeup, hairstyle and pose the client wishes to see. The company creates new models of automatons even today to demonstrate the skill of the company’s watchmakers and show the continuity of traditions that are almost 300 years old.


The Jaquet-Droz dynasty became famous in the 18th century not only for automatons, but also for the amazing variety of their creations: unusual watches and snuff boxes with mechanical songbirds became the most popular products of the company.
Pierre Jaquet-Droz, who also loved to listen to the gentle trills of canaries, began to decorate table and pocket watches, snuff boxes, vases and cages with figures of songbirds. They were real miniature automatons, equipped with a system of whistles and cylindrical pistons that reproduced the marvelous singing of birds.
















