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Industry Pioneers

STORY NG TJENG JAW

1851 – 1918

Like many other watchmakers in the Swiss Vallee de Joux, Jules Audemars' Huguenot ancestors had moved there from Grenoble, France, to escape religious persecution.

The Audemars were originally farmers, and Jules spent his early summers tending cattle. During the harsh winters, and in order to make ends meet, he worked as a watchmaking 'jobber'. After finishing primary school in Le Brassus, he set off in pursuit of a watchmaking career,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], acquiring knowledge and experience from various prominent watch-masters in the region.

Building his skills first as a movement finisher for several years, he later started making complicated ebauches. Because of his creative and high-quality work, he was soon able to build a thriving business of supplying Chronograph dial trains, minute repeaters, Calendars and new ebauches to Geneva watch factories.

His personal life also prospered. Jules married Eugenie Renaud in 1874 at her home town Gimel. Her father, a successful baker, set Jules up with a fully equipped workshop there in the hope of keeping the couple in Gimel. Jules decided instead to bring his young wife back to Le Brassus.

The business prospered,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], and Jules soon had to employ more watchmakers. One of them was Edward-Auguste Piguet, a childhood friend, with whom Jules increasingly discussed problems and worked out new ideas. Over time,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], it became clear that they should make the transition from a parts supplier to a full-fledged maker of complicated watches.

The official Audemars-Piguet Deed of Partnership was signed on 17 December 1881. The new venture started off with only 18 pocket watch movements, which were contributed by Jules Audemars, and some money from Edward-Auguste Piguet. Jules was Technical Director of Audemars Piguet, and Edward Commercial Director.

Jules Audemars was a perfectionist, documenting in great detail the finishing instructions for the different types of movements. All information was kept in a card file, with a record for each watch. Every watchmaker had to complete and sign the relevant entry for each operation,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], and each finished watch had to be submitted to one of the two partners for final approval before leaving the factory.

Some eccentricities were reported. For example, Jules Audemars was so possessive of his writing instruments and watch-making tools that he would tie each tool or pen with a thin rope to his watch-making bench. Nobody, including his partner, was allowed to touch them.

The firm succeeded on all levels, driven partly by the perfectionism of its owners, partly by forward-looking policies. In 1912, Jules Audemars proposed to his Board of Directors a novel profit sharing plan, and by 1914,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], he opened a branch in Geneva. The company is also remembered for probably the world's first watch advertising campaign in 1914, in the Swiss Railways official magazine.

Certainly, the many extremely complicated fine timepieces, including an amazing number of very fine Minute Repeaters created, rank Jules Audemars as good a watchmaker as anyone of his time.

Jules-Louis Audemars died on 17 October 1918, but his legacy is alive and well today. Where many Swiss family-owned watch companies either disappeared without a trace over the years, or sold their family name to outsiders, it was the hard-headed, single-minded spirit of Jules Audemars that had kept the family link alive.

As a result, Audemars Piguet today is one of the very few Haute Horlogerie companies still controlled and run by descendants of the founding fathers. S

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