Jean Richard

From Chronopedia
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JeanRichard

Daniel Jeanrichard (1665-1741) is a legendary figure in Swiss watchmaking, now universally considered to be the "founder of the watchmaking industry in the canton of Neuchâtel" in the late 17th century.

Born in 1665 in the hamlet of Les Bressels, between the villages of La Chaux-de-Fonds and Le Locle in the Swiss Jura, Daniel Jeanrichard had a curious and inventive mind. One day, when he was still young and had no experience of watchmaking, he was given an English watch that no longer worked. While repairing it, he carefully studied the mechanism and decided to make one just like it himself. Thus it was that in 1681 he created his first watch – the very first ever made in the region –, before going on to establish his own watchmaking workshop. The JEANRICHARD Museum in La Chaux-de-Fonds still conserves several of his most outstanding watches, including the "Daniel" watch (1710), a technical and aesthetic masterpiece with a calendar aperture.