Vallée de Joux
The Vallée de Joux is an alpine cleft about ninety minutes north of Geneva by car, snowed-in for half the year and historically too high to farm through the winter. The farming families who held its land worked watches in the off-season, and by the late 18th century the valley had become one of the densest concentrations of horological skill in Europe. Audemars Piguet, Jaeger-LeCoultre, and Blancpain all keep their manufactures here. The Vallée's suppliers (escapements, hairsprings, finishing) fan out from the same handful of villages: Le Sentier, Le Brassus, Le Lieu, feeding much of the haute-horlogerie trade beyond.
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5 pins in Vallée de Joux. Hover or focus a pin for the brand name; click through for the brand’s catalog page.
Brands in Vallée de Joux
Founded by Jules-Louis Audemars and Edward-Auguste Piguet in Le Brassus; the Vallée de Joux winter isolation made watchmaking the off-season livelihood for the local farming families.
Founded by Jehan-Jacques Blancpain in Villeret in the Bernese Jura; the modern brand operates its haute-horlogerie manufacture in Le Brassus, alongside Breguet under the Swatch Group.
Abraham-Louis Breguet founded the brand in Paris in 1775; the modern manufacture is in L’Abbaye in the Vallee de Joux, acquired by the Swatch Group in 1999.
Founded 1884 in Rome by Greek silversmith Sotirios Voulgaris as a jewellery atelier. The watch division opened in the 1970s; Bulgari acquired the Gérald Genta and Daniel Roth ateliers in 2000, bringing genuine movement expertise. The Le Sentier manufacture (Vallee de Joux) was built and opened in 2021 as a fully integrated movement and watch manufacture. LVMH acquired Bulgari in 2011. The Octo Finissimo programme holds multiple ultra-thin records (automatic, tourbillon, chronograph, perpetual calendar) using in-house BVL calibers engineered in Le Sentier.
Antoine LeCoultre opened his workshop in Le Sentier; the manufacture there has produced more than 1,200 distinct calibres and supplies movements to much of the Vallée and beyond.