Haute Time: Jaquet Droz Launches “Automates & Merveilles” Website

Distinguished Swiss watchmaker Jaquet Droz announced their launch of a micro-site dedicated to the brand’s historical automatons and its recent exposition tour, “Automates et Merveilles.”

Pierre Jaquet Droz was not only considered an imaginative watchmaker but well known for perfecting and selling sophisticated automatons. His work culminated with three humanoid robots: The Writer, The Draughtsman and The Musician, which were presented in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1774. These three masterpieces are admired by specialist from all over the world and are still considered major engineering creations.

The Jaquet Droz creations first traveled from La Chaux-de-Fonds to Geneva and then, in 1775, to Paris where they were offered to Louis XVI and his queen, Marie-Antoinette. Soon after, they were shown to the most renowned courts of Europe, with visits to London, the Low Countries and Flanders in 1780-1781, as well as northern France. They returned to Paris in 1782 and 1783, and exhibited in Lyon in 1784. The automatons also traveled to the Russian court in Kazan and to Madrid.

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