How And Why Jaquet Droz Is More Exclusive Than Ever
Alain Delamuraz, CEO of Jaquet Droz, on how and why he took the brand to even greater levels of exclusivity, working directly with clients to create one-of-one timepieces.
Jaquet Droz has always been exceptional. This was certainly true during its 18th-century heyday, when it was founded by Pierre Jaquet-Droz in 1738, who then went on to wow royalty around the globe with his elaborate watches, clocks, and automata. This has also been true with its 21st-century incarnation under the Swatch Group, when it has been defined by complex animated mechanisms, fine métiers d’art, low volumes, and price tags starting with five figures (in Swiss francs). But even at this lofty tier, the brand has managed to find a way to evolve upwards.
Since 2022 and the tenure of CEO Alain Delamuraz, Jaquet Droz has moved from single-digit limited editions to unique pieces of ambitious artistic and technical standards, ones worthy of six or even seven figures (again, in Swiss francs). Delamuraz does not consider it a different direction as such but, rather, a renewed emphasis on a segment that goes back to the brand’s DNA. “Pierre Jaquet-Droz was making pieces of art, automatons, watches, for kings—a very, very high level and very complicated. And we never stopped doing that,” he explains. “If you do that, then we have to concentrate on that without any concession.” Moving towards unique pieces only was a logical step. “When you make a watch, or a piece of art, for a king or a queen, you don’t do the same for another king or another queen. So this is the second conclusion of that—only unique pieces,” he adds.
As a result, Jaquet Droz no longer does retail in the conventional sense. Watches at this level are fully bespoke, and made in consultation with the client—they are sold before they are made. The exceptions are a handful of demonstrative pieces that are showcased to media and prospective customers to communicate the skill and care that goes into its timepieces. This also means that the brand no longer has any points of sale. “They are not going to try to find the watch that does not exist—we have to build it,” Delamuraz says. “So, it’s very exclusive, very audacious. And slowly but surely, it works.”
Without storefronts or billboards, the brand now relies on much more personal methods to reach new prospects. Delamuraz travels extensively, and he reckons that he knows every collector personally. He emphasises the importance of long, one-on-one meetings to allow a connection to be made, with both the product and the brand at large. On his recent trip to Kuala Lumpur, he notes that local collectors are somewhat less jaded than other markets. “Here, you can feel people who perhaps don’t know everything,” he says. “They are ready to listen, they appreciate, and you feel the interest.”
Five or 10 years ago, a Jaquet Droz watch tended to be a classically minded piece—even its forays into more contemporary aesthetics and materials were, in a way, old-fashioned. But a quick browse through the current website reveals just the opposite, with daring concepts and lavish colour far more common. This is a response to customer demand, of course, but Delamuraz feels it is also in keeping with the brand’s origins. “We were asking too much what Pierre Jaquet-Droz did back then, instead of what he would do today. And not only what he would do, but in which spirit,” he says. “He was a disruptive man, creating new things (which were) completely crazy sometimes. And this is the spirit we like to keep.” Of course, for those who prefer classical watches, the brand is more than capable of creating those. “But, for some new generations, we keep the know-how, the art, and the métiers d’art—but the interpretation and the way to realise it is different.”
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