Call them horological follies, but automata, or animated watches have become a fascinating sub-genre where the likes of Van ...

However, Lattman’s description could also easily apply to the activities of his company today, which has produced large-scale mechanical objects along with its watches since it was resurrected ...

His three key pieces, now known as the Jaquet-Droz automata, are housed at the art and history museum in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. He also once constructed a clock that was capable of surprising ...

Automata, then, represented the pinnacle of accomplishment in a mechanistic universe, requiring considerable skill to construct. Most of their inventors, such as Pierre Jaquet-Droz, were ...

Upon his return to Switzerland, he used the money from that sale to focus on his true passion: creating automata. With the help of his adoptive son, Jean-Frédéric Leschot, Jaquet Droz’s ...

Jaquet Droz and his company produced a number of "automata" and other mechanical creations meant to delight and entertain. These items often included mechanical singing birds, moving figurines ...

Founded in 1738 by Pierre Jaquet-Droz, a clockmaker in La Chaux-de-Fonds, the firm has long specialized in creating automata, fanciful mechanical devices that operate according to predetermined ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Writer, editor, publisher and fan of all things handwritten. When founder Pierre Jaquet-Droz began producing objets d’art in ...

Jaquet Droz’s expertise in automata dates back to the company’s inception 280 years ago. Pierre Jaquet-Droz and his son Henri-Louis made a business of creating what were essentially the ...

Of all the Swiss watchmaking legends, Pierre Jaquet-Droz distinguished himself in the "Art of Astonishment" and his marvellous automata from the late 18th century. Jaquet Droz celebrates the ...

Subsequent homages to original Jaquet Droz automata were realized within the confines of the company’s wristwatches, including a series of minute repeaters with dial automata that move during ...