Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept GMT Tourbillon Instructions For Use Manual - page 5
The Manufacture
Audemars Piguet
I
The Vallée de Joux : cradle of the watchmaker’s art
n the heart of the Swiss Jura, around 50 kilometres
north of Geneva, nestles a landscape which
has retained its natural charm to this day
: the
Vallée de Joux. Around the mid-18
th
century, the harsh
climate of this mountainous region and soil depletion
drove the farming community settled there to seek
other sources of income. With their high degree
of manual dexterity, inexhaustible creativity and
enormous determination, the inhabitants of the
valley, known as Combiers, were naturally drawn to
watchmaking.
Due to their high quality, the movements they produced
acquired great popularity with the Geneva firms which
used them to create complete watches.
From 1740 onwards, watchmaking developed into the
principal industry of the Vallée de Joux. This region was
thus transformed, as an 1881 chronicle put it, “ into a
land of milk and honey, in which poverty has rapidly
disappeared ”.
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