Legendary Figures of Watchmaking: Jean-Marc Vacheron

Knowing the history of some of the most iconic watch companies is an important part of enjoying watches. Geneva born horologist Jean-Marc Vacheron is credited with founding one of the ‘holy trinity’ watch companies, Vacheron Constantin. Born on April 29, 1731 in the center of watchmaking during this time period, Jean-Marc studied watchmaking growing up.

At the age of 24, Jean-Marc signed his first apprentice displaying his commitment to creating a long-lasting watch manufacture thus founding his company. After this signing on September 17, 1755, Jean-Marc began working on his first watch. The watch he produced was a silver pocket watch with a gold escapement that was signed with his name “JC Vacheron”. This watch became the first ever watch produced by Vacheron Constantin.

Jean-Marc was very involved with the Age of Enlightenment where scholars and philosophers began using reason and logic to evaluate and create systems of ethics, government, religion and thought. Jean-Marc was close friends with Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a Geneva based philosopher who was at the forefront of European Enlightenment Theory. Rousseau often wrote bout the importance of hand-craftsmanship; giving Jean-Marc the credit he believed watchmakers deserved.

At age 24, Jean-Marc was considered one of the cabinotier watchmakers of Geneva. These were a select few watchmakers who created components of watches to be sold to other watch companies. This showed his excellent abilities and trust other watchmakers had for his work. In 1770, Jean-Marc created his first complication in a timepiece. It was a small wall clock that displayed the day and date functions. This type of watch was extremely rare during this time period. Jean-Marc also was the first to create engine-turned dials in 1779. This was a technique of creating texturing finishing on the dials of watches that was adopted by many other watch manufactures.

In 1785, Jean-Marc passed the torch to his son, Abraham Vacheron, who ran the company through the french revolution. Jean-Marc then passed away in 1805 but had created a foundation that lead to what Vacheron Constantin has become today.

Enjoy!