Legendary Figures of Watchmaking: Jehan-Jacques Blancpain

Blancpain is an extremely important watch company and makes up a important part of the watch community. It is known as being the oldest surviving watchmaking brands still running today. The brand was founded by Jehan-Jacques Blancpain in 1735 which makes him an important figure in the watch world.

Blancpain is based in Paudex, Switzerland which is located in the canton of Vaud. It joined the Swatch Group in 1992 and is most well known for the Fifty Fathoms dive watch. Not only is the brand notable for being the oldest surviving companies, it also pushed innovation in the watch world. It created the smallest moonphase display in 1983, the thinnest chronograph and thinnest minute repeater movement in 1987, the thinnest split second movement in 1988, the list goes on. In 2008 they created the worlds first one minute flying carousel with 100 hours of power reserve. This is all thanks to Jehan Jacques Blancpain.

Jehan-Jacques was borin in 1693 into a family of farmers and school teachers. He grew up in the town of Villeret which is located in the canton of Bern. He grew up on a farm and like his father, became a school teacher in the local village. During his time of being a teacher, he learnt of watchmaking and the potential success he could have in the craft. He began manufacturing pocket watch parts and soon created ebauche movements.

He founded his company in 1935 and opened the first Blancpain workshop in the upper floors of his home. The business was truly made up of family - his wife, son, uncles and aunts were all a part of the company. This type of family business is very typical in Switzerland, even today. During the early years of the company, none of the watches were signed by Blancpain. There are few watches that show evidence of the companies existence before the 1800’s. There are documents, however, that show the founding and existence of the company and Jean-Jacques work as a horologist. There is a pocket watch that Blancpain made for Louis XVI that was signed “Blancpain et Fils” which is the earliest watch to be signed with the family name. Eventually, Jehan-Jacques gave the reigns of the company to one of his sons, David-Louis, who continued the companies tradition of high quality watchmaking.

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