Jaquet Droz "The Bird Repeater" Automaton 18K RG Review

A Jaquet Droz automaton is the type of watch that, when you see it in action for the first time, you find yourself dumbfounded. It’s rare to see art and craftsmanship at such a massive scale, tucked into a package so small. The Jaquet Droz Bird Repeater is not an expression of whimsy; rather, it’s one of romance doing its best to reflect life’s beauty through manmade mechanics. And if you know even a little bit about the brand’s original founder and watchmaker, it’s easy to make the leap into this modern interpretation. 

Born in 1721 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, Pierre Jaquet-Droz took to watchmaking at an early age. By 1750, he was well established as a watchmaker when he married Marianne Sandoz. However, by 1755, he had lost both Marianne and his young daughter, Julie. He never remarried and was a single father to his son, Henri-Louis. Pierre and Henri-Louis shared similar personal philosophies and artistic expressions, and shared a profound appreciation of emotion and the natural world. 

In the late 1760s, Pierre informally adopted his neighbor’s son, Jean-Frédéric Leschot, after his mother passed away, and trained him as a master watchmaker. From then on, Pierre and his two sons formed a trio of master craftsmen who not only created beautiful clocks and timepieces but also seemed able to mechanize life itself. Between 1768 and 1774, the trio constructed three iconic, life-size android automata: The Writer, The Musician, and The Draughtsman. All three are still working and on display at the Neuchâtel Museum of Art and History in Switzerland. 

In 2000, the Swatch Group acquired the brand Jaquet Droz, which had been dormant for almost two centuries, and revived it as a luxury watch label. The Bird Repeater, reference J031033204, was introduced in a limited series of 8 pieces in 2015 to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the brand’s founder.

It replicates the romance and appreciation of life that Pierre Jaquet-Droz and his sons captured in their original masterpieces by displaying a family of automaton birds synchronized via a minute repeater complication in the manual-winding RMA88 caliber. The birds are situated at the forefront of a white mother-of-pearl dial that showcases landmarks on Lake Geneva, with a black onyx timekeeping display above it at the twelve o’clock position. All of this is confined within a 47mm 18K rose gold case. 

In addition to being a marvel of mechanical watchmaking and a masterclass in automaton acumen, this watch is a true work of art, meant to be admired by anyone lucky enough to come across it.