Louis-Benjamin Audemars

Louis-Benjamin Audemars

- His Life and Work -

Rise and Fall of a Watchmaker Dynasty

by Hartmut Zantke

Approx 512 pages, 25 cm x 31 cm, English/German, 169 b/w, 434 colour illustrations.

Published by Christian Pfeiffer-Belli

1st ed. 2003

ISBN 3-00-012191-9

Printed in Germany.

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Book Review

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Louis-Benjamin Audemars (1782 – 1833)

This book tells the life story of Louis-Benjamin Audemars and his sons, the most important Swiss watchmakers of the 19^th Century. For Louis-Benjamin Audemars and his successors it was not only important to create a perfect and precise watch, but also to develop as many new and different complications as possible, and to integrate them harmoniously into the movements. At many 19^th Century World Exhibitions The House of Louis Audemars was rewarded with the highest distinctions for their products. Some of their watches are among the most complicated that have ever been made. The watches of Louis Audemars cannot be bettered by any other watchmaker because of their technical perfection, the beauty and harmony of their movements, cases, dials and hands. They rightly have their place among the great Masterpieces of the watchmaker’s art. The amazing works of this watchmaking dynasty are illustrated by more than 600 illustrations, some larger than life size, of more than 160 watches made by Louis Audemars factory and its successors.

Because the Louis Audemars enterprise only existed for 74 years, only produced about 9000 complete watches and went into liquidation in 1885, and because its successor companies only existed for a few decades producing fairly ordinary watches, the watchmaking dynasty of Louis-Benjamin Audemars and its works were allowed to sink into oblivion.

In recent decades very few watches by Louis Audemars have surfaced on the open market or at auctions. The descriptions and dates are often wrong and the “Ls. Audemars” brand is relatively unknown, so there is no established basis for valuation. In consequence the watches are sold below their value. Neither dealers, nor collectors are aware of the historical significance, the rarity, the beauty and the high quality of watches from the Louis Audemars factory.

For Louis-Benjamin Audemars and his successors it was not only important to create a perfect and precise watch, but also to develop as many new and different complications as possible, and to integrate them harmoniously into the movements. At many 19^th Century World Exhibitions The House of Louis Audemars was rewarded with the highest distinctions for their products. Some of their watches are among the most complicated that have ever been made. The watches of Louis Audemars cannot be bettered by any other watchmaker because of their technical perfection, the beauty and harmony of their movements, cases, dials and hands. They rightly have their place among the great Masterpieces of the watchmaker’s art.

This book is divided into two parts, narrative and illustrated:

The Text section presents the history of the House of Louis-Benjamin Audemars, and of its successor companies, in relation to the development of the watch industry of the 19^th century. The illustrated section shows about 170 watches made by the Louis-Benjamin Audemars dynasty, partly in large format pictures, illustrating the technical perfection and the beauty of the timepieces, as well as the decline in the quality of production of the successor companies.

The illustrations are - as far as is possible - sorted by the dates of production of the movements or of the finished watches according to the numbering of the watch movements. (Watches with low numbers were often only completed and sold years later).

Unfortunately it was not possible to get coloured pictures of all of the famous highly complicated watches because the owners, where known, would not agree to the publication of pictures of their watches. Old black and white pictures from the Audemars family had to be used.

For the research for this book, which took many years, the author had to rely on the support of Louis-Benjamin Audemars’ descendants and Audemars family members, and on information he had to collect from museums, collectors, auctioneers and other institutions. I owe special thanks to:

Mr. Paul Audemars, Somerton, England

Auction House Antiquorum, Geneva

Christies, London / Geneva

Adolphe Chapiro

Auction House Dr. Crott, owner Stefan Muser, Mannheim

Musée International d’Horlogerie La Chaux-de-Fonds

Auction House Ineichen, Zürich

Audemars Piguet & Cie, Le Brassus

Sotheby’s, London

Patek Philippe, Geneva

Mme Jaqueline Audemars, Le Brassus

Mr. Richard Stenning, Charles Frodsham, London

An old chronicle summarises his life and philosophy in a few sentences: "Louis-Benjamin Audemars was the founder of the great company that bears his name. He was born in 1782 in Le Brassus and from the start of his apprenticeship showed unique talent as well as high manual skills. In 1811 he took over the business of his brother-in-law and his former Master Philippe-Samuel Meylan. He founded a factory for the manufacture of ébauches, pinions and minute-repeater movements."

Louis-Benjamin Audemars was a talented artist and craftsman whose skill, craft and creativity made him a legend in the Vallée de Joux. He was a perfectionist, who rejected any work that wasn’t perfect. Audemars was so convinced about the future of technically complicated watchmaking that for a whole year he carried on paying the last maker of under-dial works who was able to produce minute repeater movements, from his own pocket, to preserve those skills during the economic crisis between 1816 and 1817.

The great demand for minute-repeater watches in the following years proved that he was right. In spite of his poor state of health he continued trying to achieve his aim: to produce a complete watch in his own workshop. He was unable to achieve his ambition, but his sons carried on running his company with the same goal, and a few years later their father's wish came true. They succeeded in making ready-to-sell watches in their own workshops. This was the moment when the Louis Audemars enterprise, which had previously supplied établisseurs, became the first watch factory in the Vallée de Joux.