When Eddy Jaquet started engraving for MB&F in 2011, he was tasked with inscribing the names Kari Voutilainen and Jean-François Mojon on the bridges of the first Legacy Machine calibres. Even if the flowing letters and words were perfectly executed, they didn’t even begin to reveal the talent of this Neuchâtel-based engraver. All this was to change when Jaquet shared with MB&F that he would like to do more.
After a first series in 2020 featuring engravings inspired by novels and short stories of 19th-century French author Jules Verne, MB&F decided to continue with the literary inspiration for a second series and presented Eddy with a list of 15 famous novels in the young fiction category, of which he was to choose eight works. The LM Split Escapement models with Eddy Jaquet’s engravings features as follows: Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper, The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling, The Call of the Wild by Jack London, Moby Dick by Herman Melville, Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson and Robin Hood (anonymous)
more pictures in press sectionLimited edition of 8 unique pieces, with dial plates engraved by Eddy Jaquet, inspired by 8 young fiction novels.
Not all the challenges of the pieces can be perceived with the naked eye. In certain parts, the dial plate had a thickness of 1.15mm, which allowed Jaquet ample space to engrave even in deep relief. In three particularly vulnerable areas, the dial plate measured only 0.35mm thick, requiring him to work with an extremely light touch in those places while making sure that the overall aesthetic of the engraving, which is intricately detailed, was not compromised.
The composition of each adventure also required deep reflection as the parts of the scene that would be hidden by different elements of the watch, such as the sub dials, bridges and hairspring would not disrupt the understanding of the illustration. In certain instances, these restrictions have been used to enhance the scene. In Robinson Crusoe, one of the subdials has been used to show the view through a telescope as our main character and his companion Friday observe a ship out at sea.
Several adjustments were made to the original LM Split Escapement as well, so as to maximise the available engraving space and allow Jaquet to exhibit his savoir-faire to the fullest. New, openworked date and power-reserve subdials were created, along with wider dial plates. The bezel was redesigned to be slimmer, and the case dimensions reworked, in order to make space for the wider dial plate. Because the bezel and case dimensions were changed, a new dial crystal had to be produced, with a less pronounced curve to the dome, since its diameter was now increased.
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Watchmaking has its fair share of rock stars, names that immediately evoke admiration and respect when associated with a timepiece. Watchmaking aficionados have long been familiar with the work of movement makers such as Jean-François Mojon, Kari Voutilainen, Jean-Marc Wiederrecht, Stepan Sarpaneva, Eric Coudray and Stephen McDonnell. Designers such as Eric Giroud and Alain Silberstein inspire cult-like devotion in their most dedicated followers. But only a tiny handful of connoisseurs would know the name Eddy Jaquet, one of the most gifted artists of his generation and the best storyteller working through the medium of dial engraving.
Eddy Jaquet was born in 1965, in a small village on the outskirts of Neuchâtel. Having learned his trade at the École d’Arts Appliqués in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Jaquet went straight on to pursue his lifelong vocation of engraver after graduation, in a career that has continued uninterrupted from 1987 to this day. Since 1994 he has enjoyed complete professional independence, which has allowed him to create some of the most exquisite works of art ever to grace a watch dial.
His work is often based on existing stories and cultural narratives, but nevertheless possesses a rich vein of mythopoeia. This was amply demonstrated by Eddy Jaquet’s first series of Legacy Machine Split Escapement pieces: a series of eight unique hand-engraved pieces based on the novels of Jules Verne, which were interpreted anew through Jaquet’s imagination. Eddy Jaquet has been a Friend of MB&F since 2011, when the first Legacy Machine featured his skills in the names of Kari Voutilainen and Jean-François Mojon, beautifully engraved on a movement bridge.
After a successful series in 2020 based on the works of Jules Verne, MB&F decided to continue with the literary inspiration for a second series and presented Eddy with a list of 15 famous novels in the young fiction category, of which he was to choose eight works. Rediscovering the pages of each story over the following weeks and months, he finally made his selection of 8 literary classics.
Like the first Jules Verne series in 2020, none of the illustrations imagined by Jaquet are drawn from existing works of art. They are entirely conceived by the artist after reading the source books and viewing other creative works, such as films and comic books.
Each engraving is an intricate tableau of scenes and key moments from the stories, synthesised in the imagination of Jaquet and expressly designed to be interpreted through the medium of the LM SE movement. Beyond the list of 15 initial novels for consideration, MB&F has always given Jaquet complete freedom in his creative process.
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