SJX Watches
Visiting Manufacture La Joux-Perret
Manufacture La Joux-Perret (MLJP) has become an increasingly important supplier to the growing ranks of micro-brands and independent watchmakers, offering capable Swiss movements at accessible prices. Though a fraction of the size of its neighbour Sellita, the manufacture has expanded through a pragmatic combination of selective automation, a more focused movement catalogue, and careful investments in production. Its approach offers an instructive look at how Swiss watchmaking can remain competitive while retaining the skills needed to produce everything from solar quartz movements to hand-finished tourbillons under one roof. To find out more about MLJP, we visited the manufacture in La Chaux-de-Fonds, one of the historical centres of watchmaking in the Swiss Jura. A primer on MLJP The history of MLJP can be traced to the revival of complicated watchmaking in the early 1990s. Established by Jean-Pierre Jaquet in 1990 under his own name, the firm supplied specialised movements, including shaped calibres and complications, to the growing fine watchmaking segment. Among its best-known offerings of that era was a monopusher chronograph designed by François-Paul Journe and produced for clients like Franck Muller and Girard-Perregaux. Loosely related to the cal. 045MC that Techniques Horlogères Appliquées (THA) developed previously for Cartier, the platform remains in production today as the cal. A5000, one of the manufacture’s more upmarket movements. The cal. A5000 in an ...
