The DNA of watchmaking expertise
If there was anything to worry about on 17th March 1810, it was not so much the thick layer of snow into which a boot would sink with each step, nor the glacial north wind which froze trees and streams, but rather the bears and wolves, two inhabitants of the Plateau of the Jura that artisans feared the most…
That morning, Joseph Gillet rose early as the journey to Switzerland would be arduous. He could not postpone his journey as the master watchmakers could not wait. They were impatient to discover the gear-trains, rods, springs and pivots that had been crafted during long winter days by Gillet and his helpers. With a bowl of milk from the evening milking and a baked apple - taken from the mouth of a tiled stove - inside him, Joseph embarked on a 6-day journey taking him through countryside all the way to the counters of the watchmakers of La Chaux-de-Fonds and Le Locle…
The years went by and his son, Auguste, his grandson, Henri F., and then his great-grandson, Henri A., all of whom were watchmakers, assumed responsibility for delivering the family's goods to the likes of Breguet, Jean-Richard and others.
Time and watchmaking was thus a real vocation for the Gillet family of Haut-Doubs. In the 1960s, the Gillet Henri & Sons business, based in Charquemont, supplied the whole of Europe. The skills of the expert profile turner Henri A. were in demand by manufacturers in the Jura region in order that a set of cams needed for the production of balance staffs could be developed.
The 5th generation of expertise was born in 1947. A certain Roger Alphonse set up business in the Franches-Montagnes region and started to create timepieces. He was always scribbling down ideas for watch cases and movements on scraps of paper. His passion developed at an exceptional rate and Roger, who was a level-headed, restrained and realistic person, looked to the world around him to explore what time could bring to his creations.
Roger Alphonse produced his first Gillet watches whilst working for various regional businesses. However, illness got the better of this eclectic character and his passion and hence these first chronographs were not developed any further. Fortunately though, he had found time to pass on his passion to his son, Romain.
