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e had first met Jean-Marie Schaller back in 1995 and immediately struck up a friendship, at a time when he was already orchestrating the revival of a historic brand, the one bearing the name Abraham-Louis Perrelet, considered one of the inventors of the automatic watch.
Jean-Marie had already impressed us with his calm enthusiasm, his passion for bringing a watchmaking ancestor back to life, his erudition, and that year he unveiled a world first with the Dipteros I, the first automatic watch with a double rotor visible on the dial, which would become the signature of the Perrelet brand.
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- As early as 1995, Jean-Marie Schaller appeared in the pages of Europa Star, already in connection with the revival of a legendary name: Abraham-Louis Perrelet. Since then, the relaunch of brands bearing great historical names has multiplied throughout the watch industry - further testament to the creator’s intuition.
- ©Archives Europa Star
We met him again a little later, in 2004, when he revived another somewhat forgotten great watchmaker, Louis Moinet, by founding the Ateliers bearing his name. To say that, with Louis Moinet (1768–1853), he had found his watchmaking grail is no exaggeration. Everything in the life of this scientist and artist spoke directly to Jean-Marie, for Louis Moinet was at once an architect, painter, sculptor and watchmaker, a teacher at the Louvre, President of the Société Chronométrique de Paris, inventor and astronomer. Not to mention that he also published, in 1848, a voluminous and indispensable Traité d’Horlogerie.
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- The Louis Moinet adventure was Jean-Marie Schaller’s great project - one he saw as a meeting with destiny. The Ateliers Louis Moinet were officially launched in 2004, at a time when the independent watchmaking scene was entering a period of remarkable growth.
- ©Archives Europa Star
Jean-Marie Schaller delighted in exploring this extraordinarily rich universe ever further, drawing direct inspiration from the works and spirit of Louis Moinet. Rarely in contemporary watchmaking has one seen a man so completely embody his brand, even dressing in the style of the grand siècle, naturally and without affectation wearing a frock coat or a top hat.
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- In 2015, Louis Moinet graced the cover of Europa Star with the magnificent Memoris model. “My story is not at all typical…” began the accompanying feature article, in an encounter with Jean-Marie Schaller.
- ©Archives Europa Star
As he once told us: “You may or not believe this, but when I created the Louis Moinet brand, it was because I had the very strong feeling that it was my destiny. I didn’t really have a choice. And because I didn’t have money either, I had to do it with my heart. It was like a mission I had to accomplish. It is a true love story and, believe me, sometimes I feel as though Louis Moinet is there, sitting beside me, whispering his ideas to me.”
Rarely in contemporary watchmaking has one seen a man so completely embody his brand, even dressing in the style of the grand siècle, naturally and without affectation wearing a frock coat or a top hat.
What began in his kitchen would lead him to undertake extensive research into Louis Moinet, visiting every watchmaking museum in the world in search of the slightest clue. His greatest coup came barely ten years after founding his brand, when he purchased a Louis Moinet watch at auction and discovered that his watchmaker was in fact the inventor of the world’s first chronograph, with his Compteur de Tierces created in 1816 and capable of measuring time to 1/60th of a second. A number of controversies followed, but in the end Louis Moinet was unanimously recognised as the inventor of the first chronograph.
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- Jean-Marie Schaller shared another passion with Louis Moinet: astronomy, space, the moon, the stars, and meteorites. The Cosmopolis presented in this 2024 article by Isabelle Cerboneschi is a brilliant illustration of that passion.
- ©Archives Europa Star
Faithful to the neo-classical aesthetic inspired by his mentor, Jean-Marie Schaller developed his independent brand admirably, distinguishing it not only through its aesthetics but also through the exceptional quality of its finishes and its innovative approach to complications.
His other great passion – in which he also mirrored Louis Moinet the astronomer – was space, the cosmos, the stars and meteorites. It was another all-consuming passion, culminating in his Cosmopolis watch, launched in 2024, which was recognised by Guinness World Records as “the watch containing the highest number of different meteorite inserts” in the world, including an extremely rare lunar meteorite.
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- In 2017, Jean-Marie Schaller’s rehabilitation of Louis Moinet’s work was recognized with the awarding of the title of the world’s first chronograph by Guinness World Records.
- ©Archives Europa Star
Jean-Marie Schaller will be deeply missed, he who, in complete independence, offered a form of watchmaking that was sumptuous, precious and so inventive. Yet his legacy and life’s work will continue, supported by his entire family: Micaela, his wife, his daughter Raphaëlle and his son Nathanaël, together with the warm and dedicated team he had gathered around him.
To his family, loved ones and collaborators, Europa Star extends its most sincere condolences, with the deep conviction that although Jean-Marie has joined the stars, his adventure continues.
“You may or not believe this, but when I created the Louis Moinet brand, it was because I had the very strong feeling that it was my destiny. I didn’t really have a choice. And because I didn’t have money either, I had to do it with my heart. It was like a mission I had to accomplish. It is a true love story and, believe me, sometimes I feel as though Louis Moinet is there, sitting beside me, whispering his ideas to me.”
