In 2007 the managing director of Pierre DeRoche Pierre Dubois found in his friend’s antique shop an interesting movement that used to power a pocket watch of the 19th century. He bought the watch and brought it to his father. From the very beginning the watchmakers were certain that it was a LeCoultre movement, but they couldn’t prove their guess. The only clue in the investigation of the movement’s story was the patent number 8172 on the main plate. In the Swiss federal register this number corresponded to a “new watch with a crown”. The patent was given on May 5, 1894, to some Noma Robert-Vaelti, a watchmaker from La Chaux-de-Fonds. But neither reputable historians of horology nor specialists from the watch museum in La Chaux-de-Fonds knew this watchmaker.
The watchmakers from Pierre DeRoche decided that the story of the movement is as follows: at the end of the 19th century the movements by LeCoultre were sold to many renowned brands, but unknown watchmakers could buy them too – like for example the mysterious Noma Robert-Vaelti. He improved the movement he had bought and patented it. Later the watchmakers managed to find the small seal of LeCoultre – a tiny engraving on the movement.
Pierre Dubois decided to present the old movement with a new life. The result of his work is the new Pierre DeRoche Grand Cliff TNT BelCanto powered by the unique antique movement carried to perfection in the workshops of the company. The watchmakers from Pierre DeRoche not only re-assembled the movement but also decorated it with Cotes de Genève. In total the company produced only three copies of the watch: with antique movement, with repeater and quarter-of-an-hour gong and with chronograph.
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