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Abraham-Louis Perrelet was a rare pioneer whose work changed the course of watchmaking history. Perrelet was the first to innovate the energy supply of a watch movement with the invention of the first automatic winding system – the automatic rotor – in 1777.

Modern watchmaking has never been the same since Abraham-Louis Perrelet invented the self-winding watch in Le Locle in the 1770s. Known as “Grandpa Perrelet” he lived to be 96 and continues to inspire and teach several generations of watchmakers including Jacques-Frederic Houriet, known as the father of the Swiss chronometer, and Louis-Frederic Perrelet, his grandson. Some historians believe that Perrelet also was a mentor to another great mind in watchmaking, Abraham-Louis Breguet.