L. Leroy, the French haute horlogerie brand worn by the likes of Marie Antoinette, Marcel Proust, Queen Victoria and the aviation pioneers Charles Lindbergh and Carlos Santos-Dumont, is back on the scene. But keeping it’s big reveal strictly under wraps, beyond the teaser pics you see above and below, until this year’s Geneva Watch Days, being held at the Hotel Beau Rivage from 4-7 September.
Given the name’s (re-)revival plus associated collection will be commemorating a 240th anniversary, and given that historical horological fireworks that have earned a Leroy pocket watch its very own glass cabinet in Patek Philippe’s Museum over the Rhone from the Beau Rivage, it’ll be worth the wait.
Established in Paris in 1785 by son of a watchmaker Bastile Charles le Roy – the “L” doesn’t stand for a name but actually stands for “Le” as the original name of the brand was “Le Roy et Fils” – it was a marque that moved in illustrious circles. It was appointed official watchmaker to the king and later became a supplier to the French imperial family. In 1835, L.Leroy was made watchmaker to the French Ministry of the Navy and was subsequently supplier to the most prestigious European naval fleets, both civil and military, until the late 1980s.
It became renowned for developing timepieces that were not only extremely accurate – it won a record 384 gold medals in chronometry competitions – but artistically creative as well. One of the most remarkable pieces is the famous Leroy 01 (pictured below), which was awarded first prize at the 1900 Universal Exhibition in Paris and now resides at the Musée du Temps in Besançon (France). With 975 components and 27 complications, this impressive pocket watch was considered the world’s most complicated timepiece until 1989.
The name was acquired by Miguel Rodriguez, founder of the Festina Group and Perrelet as well as owner of SOPROD, in 2004. In the early 2010s it launched its Osmior collection channelling the brand’s historic reputation for watchmaking excellence with tourbillon regulators, monopusher chronographs and perpetual calendars.
The brand announced yet another rebirth, having been dormant for a few years, with its contribution to the 2024 Only Watch auction – an impressive unique piece Minute Repeater Flying Tourbillon, with a single pave-arrow hour hand and a rotating dial.
Above and below: L. Leroy’s spectacular minute-repeating tourbillon of 2023 was a one-off masterclass in engraving, guilloche and enamelling, let alone horology, meant for Christie’s Only Watch charity auction in 2024 (estimate up to CHF 180,000) but sold privately by Cellini during the sale’s post-audit uncertainty
September will be the launch of a new full collection. The brand is currently being tight lipped about what the collection will actually contain but, if a 2023 interview with CEO Hugo Lesizza on Monochrome is anything to go by expect classic haute horlogerie but given a 21st century twist with cases in contemporary materials such as titanium.
Above: L.Leroy owner Miguel Rodriguez, also founder of the Festina Group and Perrelet as well as owner of movement hothouse SOPROD
“We are thrilled to commemorate L. Leroy’s 240th birthday at GWD in September,” says Lesizza. “This event is the perfect stage to meet an audience of enthusiasts and collectors who will be able to discover our latest creations, which we are very excited about. This and future collections will be limited productions, conceived with the aim of perpetuating the brand’s exceptional tradition. Manufactured exclusively for us in Geneva, they will undoubtedly benefit from the technological innovations of our era, embellished with contemporary styling and finished to the most elevated standards.
“This is just the beginning of a new chapter – much more is to come!”
Until September, then.