Jacques – Frédéric Houriet (25.02.1743 – 12.01.1830) was born in La Chaux d’Abel, which is located near La Ferriere in Switzerland. 1759 he apprenticed from Abraham Louis Perret-Jeanneret (not Perrelet as erroneously stated in most references), then between 1759 and 1768 he apprenticed and worked in Paris for Pierre le Roy, son of Julien Le Roy (who died shortly after Houriet’s arrival), and worked for Ferdinand Berthoud. While working for Berthoud he collaborated with Ferdinand’s nephew, (Pierre) Louis Berthoud. During his time in Paris he formed friendships with Abraham – Louis Breguet, Jean Romilly, Antide Janvier and Louis Recordon. After his years of study in the capital of France he returned to Switzerland in 1768 to establish himself in Le Locle. At first he worked together with his brother and his two sisters. A short while after he became business partner with David Courvoisier, who at the time was the head of the firm ‘Courvoisier & Fils’ renaming it ‘Courvoisier & Houriet’. During the French Revolution business ran low, he worked together with the exiled Abraham – Louis Breguet, apparently also on what will become Breguet’s ‘souscription’ watch. In 1797 the Danish Urban Jürgensen became his employee and apprentice who then would move on to work for Abraham – Louis Breguet in Paris and John Arnold in London. A few years later Jürgensen married Houriets daughter, Sophie-Henriette. The napoleonic wars again put pressure on Houriet’s business and getting his son into the firm was of no help. In 1818, at the age of 75, Houriet decided to continue working alone.
He only manufactured pocket chronometers and custom-made movements for other manufacturers such as Abraham – Louis Breguet, Louis Berthoud, Louis Recordon and Robert Roskell. Despite his old age he carried on with research and experiments on the foundation of isochronism, temperature compensation and the effects of magnetism of chronometers. This is how he developed spheric balance springs for chronometers around 1814. Frédéric Houriet is considered the founder of Swiss chronometry. He was a member of the Paris Academy of Sciences and honorary member of the Genevan Society of Arts.
Antiquarian Horology 
