Since 1655, the name of Badollet has been inextricably entwined with the history of watchmaking in Geneva. Successive generations of this watchmaking dynasty were active since the 17th century, keeping constant and unbroken step with the evolution of this time-honoured art –from the clock through to the wristwatch.The first figure in the branch of the family that was to devote the most longstanding efforts to this infinitely varied art is remembered by historians as far more than just a watchmaker. Endowed with a curious nature that led him to take an interest in all forms of knowledge, and fascinated by horology as soon as he began practising it at the age of 20, the multi-talented Jean Badollet (1635-1718) was also a pastor and a school headmaster.In 1689, he published a work entitled L’Excellence de l’horlogerie ou Petit Traité où l’on fait voir son Antiquité, ses Fondements, sa Nécessité et ses Curiosités. This learned book featured a blend of historical research, astronomical theories and technical accounts, along with explanatory drawings of various types of clocks, movements, dials and cylinders, as well as other “curious watches”. This authentic scholar thus eloquently sang the praises of the beauty and nobility of fine horology.Jean Badollet passed on his passion for watchmaking to his six sons, at a time when Geneva was undergoing a serious economic crisis. The Badollet family made a noteworthy and definitive entrance into the Fabrique in Geneva, the prestigious local institution encompassing all the watch and jewellery-making professions.At the end of the 18th century, one of the founder’s direct descendants, Jean-Jacques Badollet (1756-1843), regularly supplied movement blanks, gear-trains or even“commercial watches” to Abraham-Louis Breguet, who had set up his workshops in Paris.Jean-Jacques’ son Jean-Moïse (1811-1862) established Jean- Moïse Badollet & Cie, a company name that survived well after his premature death in 1862, thanks to the efforts of his widow and his sons. Having initially settled in London in 1837, after spending time in Sicily and various trips abroad, he had undertaken to produce watches there intended for export to different countries. In 1854, he joined forces with one of his fellow countrymen Gustave Huguenin, to whom he entrusted the firm in London upon his return to his native city where he ran the family business while also playing an important role in the economic and political arena.Twenty years later, the company created in 1854 was pursuing its activities in the sale and production of watchmaking and jewellery. The eldest son of Jean-Moïse, Jean-Jacques Badollet (1850-1908), was actively involved in the business alongside his mother. From 1872 onwards, Badollet chronometers won a string of awards in the chronometry competitions staged by the Geneva Observatory, as well as medals and honorary diplomas at the international expositions in Vienna (1873), Philadelphia (1876), Paris (1878 and 1879), Groningen (1879), Graz (1880) and Melbourne (1881). The official catalogue of the International Machine and Tool Exhibition held in Geneva in 1880 speaks of the company’s activities in these terms: “In addition to standard mechanical production, J.-M. Badollet & Cie has earned a fine reputation for its complicated precision watchmaking: the successes achieved in the annual competitions organised by the Industrial Class of the Société des Arts testify to the superior rating of its chronometers”.