Friday, October 3, 2008

The Legend of Daniel Jean Richard

Jean Richard is a Luxury Watch Company baring the name of a legend. Daniel JeanRichard. He was born in 1665 in an emerald green valley of La Sagne in a place called "Les Bressels" (a product line Bressel is dedicated to his birth place).

In 1679 a horse dealer rode through town with a pocket watch which had ceased to work. He spotted a young boy of about 15 who was working on some filigreed iron wares. He stopped and watched the boy for a minute, intrigued by the boy's obvious talent. The man fingered his valuable pocket watch, thinking. He got off his horse and came towards Daniel JeanRichard. Their was something about the boy that made the man trust him, and he pulled his English pocket watch out of his baggage.

The boy stretched out his hand and the man placed the watch in the boy's eager hand. The boy had never before laid eyes on a watch. He slowly opened it mesmerized. In that instant as he held the watch, his fate was sealed and a legend was born.

"Can you repair this watch," the man asked.

The boy captivated by the watch did not answer. The man repeated his question and the boy nodded.
"I will return in a few weeks on my way back from Geneva. Do you think you can repair it by then?"
The boy who had never beheld a watch before replied, "Yes sir, I can."

Daniel JeanRichard gently placed the English pocket watch on his work bench. He had no tools to repair the watch, but he was not deterred. He studied the watch with intense concentration, memorizing every detail. He made a set of primitive tools and he repaired the watch.
While the winter snow piled high against the wall of the blacksmith's shop, Daniel JeanRichard built ,from memory, an exact replica of the English pocket watch, the first watch ever to be made in this region. Up until this day no one had achieved this remarkable feat of building a watch from memory.

Documentation is scant in terms of the exact details of the legend, and their are some conflicting reports in regard to Daniel JeanRichard's age at the time he held his first watch.

Until his death in 1741, Daniel JeanRichard invented machines and tools essential for watchmaking, as well as the basic principles of the apprenticeship of the watchmaking trade.

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