As the creator of watches, clocks and automatons that were universally recognized for their elegance and finesse, Pierre Jaquet Droz (1721 - 1790) succeeded in making people forget about the phenomenal complexity of the mechanisms and movements required to actually run his masterpieces. Gifted with an entrepreneurial spirit, he established a presence in the courts in of Europe, Russia, and the Forbidden City. He surrounded himself with the finest craftsmen on the market with expertise in clocks, chimes, mechanical engineering, enamel working and gem-setting. He opened three manufactories in La Chaux-de-Fonds (1738), London (1774) and Geneva (1784), the latter being the first ever established inside the walls of the city. It was in the first workshop that Pierre Jaquet Droz began to specialize in the production and export of timekeepers endowed with grand complications.