Religious influence in watchmaking - Gusset watch

The political and religious influence which prevailed in Europe from the 15th to the 19th century is not unrelated to the peak of watch industry .

The manufacture of watches began in Switzerland, thanks to Jean Calvin who, with his austerity rules, which prohibited any display of ostentation and wealth, especially in the port of jewelry, obliged goldsmiths to Survive to become humble and austere watchrs .

The watch industry Swiss emerging, took advantage of the expulsion of the Huguenots of France in 1685 to offer them asylum in Geneva. Among those who are welcomed, there are a large number of French watchrs who move their workshops in Switzerland, bringing with them great capital and great experience, and who soon make Geneva the capital global watchmaking .

Meanwhile, in England, around 1640, appears the " Puritan Watch" , a gusset watch at box Sobre and without any decoration, made according to the principles of austerity and sobriety, typical of the dominant sect of "Puritans". Principles which are a reflection of the severity of the rules imposed by Oliver Cromwell (1549-1660).

It is said that because of this persecution and in order to hide the watches, the first pockets appeared on the clothes. This might be the explanation of the appearance of gusset watch .
In France, Louis XIV prohibited the use of gold and precious stones during the war. This limitation, attributed to the need to contain the unbridled luxury of the court, notably influenced the goldsmiths and watchrs , which have been forced to manufacture the boxes of Gousset watches in metal, because they lacked precious metals to work.

With the "Edict of Nantes", which guarantees the Huguenots the same rights as to Catholics, the waters resume their course and a large number of families of watchmakers who had once emigrated to Switzerland and Germany come back to France, which quickly changes the future of industry.