Jean Jaques Rousseau was born in a family of watchmakers: his relatives from boths the side of his mother and father were expert watchmakers.

The strong relationship Rousseau had with this industry is revealed by his textes. In the Emile, he says: “As a man who looks to the movement of a watch for the first time and does not get bored to appreciate it, even without understanding its functions nor seeing the dial. I don’t know, he would say, what is it needed for as a whole, but I understand that each single piece is done to complete the others; I admire the manufacturer’s work through all the details of the timepiece and I am sure that all those components move with such a perfect synchrony just because they share a common purpose”.

La complessità del meccanismo di un orologio, qui rappresentata dal calibro 29-535 di Patek Philippe

Ritratto di Jean Jaques Rousseau, intellettuale francese, esponente dell'Illuminismo e uno dei padri della rivoluzione francese

Copertina di una prima edizione dell' Émile, o dell'educazione, di Jean Jaques Rousseau