 In 1558, he obtained the status of “inhabitant” but left the following year to acquire a plot of land in the Vallée de Joux.Over time, a small community formed and in 1612, Pierre LeCoultre's son built a church there, marking the founding of the village of Le Sentier where the company's Manufacture is still based today.In 1833, following his invention of a machine to cut watch pinions from steel, Antoine LeCoultre (1803-1881) founded a small watchmaking workshop in Le Sentier, where he honed his horological skills to create high-quality timepieces.