The history of La Vallée

THREE GENERATIONS

From Venice to Lake Como, the art of innovative clock-making

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FROM VENICE TO LAKE COMO, A HISTORY OF EXCLUSIVITY

An unwavering obsession with perfection has driven three generations of La Vallée visionaries and master craftsmen into an area of time artistry the wider world never sees. La Vallée, a family company based in the Lake Como region, has spent the last 40 years creating unique timepieces for just a handful of ultra-selected clients. Every timepiece is created with La Vallée’s movements, and based around La Vallée’s principles of high art, astonishing mechanical innovation and the best traditions of Italian design.

Villa,Del,Balbianello,(1787),,Lenno,,Lake,Como,,Italy,,Panoramic,Aerial

Venice

Antonio Quintavalle was born on the island of Burano (Venice), where he begins a watchmaking apprenticeship. He receives a letter of praise for his work at the end of his training and decides to open his own clock-repair workshop in Rialto.

1913

A WORKSHOP IN THE
HEART OF VENICE

Thanks to his workshop, Antonio expands his clientele across northern Italy.

1938

“Nothing is good that cannot be made better. In my work, I have learned to only look forward, and to never look back.”

ANTONIO QUINTAVALLE - Founder

“Nothing is good that cannot be made better. In my work, I have learned to only look forward, and to never look back.”

ANTONIO QUINTAVALLE
Founder

FROM VENICE
TO LAKE COMO

Antonio decides to move to Lake Como, where he continues to restore clocks in the city center, close to the Roman walls that surround it.

1954

A PASSION FOR ART
AND WATCHMAKING

The restoration of watches and clocks continues. Meanwhile, Antonio’s passion for collecting grows from paintings to sculptures, from watches to unique objects. This stimulates his creativity, leading him to create the first original artistic clocks. Antonio’s son, Leopoldo, joins his dad at the workshop.

1964

LA CLESSIDRA

Production is increasing and the specialized workshop needs more space and more artisans. The “Clessidra” ("Hourglass") was born, where the first mechanical skills were developed and the reproduction of antique clocks began.

1967

RECOGNITION
OF EXCELLENCE

At the International Handicraft Exhibition in Florence, the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Handicrafts awards the gold medal for the highest recognition of Italian excellence to the Clessidra.

1970

ITALIAN ART
IN PARIS

The Clessidra displays its watches at the Paris International Jewellery Fair.

1972

AN AMBITIOUS
PROJECT

The organizers open the Swiss Watch Fair in Basel to international companies. The company began to work on the realization of the first “Pendoletta officier” clock, with the dream of exhibiting it in such a prestigious fair.

1973

THE BIRTH OF
LA VALLÉE

France and Switzerland are the cradle of mechanical watchmaking. Here large Maison produce charming objects, around which the world of watchmaking revolves. The official language is French, which lead to the choice of the "La Vallée" brand name, inspired by the surname of the Quintavalle family.

1974

AT THE BASEL
WATCH FAIR

The introduction of new machine tools allows the production of indoor clocks, with artistic components, chiseled and engraved by hand.
In 1974 La Vallée participated in the International Watch Fair in Basel, presenting its first officier.

1974

THE LIMITED SERIES

In the following years La Vallée introduced the first limited series. The production is enriched with hard precious stone elements, such as lapis lazuli, mother pearl and malachite.

1977

AN IMPORTANT
TURNING POINT

A chance meeting, a great opportunity: La Vallée receives a request for an ambitious project: a clock more than two meters high, entirely customized, and enriched with rare crystals and gemstones. A request that represents a challenge for the company, but one that will mark to be the beginning of a new path.

1984

THE CHOICE
OF UNIQUENESS

Once this unique clock was finished, with just a single model produced, Leopoldo Quintavalle, now CEO of the company, decided to draw a new direction for La Vallée: focusing on exclusive products, made with precious and refined materials.

1986

"In every La Vallée timepiece there is the professionalism, passion and character of each of our team members. We share a common vision for beauty, art and aesthetics. We are constantly in search of the perfect fusion of design and mechanics."

LEOPOLDO QUINTAVALLE - CEO La Vallée

"In every La Vallée timepiece there is the professionalism, passion and character of each of our team members. We share a common vision for beauty, art and aesthetics. We are constantly in search of the perfect fusion of design and mechanics."

LEOPOLDO QUINTAVALLE
CEO La Vallée

THE DEVELOPMENT
OF COMPLICATIONS

From a chance encounter with Ricardo Sasso, descendant of a family of watchmakers and with a great experience on multi-complicated mechanisms, started a long lasting collaboration. Ricardo begins to work on the realization and development of mechanisms with particular functions. It is a new challenge for the company, which opens up a new path.

1987

PRECIOUS MATERIALS
FOR EXCLUSIVE CLOCKS

La Vallée presents the first clock entirely made of solid silver, with inserts in lapis lazuli and mother-of-pearl, elevating the clock to a precious and exclusive object. In the following decade, all La Vallée clocks are united by a harmonious aesthetic that combines precious materials, craftsmanship and sophisticated watchmaking mechanics.

1990

A PASSION
HANDED DOWN

After completing his studies at the Politecnico di Milano, Massimiliano Quintavalle, son of Leopoldo, joined the company.

2001

NEW MOVEMENT
AT BASELWORLD

In the following decade La Vallée concentrated on the technical development of its clock mechanisms. In 2005, at the World Watch Fair in Basel, the company presented a 30-day mechanical winding movement, accomplished thanks to the experience of Ricardo Sasso

2005

AN EXCLUSIVE
MOVEMENT

Entirely skeletonized and refined by elegant hand engravings, this mechanism is equipped with a tourbillon escapement, with seconds in the center, a double power reserve, a second time zone and an unprecedented charge system and alarm adjustment.

2005

BEST ITALIAN COMPANY
IN THE SWISS MARKET

In the splendid setting of Palazzo Del Principe in Genoa, La Vallée receives the award as the best Italian company in the development of innovative projects in its field, targeting the Swiss market.

2006

THE ASTRONOMICAL
COMPLICATIONS

La Vallée explores the complicated world of perpetual calendars.

2009

A SERIES OF
INCREDIBLE WORKS

The most important and refined collector in the world, the Sultan of Oman H.M. Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said, commissioned a scale model of the Royal Opera House of Muscat. The model, made of precious materials, reproduces the theatre down to the most exacting details and is an example of mechanics and technology. Upon request, the theatre can open and close automatically, showing both the concert configuration, with the great organ and the orchestra on stage, and the opera configuration, with the staging of Turandot. Inside you can admire, reproduced in scale 1:150, hand-painted actors and musicians.

2014

THE MEMORY OF A
MOMENT LIVED

Incredible timepieces continue to come to life in La Vallèe workshops. The perfect union of workmanship, materials, technique and style.

2014

The soul of the mechanism delivers not just the function of the timepiece, but also drives everything else around it, creating a harmony of emotions to reinterpret a lived experience.

THE BIRTH OF A
NEW MECHANICS

La Vallée creates a table clock inspired by the famous Sympathique, by Abram Louis Breguet, able to load and synchronize not one but two watches simultaneously, instantly.

2015

Luciano Sasso, son of Ricardo, develops the mechanism of this artwork. Rethinking mechanics, with a mathematical approach far from normal standards, he achieves a result and a level of complication never before achieved in the history of clockmaking.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF
ASTRONOMICAL COMPLICATIONS

The mechanisms are enriched with functions representing the motions of the planets, or the position of the sun: the time at which it rises, the duration of the sunrise or the sunset, the position of the stars in a given season, the time of the sun, the eclipses of the moon or sun, are among the information that La Vallée clocks can indicate day by day, moment by moment.

2017

A NEW VISION
OF CLOCKMAKING

La Vallée gives life to the Timeless project, with the aim of condensing its know-how into a totally innovative mechanism, which breaks the rules of traditional clockmaking. The M30TP movement is born as a mixture of unconventional mechanical devices.

2019

ATTIMO GOLF
IS UNVEILED

La Vallée has allowed its designers and engineers swing away at an entirely new type of timepiece, with a dedicated new movement.
The La Vallée ATTIMO combines precious metals, stones and jewels in a unique golf-homage timepiece.

2021

“We love challenges, overcoming normality, going beyond what’s already been done, already seen. Owning a La Vallée timepiece means sharing values, culture, and emotions encased in an exclusive object."

MASSIMILIANO QUINTAVALLE - Director La Vallée

“We love challenges, overcoming normality, going beyond what’s already been done, already seen. Owning a La Vallée timepiece means sharing values, culture, and emotions encased in an exclusive object."

MASSIMILIANO QUINTAVALLE
Director La Vallée

M30TP

KNOW HOW

MADE TO MEASURE

M30TP

KNOW HOW

MADE TO MEASURE