France has produced a plethora of decorated and significant watchmakers over the past few hundred years. Breguet and Cartier occupy the two top spots in the sustained worldwide recognition department, but L.Leroy was one of the top prestigious watchmakers of its time. Founded just shy of ten years after Breguet, Basile Charles le Roy established Le Roy et Fils in the heart of Paris in 1785. Aged just 20, he was a master watchmaker and opened his workshop in Palais-Royal. But history tells us that this was a turmoil time in Paris, with tensions around the French Revolution beginning to surface. Fortunately, Basile Charles had established connections to the French monarchy, producing timepieces for the King. This illustrious chapter of the brand's history would include clients such as Marie Antoinette, Marcel Proust, Henri Matisse, Napoleon, Queen Victoria, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Alfred Nobel, and Ettore Bugatti. Nevertheless, despite a two-century-strong legacy creating haute ornate pieces of mechanical art, the L.Leroy name was included in an acquisition by Miguel Rodriguez in 2004, founder of the Festina Group which brought the brand into the modern era while maintaining its rich legacy for true mechanical mastery.