Louis Moinet (1768–1853) was not simply a watchmaker. He was a sculptor, painter, architect, Professor of Fine Arts at the Louvre, President of the Chronometry Society of Paris, and — perhaps most significantly — the inventor of the chronograph. His 1816 'compteur de tierces', an instrument capable of measuring 60ths of a second, pre-dated any comparable device by decades and was only confirmed as the world's first chronograph following research conducted in the early 2000s. He was also, from 1811, the personal adviser and closest professional collaborator of Abraham-Louis Breguet. The watches and clocks Moinet created in his lifetime were commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte, Tsar Alexander I, Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, and King George IV — a clientele that speaks plainly to his standing.

The modern brand bearing his name was founded in 2004 by Jean-Marie Schaller, a Swiss watch industry veteran who had previously revived the Perrelet brand. Operating as Les Ateliers Louis Moinet from its base in Saint-Blaise, Switzerland, the brand produces highly limited, often unique timepieces built around extraordinary materials — meteorite dials, fossilised coral, lunar rock — and original mechanical complications developed in partnership with specialist Concepto. Collections including the Memoris, Cosmic Art, and Mechanical Wonders series carry Moinet's original spirit forward: technically ambitious, rooted in artistic tradition, and deeply resistant to the ordinary. Louis Moinet pieces are produced in editions of twelve or sixty at most, and every new reference is developed with the explicit intention of honouring what the brand considers a founding obligation — to create watches that are worthy of the man whose name they carry.