The world owes a great deal to Leonardo da Vinci. The universal genius from Tuscany created incomparably beautiful works of art, investigated and documented natural laws, and designed buildings and machines which were often far ahead of their time. Innumerable sketches also provide evidence of his enthusiasm for watchmaking. Many of his pioneering discoveries in the area of helical and bevel gears and complicated screw transmissions are to this day component parts of many machines – including watches.