In around 1845, he moved with his father to Le Locle, where the elder Jaccard opened a guilloché workshop that was later managed by his son. As a geologist, Auguste Jaccard was self-taught, having Oswald Heer and Pierre Jean Édouard Desor as important influences to his career. In 1856 he released his first publication, a treatise on fossils found in the basin of Le Locle.[1][2]