Based on field studies and autobiographies of “compagnons,” this paper retraces the origin and development of a key notion of compagnonnage: the Orient. Created in the nineteenth century in reaction to the progress of mechanization, it soon refers to an identity value: self-control that for journeymen characterizes a craftsman. “Paths to Orient” evokes the evolution of a concept in the compagnonnage culture and the technical and initiatory ways leading apprentices to mastery.