It’s often easy to take for granted the sheer technical expertise that goes into designing and crafting a watch. Hundreds, if not thousand of hours of research and development go into the planning phase, and then just as many hours—if not more—in making manifest the designers’ sketches. Some brands—like Jaeger-LeCoultre, for example—make this process seem effortless, but in truth is the culmination of a century of hard work and expertise.

From its roots in the mid-1800s, the manufacture from Le Sentier was marked by innovation and skill. Founder Antoine LeCoultre invented what would be the world’s most precise measuring instrument in 1844. Seven years later, he was recognized and awarded for the precision of his timepieces at the Universal Exhibition in London in 1851.

Other inventions and innovations followed, translated into some of the world’s most well-regarded watches, whose elegance belie the effort it took to make them.

The Master Control line, introduced in the 1990s, is a collection in JLC’s arsenal that fully embraces the brand’s long tradition of excellence. With elegant cases and complicated movements, these watches hearken back to the days of old, but are also unusually robust for dress watches.

This is the result of stringent tests to which the manufacture subjects them. Each watch is tested for 1000 hours along chronometer certification guidelines. If the watch passes—that is, if it is deemed resistant to temperature and pressure changes, magnetic fields, and water—then the case backs are engraved “1000 Hours Control.”

This particular watch, the Master Control Triple Date, is the perfect example of what happens when tradition and innovation combine.

Though released in 2000, the Master Control Triple Date could pass for a watch 60 years its senior. Indeed, it takes design cues from calendar wristwatches released in the 1940s, but updated to modern tastes. The vintage touches are there: the stainless steel case with almost impossibly-bright finishing, now 37mm to suit the modern wrist; the distinctive red-tipped central date hand; and an elegant calendar track on the outer rim of the dial.

And powering it all is the hand-wound Calibre 891, which was subjected to the rigors of the “1000 Hour Test” before being fitted into the case.

Resting between luxury and practicality, casual and professional, the Master Control date is a perfect testament to the gravitas with which JLC imbues all of its products.