Most are no doubt familiar with Jaeger-LeCoultre via the famed Reverso. But that’s not La Grand Maison’s entire story.
The dynamic Swiss watchmaking powerhouse is responsible for myriad iconic designs, from — yes — reversible dress watches, to alarm-equipped dive watches, to complicated masterpieces — like the perpetual calendar that we have here — and more. Indeed, the storied company has one of the most diverse offerings in fine watchmaking.
What make a perpetual calendar so special? Think of it this way: Imagine a watch that keeps track of not only the time, but also the date, the day of the week, and the month, tells you whether it’s a leap year or not, and what the current phase of the moon is. Oh, and one more thing — imagine it does all of this mechanically, using springs and gears, and that you only have to adjust it once every century or so. Crazy, right?
The particular example comes from the Master Ultra-Thin line. It features a 39mm stainless steel case with a sapphire crystal, a polished bezel, a signed crown, and a lovely satin black dial with applied 'dart' indices and a matching 'dauphine' handset with aperture windows.
This piece comes fitted to a signed, black alligator strap with a signed steel deployant clasp and is powered by JLC's Calibre 868 automatic winding perpetual calendar movement — visible through a sapphire exhibition caseback.
This piece is not only an excellent example of the complication, but a comparatively affordable one, too, considering the quantieme perpetuelle’s place in the canon of high horology.
Complete with all its goodies, this daily-wearable piece from one of the best manufactures in the game would be a welcome addition to any collection that’s missing a contemporary, well designed, complicated piece from a major manufacture.
Sounds great, right?