Beauty from within

The 2010 model to have won the heart of Stéphane Belmont, Director of Sales and Marketing at Jaeger-LeCoultre, is, without doubt, the Memovox which the Grande Maison is this year presenting in Master and Master Memovox International versions.Both these models commemorate a movement that originated in 1956.As Stéphane Belmont explains, “this is a fascinating watch in that hidden beneath its classically understated design is an alarm mechanism.You have to take time to observe it, to listen to the chimes to realise you are entering another dimension, be it part of the Master, Amvox or Classic range.Truly an icon of the brand, this movement is a fine example of our policy to integrate the very latest technologies whenever we present a new version of an established model.It can never be a question of superficial changes.”

Duomètre à Quantième Lunaire

And so this year Jaeger-LeCoultre celebrates its emblematic alarm watch.”A rare example of a movement that is still in production more than fifty years after its creation, it has contributed to the success of such iconic round watches of the Master Control line as the Master Grand Réveil and the Memovox Deep Sea.The latest generation of Jaeger-LeCoultre’s automatic alarm movement, Calibre 956, constitutes the mechanical heart of the two 2010 models.It demonstrates all the qualities required of a mechanical movement of the 21st century in terms of accuracy, reliability and robustness.It has a large free-sprung balance and a winding rotor on ceramic ball bearings that needs no lubrication or maintenance.Its gear wheels have a new kind of tooth profile that ensures smoother transmission,” says the Manufacture.

Not that Jaeger-LeCoultre could content itself with “simply” evoking its past.True to its tradition of innovation in mechanical watchmaking, it presents a Duomètre à Quantième Lunaire with Dual-Wing movement.One of the characteristics of this movement’s concept is to have two independent power supplies, “one entirely dedicated to creating a perfect timing foundation – regulated by escapement and balance –, the other solely for the display of time – hour, minute and seconds hands – as well as date and the age of the moon for the two hemispheres.Both are synchronized through the jumping seconds hand mechanism driven by the escapement.”

Master Grande Tradition Grande Complication and Extreme LAB 2

Yet another feat this year is the first grande complication to join the Master Grande Tradition line, whose Calibre 945 combines a minute-repeater, a flying tourbillon and a sidereal zodiac calendar.As the Manufacture observes:”For their version of a Grande Complication, Jaeger-LeCoultre’s watchmakers have chosen the flying tourbillon which they have integrated into the timing mechanism not only as a regulating device, but as the prominent showpiece of time itself in the perpetual calendar, acting as an hour hand depicting sidereal time, with the dial showing the sky chart of the northern hemisphere.On the outside, a sun completes a circuit of the dial in precisely 24 hours while a ring shows the zodiac signs as well as the months and days.”

A number of models also join the Master Compressor range this year, including the Extreme LAB 2 Tribute to Geophysic.”With the Extreme LAB timepieces, we set out to show the exceptional level of Jaeger-LeCoultre’s research and development,” comments Stéphane Belmont.”The Extreme LAB 1 was the first watch to function without lubricant.With the Extreme LAB 2, we have transformed the chronograph into a grande complication.This explains the mechanical sophistication of the Calibre 780, which has 569 parts compared with an average 220 for a classic chronograph.True to the philosophy of the brand, this watch is extremely complicated on the inside but simple and ergonomic on the outside.”

As the Manufacture explains, “a number of innovations make this an instrument for explorers pushing back the boundaries, with an easy-to-use function selector incorporated in the crown, a patented digital counter for the chronograph jumping minutes, a manual stop seconds function, a radial power-reserve indicator and an at-a-glance GMT function.”All in all a worthy successor to the Extreme LAB 1.