Jaeger-LeCoultre Duometre a Quantieme Lunaire Watch

For 2010 the mighty Jaeger-LeCoultre has a brand new foudroyante style watch with the Duometre a Quantieme Lunaire. An update to previous models, the watch adds a moonphase indicator (done visually as well as via a hand on a dial for better precision in reading it), and some partial skeletonization of the dial. Aside from the date, moon phase indication, and time, the foudroyante complication is a strange beast. The watch is dedicated to the ability to precisely set the time (simply speaking it resets to zero when you pull out the crown as well as lets you see when to start it again properly). The lower subsidiary dial is a crazy contraption as it has a hand that moves around the dial in 1/6 of a second increments. Thus, the little hand moves around the dial once each second! Meaning that it is always moving really fast. The large hand in the center of the watch is the second hand for the time moving around the dial each minute. You then have the time itself show smaller on the right of the dial.

Because of the enormous amount of power required by the constant movement of the foudroyante complication, the Duometre a Quantieme Lunaire Watch has two power reserve indicators for different mainspring barrels. One is for the foudroyante, and the other is for the rest of the watch. The power reserve indicators are viewable through the skeletonized part of the dial. Proud of this in-house movement, Jaeger-LeCoultre places the movement name of "Cal. (caliber) 381" on a little plate right on the dial. This place is used to indicate the limited edition number in those pieces) The case is 42mm wide in either a limited edition of 300 pieces yellow gold model, or a standard pink gold model. The Duometre a Quantieme Lunaire Watch is indicative of a purist Jaeger-LeCoultre watch model in form and complication. Certainly a unique style of watch for serious horology fans or collectors. Price is about $35,000.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.