calibre 101

I was a bit surprised to learn that the smallest mechanical watch movement in the world wasn't something new. The Jaeger-LeCoultre Calibre 101 mechanical watch movement watch originally designed and put into watches in 1929. It's purpose was to be a technical achievement as well as a movement small enough to be placed in the fashionably tiny women's jewelry watches of the time. Years later the Calibre 101 movement is still around only having undergone minor changes over the past 80 years. The movement now contains more parts in the same small area - 98 to be exactly, and has more typically been fitted with gray gold bridges and decorated surfaces.

The movement is quite little. 14mm long by 4.8mm wide, and only 3.4mm thick. Of course the movement is manually wound. The Calibre 101 movement is very rare. Only about two dozen of the movements are made by Jaeger-LeCoultre each year. Not just anyone can put the tiny miracles together as it requires extreme care and skill. When I first learned about the movement I wondered by no one has made a smaller movement since? Surely it is something we can do even if it is not practical. Well, that is the point I think. Making a mechanical movement smaller than the Calibre 101 makes no practical sense - all. If you need to go smaller just go with quartz. No one is even going to wear a watch so smaller it requires it. I have been watch faces on rings, and they obviously use a quartz movement as it is so much more practical. Imagine winding a ring watch. Thus, unless some enterprising watch maker feels it is their life mission to innovate into the unwise, the Jaeger-LeCoultre Calibre 101 is going to be the smallest mechanical watch movement around for perhaps another 80 years.

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