So many words in the title of this watch. I easily imagine a Frenchman with white gloves on presenting the watch to me while announcing its title as though it was as a lord of a French province. And for some reason I find myself bowing. What will be one of
Jaeger-LeCoultre's rare creations is this almost magically marvelous looking Master Grande Tradition Grande Complication watch. A watch so grand, "grande" was used in its name twice. Highly limited in production, this piece will have a number of fascinating technical feats in addition to its awe inspiring look. The watch is limited to just 75 pieces and will come in a 44mm wide 18k white gold case. Announced earlier this year, the watch is closer to now being released.
Its dial is blue lacquer with an amazing astronomical and zodiac
design. The only phrase I can use to describe it is "sky ocean." The dauphine hands are the right size and easy to read, while there is a chapter ring around the inner dial so that telling the time is possible. Inside the watch is the amazing Jaeger-LeCoultre made caliber 945 manually wound movement that is made up of 527 parts! It has a special "high audio" minute repeater exclusive to JLC, which also gives the watch 50 meters of water resistance (most minute repeater
watches have little to no water resistance). On the dial you can see a one-minute flying
tourbillon - that itself doubles as a sideral (true day) indicator. The tourbillon moves around the entire dial of the watch once each 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4.091 seconds - the same time it takes the
earth to turn around when viewing fixed stars in the sky. However, there is a true 24 hour indicator represented by the small sun on the dial. This moves around the dial once each 24 hours. Cool right? With the astronomical, tourbillon, and minute repeater complication, this is one amazing JLC watch that will surely be a hit with collectors in the years to come. Certainly priced well into the six figure range.
Ariel Adams publishes the
luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.