JAEGER LECOULTRE

The tale of Jaeger-LeCoultre began in the Swiss town of Le Sentier in the Vallée de Joux. Metalworking-related vocations were popular in the settlement early on, thanks to the area's iron mines.

For example, smiths and cutlers grew widespread, as did watchmakers, who are more pertinent to our narrative. During the long winters, many family workshops, even those specializing in other commodities like cutlery, produced watch components.

This is due to the fact that the families spent the most of the winter indoors. As a result, things that needed a lot of time in the shop but used less material were more cost-effective.

However, due to its limited population, the town required some kind of automation in order for watch manufacture to resume. When Charles Antoine LeCoultre devised a machine to cut watch pinions, he did just that.

Because the pinion of a watch movement is so critical, an instrument that can make one fast and reliably enhanced watchmaking efficiency.

Charles Antoine and his brother François Ulysse LeCoultre began their workshop in 1833, not long after. Charles Antoine would go on to create further devices to increase efficiency and precision, such as the Millionomètre, which he finished in 1844.

The workshop could accurately measure microns, or millionths of a meter, with the Millionomètre. Because of its importance, the brothers decided to keep the gadget to themselves.

He invented a method of keyless winding utilizing the crown in 1847, removing the need for a separate key. In this scenario, a button engaged a lever that changed the crown's functioning from time-setting to winding.

Watch components were created by a variety of craftspeople around the valley at the time. There were no comprehensive manufacturers of movements, casings, or completed watches, but there were a lot of experts.

However, in 1866, Charles-Antoine and his son Elie founded LeCoultre & Cie, a full-service watchmaking firm.

This was the Vallée de Joux's first single-building manufacturing operation, but Charles-Antoine had bigger ideas. He invented the first partially-mechanized assembly line with intricate motions in 1870, employing his ideas.

The enterprise employed 500 people that year, earning it the title of Grande Maison de la Vallée de Joux. Despite the fact that Charles Antoine LeCoultre died in 1881, he guaranteed that his firm and community progressed.

Even though Le Sentier did not yet have electrical infrastructure, the LeCoultre business obtained electric lights in 1883. With the help of an on-site steam-powered generator, the organization was able to do this.

In addition, starting in 1886, steam railroads connected the Vallée de Joux to the rest of the nation. Of course, the Vallée de Joux's now-thriving watch business had a role in this.

When the twentieth century began, LeCoultre & Cie. was a well-known brand with hundreds of movement designs to its credit.

During this time, the company was Patek Philippe's principal movement supplier in Geneva.

LeCoultre teamed up with French watchmaker Edmond Jaeger in 1903 to produce ultra-thin movements based on his invention. Jaeger's workshop was in Épernay, a town along the Marne in the Champagne area, though he was originally from Andlau in eastern France.

In his hunt for a skilled workshop he could rely on, Jaeger was picky, but LeCoultre & Cie. met his criteria.

His designs were amazing, to say the least. His basic watch mechanism, for example, was just 1.38mm thick, but his minute repeater was 3.2mm thick. He also created a chronograph caliber with a thickness of 2.8mm.

These movements were made by LeCoultre, and Jaeger had an exclusive deal with Parisian jewelers and watchmaker Cartier from 1907 through 1922. During the exclusivity era, Jaeger's movement designs would only be seen in Cartier watches.

The next cooperation between Jaeger and LeCoultre was Ed. Jaeger Limited in London, which produced vehicle dashboard instrumentation. Despite the fact that it was 1921, the Cartier contract was respected because they were neither watches or watch movements.

Because of the company's renowned reputation, the Swiss government chose the Atmos clock as a traditional gift for important guests. The clock's housing is a glass chamber filled with chloroethane, which expands and shrinks significantly at room temperature.

This clock runs virtually endlessly on its own since it is powered by ambient air pressure and temperature changes. The Atmos was designed by Swiss inventor Jean-Léon Reutter in 1928, however it is mostly manufactured by Jaeger-LeCoultre.

The business established successful ways for making this clock between 1936 and 1946. The Atmos will run for an unusually long time and with great precision within its enclosed chamber.

The moonphase model deviates by a day every 3,821 years when put on a flat surface and at acceptable temperatures.

Watches were a need for British officials in colonial India in order to keep on time.

After a few matches of polo, though, several people found their watch crystals damaged. One cop challenged Swiss watch expert César de Trey to find a polo-safe watch during one of these matches. De Trey then sought LeCoultre's assistance.

This was due to LeCoultre's reputation for developing unique movements to meet every timekeeping need.

As a result, in 1931, still distinct businesses Jaeger and LeCoultre envisioned mechanical protection against the hardships of this gentleman's sport. In order to produce a watch with a reversible inner case, Edmond Jaeger and Jacques-David LeCoultre collaborated with René-Alfred Chauvot.

Since 1931, its design hasn't altered much. The Reverso is a stylishly discreet Art Deco-style rectangular timepiece in its open configuration. On either side of the face, polished gadroons sit transversely; otherwise, the case's clean steel surface is unbroken.

The case is held in place by a leather strap with alligator on the exterior and soft calfskin on the inside. As a result, no apparent gap exists between the strap and the case, nor between the strap's edges and the conical lugs.

With a right-hand press, the carriage housing the movement and face opens and glides freely. The carriage pivots as it reaches the rightmost position on its track, facing inward against an inner steel plate.

The steel caseback faces outwards in this design, shielding the dial from swinging polo mallets and speeding balls.

Jaeger-LeCoultre is known for its ébauche movements, as well as its exquisitely polished timepieces. The company's amazingly ultra-thin yet consistently sturdy movements, which follow in the great heritage of Edmond Jaeger, are used by top watchmakers.

Many of its well-known movements began in the 1960s or are, in other words, extensions of movements that began in that decade. Vacheron Constantin, Patek Philippe, and Audemars Piguet, for example, use Jaeger-LeCoultre movements in their timepieces.

The caliber 920 is a significant movement series since it only existed in watches made by these three industrial heavyweights. This 1960s movement is an ultra-thin automatic caliber, measuring only 2.45mm thick and employing Patek Philippe's Gyromax technology.

Gyromax is a balancing wheel with turnable weights around its circumference that change the wheel's inertia when altered. The wheel can travel quicker if the heavier sides of the weights are facing the wheel's center, for example.

Jaeger-caliber LeCoultre's 920 was available in three variations: date, date with seconds, and second time zone. Since 2000, the rights to this caliber have been held by Vacheron Constantin, a fellow Richemont watchmaker, as calibers 1120-1122 under their designation.

The 1.84mm-thick Caliber 839, which is frequently used in conjunction with the 838, is another noteworthy movement. This excellent design is exceptionally dependable given its thickness, with features such as a large-diameter balance and Kif antishock system.

This manual-wound movement is used by Jaeger-LeCoultre, Chopard, IWC, and Van Cleef & Arpels, among others.

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1968 Memovox Polaris, Jaeger-LeCoultre created a new collection in 2018. The Polaris Memovox is the most similar to the original in this group and is also a diver's alarm watch.

The Polaris Memovox, like many of the brand's other watches, conceals a powerful movement under a charmingly conservative design. The watch boasts a substantially large dial, due in part to its unusually narrow bezel, with a case diameter of 42mm.

To perform all of its features, the new Memovox, like its predecessor, has a distinctive three-crown design.

When in its regular position, the top, 3 o'clock crown winds the alarm. When you pull it outwards, it switches to the opposite position, where you may adjust the date and alarm time. The date is advanced by rotating clockwise, while the alarm time is changed by rotating counterclockwise.

The bidirectional inner count-up bezel is rotated by rotating the middle crown, which has just one position. Finally, the time is determined by the lower crown, which has just one position.

The hands, indices, and Arabic numerals all have Super-LumiNova lume, and the indices have a rough texture that eliminates conflicting reflections.

Unlike other alarm clocks, this one has a resonant ring that sounds like it belongs on a larger clock, rather than a loud buzz.

This, however, comes at a price. A resonance chamber on the caseback allows it to produce a deep and pleasing alarm tone. With a thickness of 15.9mm, this is an extremely thick watch.

The 2018 Polaris Memovox is not a diver's watch, despite the fact that the original Memovox was. Because it lacks screw-down crowns, Jaeger-LeCoultre warns against operating the watch underwater.