το οποιο ανεβηκε το2006 στο ThePuristS.com
Take a deep breath and discover the secrets of the new Master Tourbillon!
August was ending with a mix of sun and rainfalls while the car was driving me up the hills, in front of the “Mont Blanc”. The landscape was really pleasing, but was soon behind me. I had to go in the opposite direction to reach the place where I would see the new marvel.
We soon passed by the « Marchairuz » to get to the other side of the mountain. Of course no snow at this time of the year to stop or slow us down! The Vallee de Joux was quiet at the end of afternoon. I was not so quiet myself, being impatient to go back to “La Manufacture Jaeger-LeCoultre” where I had met so many nice and passionate people nearly two years ago, and seen so many watches that make me dream, or fulfil my days.
Defining a portrait of a company like Jaeger-LeCoultre is not easy! Have you ever thought of the incredible richness of its history, its capacities, and its product range, wide and varied! Have you imagined the knowledge, experience and expertise of the more than 900 men and women that altogether make the company breathe! And all those that have written its past and begun its future!
Some may identify Jaeger-LeCoultre with the iconic Reverso, others with the sound of their Memovox.
You may also think of the slow and (nearly) perpetual movements of the Atmos clock, or of the finely crafted engine of your watch, be this watch a Jaeger-LeCoultre or the bearer of another great name. You may remember the smallest mechanical movement, produced since 1929 for the pleasure of some happy few women! Whatever piece you may choose in its historic portfolio, you’ll have a hard time taking into consideration every aspect of “La Grande Maison”, the Great House. Here is a new chapter revealed!
The starting point of our subject today is a movement produced by Jaeger-LeCoultre between 1948 and 1954, the calibre 170, of which 26 were produced only, for the purpose of chronometry and Observatory tests. This movement was the first tourbillon movement produced by Jaeger-LeCoultre, at a time when it was still very rare.
Calibre 170:
Chronometry was of major importance because precision was not then what it is today. We are now used to serially produced quartz and mechanical watches with a precision that can stand our current excited and demanding life. We nowadays rarely consider precision of timing as a major factor of differentiation between brands of watches.
Are we wrong? Probably not as watch users, perhaps yes as watch lovers! Differentiation is an essential word here because during this glorious era of chronometry and Observatory Tests, precision was what we may call today a market positioning factor. We are now used to marketing techniques, still the positioning values can sometimes seem perverse to horology fans. Don’t you feel seduced by this piece, from a time when exploits could sometimes become advertising, when now it seems that marketing has too often to invent exploits?
My pleasure here is that all through this article, the exploit will remain in the product! The Jaeger-LeCoultre history of producing tourbillon watches resumed in 1993 with the launch of the Reverso Tourbillon, limited to a series of 500 pieces in pink gold. A watch hard to criticize!
The Reverso Platinum Number 2 in 2003 gave us the second series of Reverso Tourbillons, with an 18kt white gold movement (plate and bridges) this time. The series is intended to be limited to 500 pieces once again. The third variation of this wonderful family will remain the rarest so far, with 35 pieces that for once give sense to “less is more” (less metal is more work, less weight is more money, less dial is more art…). Well, if you’ve not seen it ….you’ve not seen it!
Two other wristwatches are also equipped with a JLC tourbillon. Recently the 75th anniversary of the Reverso in 2006 has brought us the Grande Complication a Tryptique, an outstanding watch that may come to the market in a few months. Its functions and the way they operate are just amazing, and it deserves a great interest. What is not surprising is that it comes two years after the Gyrotourbillon 1, the first round wrist tourbillon from MJLC.
This watch has brought to the attention of the public the incredible capacities of la Manufacture Jaeger-LeCoultre in the complications and high complications market in 2004 (soon followed by the Master Minute Repeater in 2005 and the Grande Complication a Tryptique in 2006). This series of top pieces has demonstrated the high rank of MJLC, with around 30 Gyrotourbillon already produced (and probably the 75 sold) and many more Master Minute Repeaters enjoyed by their owners.
While what comes next may be slightly less exceptional than a Gyrotourbillon, it still is in my opinion able to create as much passion and interest as its older brother, perhaps even more as it may become your watch! The PuristS.com has regularly seen passionate exchanges about chronometry improvements. We can understand why, as timing is the essence of a watch. Jaeger-LeCoultre keeps improving the timing of its watches, even if they already bear the 1000 Hour tests seal that nearly all Jaeger-LeCoultre watches have to pass.
We may specifically remember all the improvements initiated with the launch of the Master Hometime and its calibre 970, now spread nearly all over the Master range, and spreading now to some Reverso models. The watch we are going to discover is aimed at timing. That’s the product definition. Perfectly in line with the spirit of the Manufacture Jaeger-LeCoultre, it is innovative, has a real and differentiated content, a high quality, and a seemingly relatively accessible price (or at least a competitive price on the market). It’s a “Manufacture Jaeger-LeCoultre” product with many of the 40 “metiers” of the Manufacture participating in its production. We are going to see some of them and hopefully understand their value. And well, it’s a tourbillon watch, coming after some years of “frenzy tourbillon fever”, so the fever may come again, but this time not in spite of chronometry. Rachel Torresani, already known for her work on the Reverso Perpetual Calendar, is the constructor of the calibre 978 of this new Master Tourbillon.
The Tourbillon was created to compensate for errors of rate in vertical positions. Compared to a standard escapement it is obviously much more complicated and difficult to assemble and regulate. It is easily understandable that any imperfection in the conception or regulation would make miss the target! In order to avoid negative results instead of the positive effects of the tourbillon cage, high attention has been brought to everything here.
Let’s see how. The first asset is the large balance wheel, with a 10.05mm diameter and inertia of 11.5mg x cm². It is fitted with 4 regulating screws, the very same system used on other Master models since the launch of the Master Hometime. This variable inertia balance wheel has the great advantage of keeping its regulation, in spite of shocks or movements. The choice of a large balance wheel is aimed at improving precision. The result of a large balance wheel is obviously a large cage, and thus a larger weight of this cage. This greater weight needs additional power to turn. And not only the cage - a classical one minute tourbillon – needs power, but of course the balance wheel also, which oscillates at 28800 vph, a 4 Hz frequency that also helps improve precision. As the frequency has been kept high, and the balance wheel large, the need for power is multiplied.
Several factors have compensated for this potentially increased need for power. This balance wheel and the entire escapement are fitted inside a titanium cage, a very light but hard to work with material. This is Grade 5 titanium, which allows polishing. Ultimate precision as a primary objective didn’t detract MJLC from top finishing to a level not often seen. Why did they want a light titanium cage while deciding to fit a high inertia balance wheel? Simply because precision needs weight in the balance wheel, but nowhere else in the watch! Here is the piece in which the cage is done:
And here is the raw result (back part of the cage):
Top part of the cage:
It’s not a one-off, they are making many of them:
You may appreciate the complete cage with its escapement, and the grained finish of the titanium cage. You can also easily see the square regulating screws on the balance wheel. The other round traditional screws help increasing inertia.
The Breguet curb spiral is regarded as being amongst the best performing curbs for the “breathing” of the spiral. It helps position the gravity centre of the spiral in the axis of the balance wheel while the balance wheel makes its revolution. Consequently this curb is supposed to give a better stability to the rate and reduces the friction. The spiral is laser welded to the stud, a technical solution that improves the reliability of its fixing in the long term. Here is a view of the piece (green piece) on which the spiral is laser welded. You can also see the same piece on the picture above.
Here is the laser post where spirals are welded:
You can see the balance wheel on the left, the spiral on its right, and its end welded to the stud: (Please note that this one is not a Master Tourbillon balance, but is the same welding principle).
Here is another interesting point of finish that is aimed at improving efficiency. This old and probably several times refurbished machine is used to rounding and polishing the teeth of the escape wheels. You can look at your Jaeger-LeCoultre very close, it’s a bit hard to distinguish. Rounding and polishing the escape wheel teeth improves the impulsion of the teeth on the pallet fork. The operation is made since 1963 at Manufacture Jaeger-LeCoultre.
Did we talk about the anchor yet? No! It’s a very special anchor here. It’s kind of a lateral anchor so that the escape wheel can be brought much deeper inside the tourbillon cage, thus decreasing the inertia of the whole cage. This anchor is made by “growing” nickel inside a form!
On the right the traditional "straight line" lever escapement, on the left the Master Tourbillon "lateral pallet" escapement. You can see easily that the escape wheel is much closer to the axis of the balance wheel with the new Master Tourbillon lateral pallet design.
Now that you have your escapement ready, you can regulate it! This working station was also launched with the Master Hometime, as all watches with variable inertia balance wheel are regulated here.
The hand finish is really appealing, comparable to what we’ve seen from the other top brands.
The triple seconds hand also has a technical objective: it avoids negative effects of the hand on the gravity centre location of the tourbillon cage:
Another way of getting the best precision is on the contrary not new! Pivots go through the “roulage” workshop, another old workshop of the factory.
Here is the result on the lateral side of the pivot. Polished on the left, raw on the right.
And here is the result on the extremity:
The gear train of the watch is equipped with Spyr type wheel teeth, as several Master models have been already. This somewhat recent new tooth profile is presented as more effective than the traditional NIHS to transmit the torque of the barrel, doing so with reduced friction.
Another great feature of this new watch is its date indicator. Obviously indicating the date through a window on a tourbillon open dial watch would have meant a very small date indicator. The choice was made to use a pointer for the date on the outer ring of the dial, a traditional presentation at Jaeger-LeCoultre that is already embodied in known models such as Master Date, Moon and Calendar, or many older or vintage watches. What is original in the Master Tourbillon is that this pointer jumps from the 15th to the 16th to so as to not block the view of the tourbillon cage. You can see below the mechanism of this change. The central grey wheel makes a turn in one month, going forward one tooth per day. The brown wheel on the left makes one turn per day, the grey bigger tooth on its top giving the daily impulsion to the central grey wheel.
The oscillating weight segment is for the first time for Jaeger-LeCoultre manufactured as a single block in 22 carat rose-gold. It is beautifully stamped.
The automatic winding device has incorporated all the Hometime improvements with ceramic ball bearings and unidirectional winding. This unidirectional winding is now found throughout the Master range (except I guess the Amvox 1) as Jaeger-LeCoultre’s own field research has shown a better efficiency over the traditional bi-directional winding. Automatic winding is also essential to the whole precision of this calibre. Indeed the main spring is defined to give the optimal torque during the 24 hours that follow the full winding. That means that if the watch is worn enough to get the main spring close to full wind, or if the main spring has given less than 24 hours of power since full wind, the torque will be always optimal. Another factor aimed at making this watch a perfect daily user. Here are the ceramic ball bearings:
And the beautifully designed oscillating weight:
Before getting finally to the watch let’s add one feature: its home time indicator. As said already it’s really designed to be an everyday watch. Positioned at 12, the 24h sub dial gives the home time, while the local time is located centrally. Resetting of the local time alone is possible clockwise and counter-clockwise in hour jumps. The date indicator is synchronised with the local time and automatically follows it, also in both directions. The 1000 hour test has been adapted to this new watch and its ambitious aim of being a very precise and everyday tourbillon. Additional tests of small impacts and shocks were created, as well as reliability and amplitude tests. The date mechanism also has specific tests.
The watch: This new master Tourbillon is named “Regulateur a Tourbillon”, meaning “Tourbillon regulator”. The choice of this name comes from the objective of having a reference in terms of precision. It is housed in a 41.5 mm case, with a classical Master series design. As explained by Mr Janek Deleskievicz who designed the watch, the design was focussed on the tourbillon, making it transparent so that it appeals to the eye. The tourbillon bridge was made convex to follow the form of the cage and to break the flatness of the watch. It also brings the seconds hand up. The dial is silvered and brushed, making it deep and understated. The overall look is demonstrative of the horological content, but in no way ostentatious in my opinion. It’s really an everyday watch, readable and appealing in the long term. Three versions are created for the launch. First of all, a very pleasing steel version that could allow some of us to jump the gap and make it our everyday watch.
Don’t you think that it’s perfectly fitting my narrow wrist?
The watch is also offered in a pink gold version:
And if you already love the Master Tourbillon a Regulateur but want to buy an expensive watch, you can be offered the choice of the platinum version, a limited edition of 300:
A last view of the back, to finish convincing you!
I hope you enjoyed this reading as much as I did writing it (and I confess discovering this watch). I wish all those who are in love to be able to see it soon. Hopefully some of us will get a few of the first ones this fall. I want to thank Dr. Thomas Mao and all the PuristS team for their trust and for the fantastic opportunity they gave me to moderate this forum and consequently write this article.
I want to thank the Manufacture Jaeger-LeCoultre teams who opened the doors and gave so much time and information so that we as a community could discover more on this really fantastic watch.
I want to specially thank Mrs Rachel Torresani, Mrs Isabelle Gervais, Mrs Christine Giotto, Mrs Ariane Dedeyan-Ouizille, Mr Jerome Lambert, Mr Stephane Belmont, Mr Janek Deleskiewicz and Mr Yves Meylan.
Technical information from the Master Tourbillon press kit:
Technical characteristics Movement:
• Self-winding mechanical movement, the Calibre Jaeger-LeCoultre 978, crafted and decorated by hand
• 28,800 vibrations per hour
• 48-hour power reserve
• 302 parts
• 33 jewels
• 7.05 mm high
• monobloc oscillating weight segment cast in 22-carat gold, perforated and decorated with relief engravings
Functions:
• local time with independent rapid setting in both directions (travel time)
• hand-indicated date synchronised with local time, alterable in both directions
• 24-hour reference/home time indicator
• minutes
• tourbillon regulator with second indicator Dial:
• steel: silvered, figures and hour-markers in rhodium-plated gold, transferred. 11 luminescent dots
• 18-carat pink gold: silvered, figures and hour-markers in gilt gold, transferred. 11 luminescent dots
• platinum 950: gris palladium, figures and hour-markers in rhodium-plated gold, transferred. 11 luminescent dots
Hands:
• hour and minute: Alpha in gilt or rhodium-plated brass, luminescent.
Date:
gilt or rhodium-plated brass with a blue- or red-glaze double triangle.
Reference time:
gilt or rhodium-plated brass, blue glaze
Crowns:
• 1 crown to start the watch and set the local and reference time, minutes and date
Case:
• ψ 41.5 mm in steel, 18-carat pink gold and platinum 950
• domed sapphire crystal, hardness N°9
• sapphire-crystal base allowing the movement to be viewed
• water-resistant to 50 metres
Leather strap:
• matt alligator 21/18 and folding buckle in 18-carat white gold, 18-carat pink gold or steel
References:
• platinum 950 165 64 50
• 18-carat pink gold 165 24 20
• steel / leather strap 165 84 20
• steel / bracelet 165 81 20
