Jaeger-LeCoultre
Jaeger-LeCoultre holds 625 watches in this library on 128 movements, the widest spread of any brand here. Its five most common calibers cover only 19 per cent of the catalogue. Thirty-seven per cent are hand-wound, and the median case is 38.2 mm and 9.9 mm thick.
Collections
Rendez-Vous
The Rendez-Vous is Jaeger-LeCoultre's ladies' collection, launched in 2012.
Geophysic
AMVOX
Calibre 101
Reverso
The Reverso is the 1931 swivelling rectangular case, patented by René-Alfred Chauvot so polo players could protect the dial during a match.
Master Ultra Thin
The Master Ultra Thin is Jaeger-LeCoultre's slim dress line. It is the modern form of the ultra-thin movements the maison has made since the 1.38 mm…
Master Grande Tradition
The Master Grande Tradition is Jaeger-LeCoultre's haute horlogerie line.
Master
This collection holds the Jaeger-LeCoultre Master models outside the Control, Ultra Thin and Grande Tradition lines.
Duomètre
The Duomètre is Jaeger-LeCoultre's twin-barrel line of 2007. Two independent mainsprings and gear trains, one for the time and one for the complication,…
Master Control
The Master Control is Jaeger-LeCoultre's round classical line, named for the 1,000 Hours Control test introduced in 1992.
Polaris
The Polaris is Jaeger-LeCoultre's sports line, named after the 1968 Memovox Polaris dive alarm.
Master Extreme
This collection holds Jaeger-LeCoultre's Master Compressor line of 2002 to the mid-2010s, in cases from 40.5 mm to 46.8 mm.
About Jaeger-LeCoultre
Antoine LeCoultre opened his workshop in Le Sentier, in the Vallée de Joux, in 1833. His millionomètre of 1844 measured to a thousandth of a millimetre and his keyless winding of 1847 did away with the watch key; the company went on to make more than a thousand calibers, including the ébauches that Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet and Vacheron Constantin cased for decades. The partnership with the Paris watchmaker Edmond Jaeger began in 1903 and gave the firm its name in 1937. The Calibre 101 of 1929 is still the smallest mechanical movement made, and the ultra-thin 920 of 1967 became the 2121 of the Royal Oak, the 1120 of the Overseas and the 28-255 of the first Nautilus.
The Reverso of 1931, a rectangular case that swivels to protect its glass from a polo mallet, is a third of the library, 216 watches, and the reason for the caliber count: it takes rectangular movements built for nothing else, the 822 and 822A/2, the 844, the 846/1 of the Lady Ultra Thin and the 854A/2 of the Duoface. The round lines follow: the Master Ultra Thin and the Rendez-Vous at 97 each, the Master Control of 1992 that introduced the 1000 Hours Control test, the Master Grande Tradition with its Gyrotourbillons, the twin-barrel Duomètre of 2007 and the Polaris, the 1968 Memovox diver revived in 2018.
Complications lean toward the tourbillon: 9 per cent of the watches here carry one, against 10 per cent chronographs and 2 per cent perpetual calendars, and 55 per cent show their movement through a display back. Fifty-two per cent are gold or platinum and 44 per cent steel, with almost no two-tone. Water resistance is a dress rating, a median of 50 m, the Polaris and the Master Extreme apart. Twelve per cent are limited editions, the rarity median is 5, and a fifth of the scored watches sit at 8 or above.