DEPLOYANT – Luxury watch reviews & horological lifestyles – Luxury watch reviews & horological lifestyles
Jaeger-Lecoultre Master Geographic
Jaeger-Lecoultre, also known as the Grande Maison, is a producer of timepieces that have been and continue to be fondly dubbed the watchmaker’s watch. Since its founding in 1833, La Grande Maison have come up with over 1000 different calibres, including the world’s smallest pocket watch calibre (Lecoultre Cal. 145). Their innovation and expertise were so far ahead of its time even in the 19th century that they had no need to patent it: no one else were doing anything on their level. For example, in 1844 Antoine LeCoultre invented the Millionometre, an instrument capable of measuring the micron, which greatly aided in their watchmaking practice. This was never patented, because nobody else in Switzerland had a similar system. It was presented some 56 years later at the 1900 Universal Exhibition in Paris. Jaeger-Lecoultre have come some ways since then, churning out multiple memorable classics such as the Reverso, the Memovox, the Atmos clock, the Geophysique…the list goes on and on. Today, we zoom in on the Master Geographic, the Grande Maison‘s take on the worldtimer.
It’s hard to find fault with a worldtimer as well executed as this.
Case, Dial and Hands:
Simplicity (no not the one from Philippe Dufour) is the name of the game as with most of JLC’s offerings, and the Master Geographic is no different. At first glance, the soft white dial stands out, before the eyes are distracted by the blued hands sprinkled throughout the dial. The case is standard Jaeger-Lecoultre fare: simple, polished stainless steel channeling the utilitarian philosophy of the brand. While most cases are judged according to their material, such as Rolex’s 904L steel, or Lange’s Rose Gold, I believe there is still much to be said about a basic 316L steel case that’s made, proportioned and finished well. The lugs are short and delicately curved to compensate for the 39mm case size. A 39mm case size is not large by any stretch of the imagination, especially by modern standards, but coupled with short lugs will make the watch so much more wearable for both larger and smaller wrist sizes.
A neat, uncluttered dial makes for great legibility.
As aforementioned, there is little to quibble about with regards to the dial, because there isn’t very much on it apart from the subdials. The finish is opaline in the centre and circular satin-brushed around the perimeter, in contrast to the circular guilloché on the second time zone counter. The overall effect is that of a rather matte-looking dial which may catch the fancy of some, but turn others away. Personally, I think it’s very much in keeping with the true watchmaking spirit: bare-bones, no-frills watches whose finishes are neither shabby nor overly fancy. As it is, there is plenty of texture on the dial with the various finishes and differing depths between the dials, subdials and city window. Some height is added with the presence of applique triangular hour markers and beads of lume around the periphery.
The more one looks at this […]
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Article from: DEPLOYANT – Luxury watch reviews & horological lifestyles, by Ryan Teoh
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