Jaeger-LeCoultre introduces higher performance and finishing standards in the new Master Control Chronometre collection.
Jaeger-LeCoultre introduced a new poinçon, the High Precision Guarantee seal (HPG), at this year’s Watches and Wonders show in Geneva. The HPG made its debut in the all-new Master Control Chronometre collection. The three new models feature mechanical complications: a date display, a combination power reserve and date, and a perpetual calendar. “This is the time for a watch that seamlessly blends technicality and sophisticated, modern aesthetics,” the brand said in a statement.
In terms of technicality, Jaeger-LeCoultre has consistently pursued mechanical excellence throughout its 193-year history. “At Jaeger, the calibers have existed for a long time,” Jérôme Lambert, CEO of Jaeger-LeCoultre, said in an interview. “They evolve by generation.” The Master collection made its debut in the 1950s and has advanced both technically and aesthetically. “Life in the ’50s was different from life today, 80 years later,” Lambert said. “We regularly bring in new technical features so that you still have the same pleasure and the same quality offering. We set tests that make sure that the standards that [the watches] reach are high enough so that what you describe to be the characteristics are met by the watches.”
Exacting Standards
Jaeger-LeCoultre’s movements are subject to more stringent performance evaluations to qualify for the new HPG seal. The watches must reach timekeeping standards for four critical elements of everyday wear: shocks, altitude, positions and temperature, according to the brand. Jaeger-LeCoultre developed a testing machine specifically for the HPG seal. The new machine tests the movements’ timekeeping over three days, simulating a full week’s wearing experience.
“It’s even more than a test because it’s a new poinçon,” Lambert said. “There will also be some aesthetic elements.” These aesthetics include the movements’ hand finishing, which is done in-house by the brand’s highly skilled craftspeople. There are eight separate finishing techniques: circular graining, Côtes de Genève, circular smoothing, burnishing, polished screwheads, linear smoothing, sunk rubies and beveling.
A Work in Progress
The new HPG standards will be applied to all of Jaeger-LeCoultre’s watches in the future. “It will be at least a three- to five-year evolution,” Lambert said, “because for certain collections it will take even more time to adapt the anti-shock or antimagnetic elements.” Introducing the seal with the new Master Control Chronometre collection was intentional and a fitting opportunity. “We decided to reveal the new test, and as well as have it at a large scale, because the watches all have new movements that meet exactly these kinds of requirements,” he said.
The new Master Control Chronometre collection also offers a new degree of wearing comfort thanks to Jaeger-LeCoultre’s new integrated three-row bracelet. The Master Control Chronometre Date’s dial measures 38 millimeters in diameter and is just 8.4 millimeters thick. It is available in 18-k pink gold with a bronze dial or stainless steel with a blue-gray gradient dial. Its automatic movement has a power reserve of 70 hours.
Back to the Future(matic)
A new in-house movement powers the Master Control Chronometre Date Power Reserve. The Caliber 738 combines a power reserve and a date display in subdials at 9 and 3 o’clock, respectively. The dial’s design pays tribute to the Futurematic watch, launched in 1951, which also had its subdials at 9 and 3 o’clock. The watch’s case measures 39 millimeters and has a thickness of 9.2 millimeters. It is available only in stainless steel.
Rounding out the new collection, the Master Control Chronometre Perpetual Calendar not only has a full calendar display, but it also has a moon phase indication at 6 o’clock. Jaeger-LeCoultre’s ultra-thin 868 automatic perpetual calendar movement powers the timepiece and has a power reserve of 70 hours. The watch is available in 18-k pink gold with a bronze dial, as well as stainless steel with a blue-gray gradient dial.