You've
possibly noticed that I've been really appealed by the new Grande Reverso
at the just finished SIHH. In fact another "Grande" appealed to me
(I could add that many other "grandes" appealed to me and Nicolas
during this SIHH, but that's not the subject of this forum ).
The subject of
this text is my favourite choice in the new Grande Tradition range. Apart the
minute repeater with regulator dial, the other option is a Tourbillon watch
with perpetual calendar. Surprisingly this watch is presented (at least in the
press kit) as a premiere in terms of combination of complications for
Jaeger-LeCoultre but if I dare remember the Gyrotourbillon 1 was already a
Tourbillon with a perpetual calendar. Let's say this Grande Tradition is
the first JLC watch with "only" a Tourbillon and perpetual calendar.
So technically
this new Grande Tradition is indeed a Master Tourbillon calibre with an added
obviously in-house perpetual calendar. But that's not just that!
You can see
below that on the tourbillon part the first improvement is a new and much nicer
design of the upper tourbillon carriage bridge. This rounded bridge is very
beautifully finished and polished. This more classical design will certainly
help convince that a more reasonably priced tourbillon watch can still be very
beautifully finished, hopefully even those that so far have not accepted to see
JLC as a top finish watchmaker!!
Out of this new
bridge design, the tourbillon is identical to the one of the Master Tourbillon
calibre, except for one other exception strictly reserved to the yellow gold
limited edition. This edition limited to 300 pieces adopts a new silicon lever
and lever wheel. Silicon made its debut in a Jaeger-LeCoultre watch nearly two
years ago in the extraordinary Master Compressor Extreme Lab, the first ever
watch without any lubrification.
If the lever
wheel looks close to the lever wheel of the Extreme lab, the lever is quite
different. The traditional Extreme Lab lever was fitted with black diamond
pallets, while the new lever is made single-block in silicon, i.e. the pallets
are integrated by construction in the design.
The two silicon
parts are covered with a diamond coating. The diamond nanocrystals are coated
and then plasma polished to bring a smooth and hard surface. The resistance to
wear and friction coefficient are consequently equivalent to half those of
silicon oxide.
In fact a layer
of silicon oxide is usually used to protect the surface of silicon parts from
the formation of fissures when the parts are handled. But in the use of two
silicon parts working together, friction and the wear of silicon oxide (SiO2) on
silicon oxide are so bad that they cancel all the interest of using silicon
parts. They are in fact lower than those achieved by classic lubricated
materials. That's why JLC replaced silicon oxide by a diamond coating.
Diamond coating is also more efficient to prevent fissures.
With these new
silicon lever and lever wheel the inertia of the components is divided by
three. The silicon construction also allows a much better dimensional precision.
Again the
losses due to friction are much reduced, achieving a friction coefficient of
0.08 between diamond and diamond against 0.13 between steel and ruby with the
traditional escapement found in the Master Tourbillon and the pink gold and platinum
Grande Tradition (and 0.16
in a silicon oxide on silicon oxide combination).
Obviously these
silicon parts have to bring an advantage that must be measurable! That's
not an innovation for the sake of it.
So precision of
the watch must be improved. As a result Jaeger-LeCoultre has elevated its 1000
Hours label to another level, "1000 Hours Chrono". So far this
series of test consisted in tests about water resistance, shock resistance, power
reserve, smooth operation and last but not least precision. Specially for the
silicon "escaped" Grande Tradition models the 1000 Hours tests will
be complemented by new high precision tests on the model of the COSC tests but
on finished watches and not just assembled calibres.
In the standard
1000 Hours tests, watches are allowed to deviate from -1 to +6 sec per day in
any position. In the 1000 Hours Chrono tests, watches will be allowed to
deviate from -1 to +4 sec per day in any position.
So after the
Master Tourbillon in 2006, The Extreme Lab in 2007, the Amvox3 in 2008, the
Grande Tradition Tourbillon with perpetual calendar is the fourth version of
this very reliable, more and more and very precise, upper finished
calibre.
This 8.15mm
thick calibre houses 403 parts (only 401 in the silicon "escaped"
version, the two jewels of the lever being integrated in the lever). The
calibre is housed in a 42mm case.
The limited
yellow gold silicon escaped version adds a built-in magnifying glass in the
back to allow a better view on the silicon parts.
The other
aspect of this watch on the technical side is its perpetual calendar function.
You will notice the thinness of the calendar plate that seems nearly melted on
top of the calibre above the tourbillon.
The perpetual
calendar is quite complete, in the JLC way. It is also the return of an
automatic perpetual calendar in the JLC range.
Positioned as a
watch respecting the greatest traditions, the Grande Tradition shows a two
parts dial. The main part is a near pocket watch like sober and very clean
three quarter upper dial with applied indexes already seen in the Grande Ultra
Thin last year.
The lower part
is reserved to enhance the tourbillon device, with a more mechanical look and
finish, being in fact part of the calibre itself, and calling back the
Gyrotourbillon 2 extraordinary finish seen last year! The best of both worlds?
I think so!
The case is
new, close to the new case seen last year with the new Master Hometime, with
just a more rounded bezel.
So you've
understood. I'm still not finished with last year's impressive
choice of new watches from Jaeger-LeCoultre and already a few more sublime
pieces are coming like this Grande Tradition. There are perhaps less new pieces
I'd like to own this year, but these are big fishes that complement
perfectly the offerings of last year.
We can also see
how JLC melts more and more finely the most subtle evolutions of cases,
indexes, finishes,….
The future is
bright for Jaeger-LeCoultre if we watch lovers can see and admit those
improvements. Jaeger-LeCoultre watches have seemingly never been better than
today and pay the best homage to the beauties of the past.
Dje