W102659 USA 15
Size: W227 x H305mm
m.chen
1st
W102659 USA 15
Size: W227 x H305mm
m.chen
1st
c o v er s t o r y
JAEGER-LECOULTRE:
PILLARS OF
THE GRANDE MAISON For nearly two centuries, the creativity of Jaeger-LeCoultre has been a wellspring nourishing the art of watchmaking at its highest level. But it’s in its own history of iconic timepieces that those waters flow in their purest form By jack forster
I
t’s impossible to imagine either watchmaking’s past, or its measuring device known as the millionometer, which was the first modern landscape, without Jaeger-LeCoultre. Founded in such device capable of measuring the micron. It’s hardly overstating 1833 by Antoine LeCoultre, whose father, Jacques-David, the case to point to the year of its invention — 1844 — as the year had already made a name for himself in Switzerland’s in which modern high-precision watchmaking was also born; the Vallée de Joux as a master craftsman in metalworking, micron tolerances now essential in watchmaking would have been Jaeger-LeCoultre has, from its very beginnings, partaken of the impossible without the instruments necessary to measure them. It is perfectionism, restless inventiveness and ingenuity, and above all, the the establishment of a new benchmark that makes new achievements capacity to combine unsurpassed technical wizardry with faultless possible, and this, one of the most indispensable benchmarks in the excellence of taste that were all characteristic of its founder. history of horology, was achieved by Jaeger-LeCoultre. The astonishing diversity and depth of Jaeger-LeCoultre’s abilities No artist achieves the highest expression of the most complex in horology is difficult, at first, to grasp, precisely because of that aspects of his or her art without a complete mastery of the diversity; the history of the manufacture’s accomplishments reads fundamentals. Just as an absolute fluency with technique is a like a veritable encyclopedia of watchmaking’s most essential prerequisite for a master pianist’s ability to move an audience of techniques and most sophisticated forms. Far from being a follower hundreds with seemingly effortless command, so in watchmaking of the vagaries of horological fashion, Jaeger-LeCoultre, through the vision of an artist must be seamlessly fused to the discipline of a its combination of technical achievement and consistently inspired design, has been JAEGER-LECOULTRE HAS BEEN INSTRUMENTAL instrumental in actually creating many of IN CREATING MANY OF THE CLASSIC GENRES OF the classic genres of haute horlogerie HAUTE HORLOGERIE WHICH TODAY STILL DEFINE which today still define the essential forms THE ESSENTIAL FORMS OF HIGH WATCHMAKING of high watchmaking. It’s a testimony to Jaeger-LeCoultre’s mastery of the complete scientist. It’s not surprising then, given Jaeger-LeCoultre’s technical vocabulary of watchmaking that it has provided movements and lent prowess, that even before the 20th century, it had a full range of its technical expertise to some of horology’s most prestigious houses. movements which represented the complete repertoire of horology. Such classic movements as the extra-flat manual-wound caliber 849, and Minute repeaters, chronographs, perpetual calendars, precision the elegantly proportioned automatic caliber 889 have been employed chronometers, grande-sonnerie timepieces and high-jewelry watches by discerning manufacturers in some of the world’s best-known, most were all made by Jaeger-LeCoultre. By the close of the 19th century, coveted, and most exclusive timepieces. But this leadership is much the manufacture had created an astonishing diversity of movements. more than just a contemporary phenomenon. The deep well of skill that Over 400 calibers were made in the years 1833 to 1900, and of these is represented by the “Grande Maison”, as the manufacture has been 128 were chronographs of various types, 99 were repeaters, and called since 1888 (a name earned through its recognition that year as several, including a remarkable grande-complication hunter-cased the most important manufacturing center in the canton of Vaud) has pocket watch created in 1892, were highly complicated unique pieces. But perhaps one of the most significant complications nourished Swiss watchmaking for over a century. This expertise reaches back to its founders’ obsession with both created by Jaeger-LeCoultre was the result of a meeting that took beauty and precision; one remarkable milestone in the Grande place in 1903, and was to give the Grande Maison the name by which Maison’s history was the development, by Antoine LeCoultre, of the it is known today.
W102659- JLC cover story NEW V2 KL CK CY.indd 102-103
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