2024 Jaeger-LeCoultre Masterpieces on display at the Salon GINEVRA
From raw material to finished timepiece: precision at every step
Shocks, magnetism and gravity: meeting the challenge of chronometry
A breakthrough in solving the incompatibility of chronometry and complications
Jaeger-LeCoultre firmly believes that achievement in any human field requires time, patience and effort. For our Maison, precision is a core value and our quest for achievement in this field began two centuries ago and will continue long into the future. high quality cheap watches
Our founder, Antoine LeCoultre, was obsessed with precision and set him on the path of watchmaking. Even before he opened his first watchmaking workshop (while working in his father’s blacksmith shop), he invented machines that could cut pinions from steel with unprecedented precision. Following in his footsteps, successive generations of watchmakers, engineers, designers and craftsmen have strived to master precision in every area and stage of the watchmaking craft – from conception and design to the transformation of raw materials into usable components, to the most delicate manual operations during assembly, finishing and decoration. In 2024, Jaeger-LeCoultre will tell its story of precision in four chapters.
Precision in production
In watchmaking, precision in the production process is everything, and Antoine LeCoultre understood this well, and his earliest inventions revolutionized watchmaking.
In 1830, three years before he founded his watchmaking workshop, he developed and patented a machine tool that cut pinion teeth from steel. Instead of shaping pinions one by one by hand, multiple pinions could now be manufactured to exactly the same predetermined specifications, with greater precision than ever before.
Fourteen years later, in 1844, Antoine LeCoultre invented the Millionometre. This was the first device capable of measuring microns, which not only made it possible to measure components with unprecedented precision, but also to make them even smaller. The Millionometre can be seen as Antoine LeCoultre's creative response to the miniaturization brought about by his own machine, and in turn, the precision of its measurements made further miniaturization possible. The Millionometre was produced in very small quantities and the Manufacture closely guarded this technology, which remained the Manufacture’s standard of precision for more than 50 years.
Continuing his quest for precision, Antoine LeCoultre incorporated new tools into the production process, such as the rounding tool in 1850 and the milling tool in 1860, further improving the ability to produce precision luxury cheap Watches components.
The ability to measure with micron-level accuracy allowed Jaeger-LeCoultre to create the thinnest movements in the world. In 1907, the Calibre 145, which was only 1.38 mm thick, was housed in a pocket watch known as the Couteau (knife) due to its extreme thinness.
To ensure that Antoine LeCoultre’s contribution to watchmaking precision is passed on, a collection of stampings has been kept in the Jaeger-LeCoultre factory since 1926. Today, Jaeger-LeCoultre has more than 1,900 stampings that are used to produce or repair Jaeger-LeCoultre movements.
Antoine LeCoultre spent his life developing new, precisely calibrated punching and cutting machines, as well as mechanical lathes for turning parts. His pursuit of precision laid the foundation for the development of modern watchmaking by enabling the mass production of identical components – an achievement that won a gold medal at the 1851 London Great Exhibition.
As technology developed throughout the 20th century, and into this century, Jaeger-LeCoultre has adopted modern aids to increase precision throughout the watchmaking process. Jaeger-LeCoultre was an early adopter of CNC (Computer Numerical Controlled Cutting), purchasing its first CNC machine in 1982, and using CAD as a design aid. More recently, technologies such as EDM, laser cutting and 3D prototyping have turned the core stages of the production process into an exact science. However, these technologies are only an aid to, not a replacement for, the precise human actions involved in the initial design, various stages of prototyping, and assembly, finishing and decoration of watch movements, as it is the human handcraft that distinguishes high-end watchmaking from other watchmaking crafts and infuses haute horlogerie with its ineffable “soul”.
Chronometer precision
Chronometer simply means the accuracy of timekeeping, and a chronometer is a mechanical movement that has been certified through a rigorous testing process to have extremely high precision. Chronometer certification has its origins in the mid-19th century with advances in optical technology, which led to the creation of observatories that made it possible to precisely measure the motion of the planets that define time as we know it. discount replica watches
In honor of its founder’s obsession with precision, the Jaeger-LeCoultre Manufacture has developed many chronometer movements over its 190-year history. To achieve the necessary precision, each chronometer is the product of an in-depth study of how to compensate for the challenges faced by a watch. Producing a chronometer mechanism requires great technical know-how: pinions must be precisely shaped and wheels must mesh perfectly; working surfaces must be perfectly polished to reduce friction; and metals must be able to resist temperature changes.
In the pursuit of precision and durability, mechanical watchmaking faces many challenges, from collisions and shocks, magnetism to energy and gravity.
Challenge 1: collisions and shocks
Movements with higher frequencies are less affected by shocks. In response to the need for a more resilient movement, Jaeger-LeCoultre launched the Calibre 916 in 1970, which ran at a high frequency of 28,800 vibrations per hour (4Hz). In doing so, Jaeger-LeCoultre set new standards at the time, breaking the traditional 3Hz or 2.5Hz that was the standard at the time. In its constant pursuit of precision, Jaeger-LeCoultre developed the Calibre 781 for the Master Compressor Extreme Lab, achieving exceptional precision and reliability. Among other innovations, the hairspring features a special protection device that limits the movement of the spring in extreme situations, such as shocks.
Challenge 2: Magnetism
Magnetism affects the accuracy of a mechanical watch by magnetizing certain components, causing them to run slower or faster. Early on, the watchmaker explored various materials to enhance the performance of the hairspring and pioneered the use of a palladium hairspring in the LeCoultre Calibre 18RV chronograph pocket watch at the end of the 19th century. This innovation earned it chronometer certification. To further counteract magnetization, the Geophysic was engineered for durability, water resistance and precision in 1958, and features a soft iron inner case for anti-magnetic properties, making it a certified chronometer, one of the first watches to offer such a feature.
Challenge 3: Energy
Mechanical watches rely on a winding spring to power the movement. An insufficient power reserve can affect timing accuracy, as an unwinding mainspring reduces the amplitude of the balance’s oscillations, causing movement instability and inconsistent timing. A watch with a longer power reserve can delay the onset of “low energy production,” ensuring a more regular “heartbeat” and maintaining accurate timing for longer. In the 19th century, watchmakers responded to the challenge of adding complications, launching the Calibre 19/20RMSMI minute repeater in 1881, which features two barrels powering a single gear train for both chronograph and complication functions. This innovation laid the foundation for the revolutionary Duometre concept of the 21st century. To optimize energy efficiency, the Master Eight Days Perpetual was launched in 2004, a perpetual calendar replica watches on sale with an 8-day power reserve that embodies both exceptional performance and elegant design.
Challenge 4: Gravity
Gravity affects the accuracy of mechanical watches by affecting the balance and escapement depending on the position of the watch, resulting in variations in timekeeping. To counteract this effect, some watches are equipped with a tourbillon that constantly rotates these components to balance out the errors caused by gravity. In 1946, Jaeger-LeCoultre launched the exceptional Calibre 170 movement, which was used in timekeeping competitions and won several awards. Driven by the innovative spirit of Antoine LeCoultre, Jaeger-LeCoultre pushed the boundaries of watchmaking with the launch of the Multi-Axis Tourbillon in 2004.
As early as the 19th century, the LeCoultre workshops began to produce chronometer-certified pocket watches, 100 years before the advent of modern precision aids such as CNC machines and laser cutting. While some of these watches had simple mechanisms and therefore fewer variables affecting timekeeping accuracy, Jaeger-LeCoultre also produced chronometer-certified watches with complications and in 1890 took on the ultimate challenge of producing a chronometer-certified Grande Complication pocket watch.
In 1992, Jaeger-LeCoultre introduced the 1,000 Hours Control certification. One of the most stringent testing protocols in the watch industry, it tests not only the movement but the entire watch housed in the case, and requires even greater precision than the standard Swiss Chronometer certification. The first movement to receive the 1,000 Hours Control certification was the mainstay calibre 899 of the Master Control collection.
In recent years, Jaeger-LeCoultre has continually sought ways to improve timekeeping, with innovations focusing on materials for key components – including silicone and new lubricants to reduce friction and thus enhance energy transmission – new structures for the gears and balance, and new shapes for the escape wheel and pallet fork, all of which improve isochronism and thus timekeeping accuracy.
Precision of the regulating organ
The regulating organ is one of the most important components of a movement. Composed of the balance wheel and the hairspring (called a spiral in French), it is the fascinating element of a mechanical movement, the seemingly living, breathing part of the movement – its beating heart. The expansion and contraction of the hairspring controls the regularity of this heartbeat – its isochronism – which is essential for accurate timekeeping.
Jaeger-LeCoultre is one of the few watchmakers with the in-house expertise to create and shape hairsprings of different shapes, and for decades, Jaeger-LeCoultre engineers have been intensively studying this critical component. In its early days, Jaeger-LeCoultre devoted considerable attention to materials, pioneering the introduction of palladium hairsprings in 1890. More recently, Jaeger-LeCoultre has focused its efforts primarily on hairspring shapes and the tourbillon.
The shape of the hairspring and the way it is attached (the terminal curve) determine how it expands and contracts. While it is standard to use a flat hairspring, Jaeger-LeCoultre engineers have studied different configurations to determine the shape that provides the most concentric (and therefore most regular) oscillations, depending on the specific architecture of the regulating organ. For example, they found that a flat (Breguet) balance spring worked best in the Gyrotourbillon 5 while maintaining very small Gyrotourbillon dimensions, while in the Tourbillon Cylindrique a cylindrical balance spring with two terminal curves beats with a concentricity not possible with conventional balance springs. Jaeger-LeCoultre’s experts also developed spherical and hemispherical balance springs for different movements, and their research continues.
Recognizing that gravity also has an effect on the finely regulated balance of a watch mechanism, they also studied the entire regulating organ and found a solution in the tourbillon. The tourbillon is a device that had been neglected since its invention in the late 18th century, which counteracts the effects of gravity by rotating a balance wheel within a cage. In 1946, Jaeger-LeCoultre’s first tourbillon movement – the Calibre 170 – won the Neuchâtel Observatory Timing Competition, and in 1993, Jaeger-LeCoultre created its first tourbillon wristwatch. replica watches swiss
Since the tourbillon was originally designed for pocket watches, it was not possible to counteract the effects of gravity in all positions, so Jaeger-LeCoultre’s watchmakers added a second axis that rotates perpendicular to the first to enable three-dimensional rotation. In 2004, Jaeger-LeCoultre broke new ground with the launch of the first multi-axis tourbillon, the iconic Gyrotourbillon, followed by the Gyrotourbillon 5 in 2012. This was followed in 2014 by the ultra-thin Calibre 362, which features a flying tourbillon supported by a peripheral ball bearing system and equipped with Jaeger-LeCoultre’s patented S-shaped balance spring. Further developments of the original Gyrotourbillon led to the launch of the fourth generation Gyrotourbillon in 2016 and, in 2019, the Gyrotourbillon 5 in the Master Hybris Mechanica Calibre 184.
Precision of complications
A fundamental requirement for accurate timekeeping is that the power supply from the movement barrel to the regulating organ should be absolutely constant in order to maintain isochronism – the perfect regularity of the mechanism’s “heartbeat”.
Requiring a watch movement to drive additional complications can compromise timekeeping accuracy – for the simple reason that the complications themselves require power to operate. Furthermore, while accurately displaying the time, the watch must also ensure that the indications of the complications (e.g. moon phases, celestial diagrams, seconds) are displayed on the dial with the highest possible precision.
Some complications consume power slowly and relatively steadily over time, such as calendars of varying degrees of complexity. Other complications, including chronographs and minute repeaters, require large bursts of energy in very short periods of time. The chronograph presents an additional challenge for precision, as its entire purpose is to accurately measure and display precise and very small time intervals.
At the beginning of the Manufacture, our watchmakers not only mastered the chronograph, but also combined it with other complications, devising ways to successfully manage the energy transfer between the operation of the chronograph and complications, while minimizing its impact on isochronism.
When Jaeger-LeCoultre first applied the Duometre concept in 2007, watchmakers set themselves their toughest challenge yet: to develop a chronograph as precise as an astronomical clock. The result was the Duometre à Chronographe, powered by Calibre 380, a fully integrated column-wheel chronograph movement. Since then, the Duometre mechanism has been used for other complications, including moon phases, a GMT function, a classic tourbillon, and, in 2012, a spherical tourbillon.
In 2024, Jaeger-LeCoultre unveils two new Duometre movements: Calibre 388, which powers the Duometre Heliotourbillon Perpetual, features a new tourbillon configuration that rotates on three axes to create a “gyroscopic” effect. And Calibre 391 combines a chronograph with a moon phase display to create the Duometre Chronograph Moon. replica mens watches
The new Duometre movement combines nearly eight decades of expertise and represents another step forward in the Maison’s quest for perfection. And so, the story begun by the founder continues…
