Why Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Latest Traveling Collection Is Worth Your Time
If your ideal Sunday afternoon involves a casual scroll of Hodinkee.com or, worse, you are (un)lucky enough to work in the watch world, it is easy to become desensitized. Look at enough photos of a tourbillon cage on your favorite personal screen, and even the handiwork of Abraham-Louis Breguet can evoke a feeling of numbness or, to put it another way, a thought of “yep, just another tourb.” In reality, watchmaking is only truly experienced in person. Reading this site and others like it can supplement the experience, but it’s not the whole experience. This is why, upon hearing of Jaeger-LeCoultre’s latest traveling collection, rather than letting my eyes glaze over, I took a closer look.
For all the details on this event, I direct you over to James’s Happenings article – he does a better job laying out the logistics than I could even recreate.
Saving you a trip to Le Sentier, JLC is bringing a selection of its haute-est horology to the good ole US of A. The exhibition is centered around the 2024 Duometre collection, including two entirely new Duometre calibers: the caliber 391 Duometre Chronograph Moon and the caliber 388 Duometre Heliotourbillon Perpetual. Alongside the Duometres, JLC has reached into its archive to show off a few bonus pieces. The entire collection will be a marvel to witness in person and, no doubt, bring the art of watchmaking to life. Here are a few of my quick picks from “the best of the rest” – or non-new-for-2024 JLC novelties. These three watches alone will be the reason I attend “The Precision Pioneer” in NYC.
Reverso Hybris Mechanica Cal. 185 ‘Quadriptyque’ Ref. Q7103420
If you were curious about JLC’s intentions with this traveling collection and thought it might be a grandiose-sounding excuse to put the brand’s 2024 novelties in front of potential customers, the inclusion of this Reverso should quell any concerns. This level of watchmaking, a total of 11 complications, is rarely displayed. Even for a brand the size of JLC, publicly showcasing a watch like this takes some real courage. To be clear, at launch in 2021, this was the most complicated Reverso ever and had a price tag of €1.35 million.
Duometre Spherotourbillon Moon Ref. Q6086420
In a very different watch world of 10 years ago, something like the Spherotourbillon blew minds. To quote a 2012 Hodinkee article, penned, I assume, by Ben Clymer, “If you ask most journalists which watch from SIHH most impressed them from a pure horological standpoint, I would venture to bet most would respond with ‘The Spherotoubillon.'” This was an era where Switzerland’s greatest watch brands were in an arms race to create the most, well… complicated and esoteric complications possible.
Using the “dual-wing” Duometre concept as its base, the Spherotourbillon aims to be a tourbillon for pure accuracy’s sake rather than for aesthetics or “look that goes round and round on my watch!” A dual-axis, dual-cage tourbillon powers this beast of a watch while sitting on a 20° incline, and at the push of a button at two o’clock, the tourbillon will reset to zero for precise setting. If this sounds like your kind of thing, check out this “Old Hodinkee” article (and this one!), but, most importantly, check this thing out in person while you can.
Reverso Tribute Gyrotourbillon Ref. Q3946420
Finally, combining the previous two picks in a way is the Reverso Tribute Gyrotourbillon, quite possibly one of the most interesting and underappreciated Reversos ever produced. If you’re like me and find the Quadriptyque’s 11 complications to be a bit much and the Duometre Spherotourbillon to be slightly too watch-nerdy, this one is for you.
The Reverso Tribute Gyrotourbillon takes queues from JLC’s first modern grand complication, 2004’s Master Gyrotourbillon 1, and packages JLC’s touch for precision high watchmaking into the familiar Reverso case while remaining entirely wearable at 51.1mm x 31mm x 12.4mm.
‘The Precision Pioneer’ Traveling Collection Information
Jaeger-LeCoultre’s “The Precision Pioneer” traveling collection is currently on view at the brand’s NYC boutique at 701 Madison Avenue and will run until September 24th. After NYC, the show hits the road to Los Angeles, where the collection will be on view from October 5th to 13th. New York City hours are 10 AM-6:30 PM on weekdays and 10 AM-5:30 PM on Saturdays. Please note that reservations are required for attendance.
For more information, click here.
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