Jaeger-LeCoultre
Duometre
Spherotourbillon
Moon
Above: The author among the Atmos.
Lower Right: Enamelling at Jaeger-LeCoultre Manufacture
But a picture is worth a thousand words. He also showed and demon-
strated: Duomètre Sphérotourbillon Moon, Master Grande Tradition Grande
Complication, Hybris Mechanica a Grande Sonnerie, Rendezvous Ivy Minute
Repeater, Reverso Gyrotourbillon Two, Reverso Tribute Gyrotourbillon.
For the rest of the morning, we visited the following workshops: Métiers
Rares (gem-setting, engraving, enameling, guillochage), the high complica-
tion workshop, and the Atmos workshop.
We were then shepherded off in our coach for a magnificent lunch at the
Hotel Restaurant Bellevue Le Rocheray. In Switzerland, the prevalence of the
watch industry is visible everywhere. In the restaurant, for example, there
were many clocks on the wall from Swiss watch brands, including Breitling,
Vacheron Constantin, Bulgari, Jaeger LeCoultre Reverso, Breguet, Audemars
Piguet, Gerald Genta, Blancpain and even a genuine Atmos. For a watch
collector, it’s watch heaven.
In the afternoon, we visited the blanking workshop, in which many tiny
parts are handmade by individuals using personal lathes at their benches.
The most fascinating part of the whole tour, for me, was the piece that the
young man was cutting out by hand in the blanking department (blanking
is one of the first stages of the manufacturing of flat components) guard-
pin or safety pin, the smallest component in the watch movement that
Jaeger-LeCoultre cuts. It is a painstaking and repetitive process for the indi-
vidual and one wonders if some day this might become automated.
62 | INTERNATIONAL WATCH | SUMMER 2018