Grand Design
Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Master Grand
Tradition Grande Complication
takes the notion of a “grande
complication” into orbit
Of all the astronomical watches at last month’s SIHH
in Geneva (all matters starry emerged as something
of a theme at the show), Jaeger-LeCoultre’s rose gold
version of its Grande Complication proved that this
is still the one watch that takes the idea furthest and
in the most unexpected way. An otherwise standard
“grande complication”, if such a description is not too
strong an oxymoron, Jaeger’s latest offering plays with
the variance that can be observed during the year
between “mean” time and the time as indicated by
the stars.
Of course, there is really no such thing as a conventional grand complication. The term traditionally
means a watch that has both perpetual calendar
and minute repetition functions (and quite often a
chronograph as well) and Jaeger-LeCoultre’s example
incorporates the best of the expertise developed over
the centuries of watchmaking tradition in La Vallée,
long acknowledged as the hotbed of excellence for
complicated watches in Switzerland (neighbours in
the Vallée de Joux include Audemars Piguet, Breguet,
Blancpain and Bulgari as well as specialist ateliers for
Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin and others).
That means superlative finish and an absolute dedication to refining and improving existing knowledge, as
with the Trebuchet hammers developed to give the
gongs a more precise strike or the super-light flying
tourbillon at the heart of the watch. The tourbillon includes some 73 parts, several key components being
printed silicon, weighs less than a gramme thanks to
its titanium cage and runs on lubricant-free ceramic
ball-bearings at a very mode ɸ