The Gentleman Magazine Issue 15 | June 2019 | Page 6

JAEGER-LECOULTRE REFINES THE ART OF MECHANICAL
MASTERY IN THE MASTER GRANDE TRADITION
RÉPÉTITION MINUTES PERPÉTUELLE
With close to two centuries of horological expertise, Jaeger-
LeCoultre stands alone in its command of complicated
watchmaking. This includes unparalleled in-house experience
in chiming watches, the most prestigious and exalted domain of
mechanical savoir-faire. As a matter of fact, La Grande Maison
du Sentier has the distinction of being the only manufacture
in the world to have over 200 chiming watch calibres in its
historical and modern inventory.
In May 2019, following the success of the Master Grande
Tradition Gyrotourbillon Westminster Perpétuel at the Salon
International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH), Jaeger-LeCoultre
debuts a timepiece that once again brings new levels of
excellence to its mastery of chiming watches.
The Master Grande Tradition Répétition Minutes Perpétuelle
features an innovative gong system that resurrects the idealised
chime of antique pocket sonneries, paired with an evolutionary
case design that transmits timelessness and modernity.
A new chime
Its movement, the automatic calibre 950, unites the two
apex values of chime quality that were previously thought to
be incompatible — power and beauty. This combination of
qualities has largely eluded the best watchmakers in history,
the understanding being that one can come only at the cost of
the other.
The research and innovation team of Jaeger-LeCoultre have
achieved this idealised chime by creating an entirely novel
gong configuration, unlike any other. Instead of lying flat in
overlapping coils like the most commonly seen minute repeater
gongs, the gongs of the Master Grande Tradition Répétition
Minutes Perpétuelle depart radically from convention by
incorporating unprecedented height and space. Two gongs,
welded together at their base, travel in the same direction
around the periphery of the movement, making one near-
complete tour before dramatically arching upwards, traversing
the entire height of the movement. They then diverge and take
a terminal semi-arc around the other side of the movement,
stopping just before their ends meet.
In the 21st century, Jaeger-LeCoultre channelled its creativity
in sonnerie watches towards producing the most energy-
efficient and volume-optimised chime possible. By maximising the space occupied by the element that creates
sound vibrations — the gongs — the calibre 950 boosts its
capacity for sound transmission. Further increasing this
capacity is the proximity of the gongs to a larger proportion
of the watch case, according to the acoustic principles that
instinctively guide us where to position a relatively weak audio
source in relation to an resonator (such as when a personal
music player is placed in a glass dish to amplify the sound).
The Master Grande Tradition Répétition Minutes Perpétuelle
represents the next generation of chime-related innovation at
La Grande Maison. Signature chime innovations of Jaeger-LeCoultre, such as the
square gong cross-sections and the articulated “trebuchet”
hammers, ensure that the gongs are struck with the greatest
Innovation in the domain of chiming watches has been one
of the foundation stones of mechanical expertise at Jaeger-
LeCoultre since 1895, when the company was awarded a patent
for the world’s first silent strike regulator.
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