JLC - A review on the Jaeger Lecoultre Master Grande Tradition Tourbillon Celeste.

A review on the Jaeger Lecoultre Master Grande Tradition Tourbillon Celeste.

Feb 16, 2021,23:12 PM

The Master Grande Tradition Tourbillon Celeste was a good surprise, in 2019, unveiled during the summer, to be precise, after the Gyrotourbillon five and the Master Grande Complication Minute Repeater Perpétuelle.

In fact, this is not a totally new watch, as I would see it is strongly inspired from the Master Grande Tradition Grande Complication introduced in 2010, but without minute repeater, and as an evolution of the MGT Tourbillon Celeste Hybris Artistica born in 2014, in a limited edition of 3 pieces, in a white gold 42 mm case.

The MGT Tourbillon Celeste Hybris Artistica:

The movement is the Cal 946.

Its dial is a blend of Guilloché Lacquered Blue and Aventurine.

And a jeweled version-which doesn't belong to the Hybris Artistica line- issued in 2014 as well

The current MGT Tourbillon Celeste is indeed very close to the Hybris Artistica version but with some notable differences:

- First of all, the Master Grande Tradition case, which is the one revisited for the Gyrotourbillon Five and the Minute Repeater Perpétuelle from last year and the Master Grande Tradition Grande Complication from this year. The former case was nice, this one is even nicer, one millimeter bigger ( 43 mm versus 42 mm for the Hybris Artistica ), and 13, 42 mm high ( versus 13, 10 mm for the Hybris Artistica ), which gives some good proportions to the watch. Its water resistance is 50 meters, which is enough for everyday life. To be complete, the case is made of white gold.

- The dial of the new Tourbillon Celeste is aesthetically close, but decorated in a different way. Cleaner than the Hybris Artistica, there is no more guilloché lacquer nor aventurine, but there is something else... The constellations are luminous!

In the daylight, and in the darkness:

The luminous dial is not only spectacular, it is also very à propos and poetic for an astronomical watch. While I am less fan of the Dauphine hands and their ridiculous amount of luminous material. I would rather see these hands seen on the MGT Grande Complication " Venezia Edition ":

The other difference, with the Tourbillon Celeste from this year is that the sun rotating around the dial is out.

- The complications are the followings: An orbital flying tourbillon depicting the sidereal time, which means that it will make a full revolution around the dial in 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4 seconds, a Zodiacal Calendar, the months, a sky chart of the northern hemisphere, and the 24 hours indication. So, they are identical to the Hybris Artistica version.

- As for the movement The Cal 946 is made of 334 parts, 35 jewels, beating at 28, 800 vibrations per hour, with a power reserve of 45 hours. You will note the silicon escape wheel and pallet fork, which is not a common solution for Jaeger Lecoultre watches. Indeed, Silicon has been used by JLC since 2007 ( Extreme Lab One ), and for a few other of their watches since then. It is the same movement than in the " Artistica ".

The german silver plates receive a pleasant sun-ray decoration / finishings. Still; I would have loved to see more of this movement, with less big plates and more bridges. And with more generous bevels.I am pleased with the JL ratchet wheel.

I was waiting for the opportunity to see this watch in the real, before writing a review, and I must say that it is much more convincing in the metal than in the official pictures.

There is more depth on the dial side and back side.

Here are my pictures: