Jaeger-LeCoultre Caliber 942 Automatic Minute Repeater

amanico · 2015-07-16T00:10:26Z

Explore Jaeger-LeCoultre's Caliber 942, their first automatic minute repeater movement. See exclusive photos and expert insights on its design and finishing.

amanico

WPS member · Jaeger-LeCoultre forum

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Amanico offers an exclusive look at the Jaeger-LeCoultre Caliber 942, an automatic minute repeater movement. This post is particularly significant as it features what is believed to be the first public unveiling of both sides of the movement outside of its encased form, providing a rare perspective on JLC's horological innovation.

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New, as it is housed in two watches, the Rendez Vous IVY Minute Repeater, and the Master Grande Tradition 39 Minute Repeater.

I already reviewed the Master Grande Tradition 39, and will son publish the Ivy. BUT, till a few weeks ago, I only had pictures of the movement already encased.

Hence, only the verso side, which is partially hidden by the rotor.

While visiting the Spécialités Horlogères Workshop, I fell on a Cal 942 which was finished and I could take a picture of its both sides, which is, I think, a première.

This is an important movement, since this is the first automatic minute repeater from the Manufacture, if you don't include the Hybris Mechanica 11, whose caliber plays in another league.

So, let's see how it looks like:

To tell you the truth, I had a confirmation, and a surprise.

The confirmation is that I am disappointed by the look of the movement on the verso side. It looks too much like any other automatic movement, which is not at the expected level of a complication of that importance.

The surprise is coming from the recto side ( dial side ), which is much better looking, in my opinion.

I will write something about automatic and manual movements, by the way, , but I couldn' t resist to the temptation to share this picture with you.

Thoughts?

Best,

Nicolas

Key Points from the Discussion

The dial side of the Caliber 942 movement is aesthetically more appealing, almost appearing skeletonized, compared to the verso side which looks more conventional for an automatic movement.
The base movement of Caliber 942 appears to be the Caliber 899, with the minute repeater module added to the dial side, and it lacks the expected level of decoration, such as polished anglage, for a high complication.
The gongs were not installed on the uncased movement pictured, indicating that the piece was still undergoing work, and the sound quality was still being perfected by JLC.
Given the somewhat disappointing appearance of the rotor side, a manual winding movement might be preferred over an automatic one for this level of complication.
The possibility of a peripheral or micro-rotor was raised as an alternative to improve the aesthetics or thinness of automatic minute repeaters, prompting a question about JLC's history with micro-rotors.

The Discussion

blomman Mr Blue

Jul 16, 2015

The dial side looks fantastic!

But I have to agree with you on the rotor side... :( If this is the alternative, in this case I would prefer a manual movement! Best Blomman

amanico

Jul 16, 2015

Same here. I will come back to automatic and manual movements, in a...

Dedicated post... Best, Nicolas

proestak

Jul 16, 2015

Judging from the verso side..,

it seems to me that base movement here is the cal. 899 with an added minute repeater module(dial side). Can you clarify it? Best Yiannis

amanico

Jul 16, 2015

To me, it belongs to the same family, indeed. [nt]

sery.vlk

Jul 18, 2015

Re: Judging from the verso side..,

- and like in other recent high complications whose movement is based on the cal. 899, the base movement seems not to have received any decoration corresponding to the level of the complication (it would look different with a polished anglage!). Definitely, a very interesting picture! Nico, on the dial side i fail to locate the gongs - is it because they are in fact part of the case/crystal? Did you therefore have an opportunity to hear this repeater uncased, at all? Could you comment, thanks. p

amanico

Jul 18, 2015

I saw this movement at the Specialités Horlogères workshop.

They were working on it, and to tell you the truth, I don't think they installed the gongs. ;) I had the opportunity to hear it, on a previous proto, but it was a proto. I will hear it when it is all fixed, and JLC wants to fix it perfectly. So, it seems that there still is some work to do. Best, Nicolas

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Jaeger-LeCoultre Caliber 942 Automatic Minute Repeater

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