Jaeger-LeCoultre Chronometry History

INTRODUCTION:

Let's  focus on an interesting and fascinating topic, the Vintage JLC Chronometers.

Why Vintage only?

Because we can consider almost all the modern production, since 1992, as Chronometers.

Here is what I wrote in the article dedicated to precision and complications:

Chronometry is part of the Present, at JLC, with the " 1000 Hours Control " test for all the Master Watches since 1992, and, since 2003, for ALL the watches produced by the Manufacture.

At the contrary of the COSC, the 1000 Hours programme includes testing of all finished and cased up watches, with hands and dial, under 6 positions, several temperatures, pressures of 5 ATM, in magnetic fields, and calculated shocks.

The acceptable accuracy is depending on the level of complication of the watch, from -1 + 6 to - 8 + 14 seconds per day.

In 2009, JLC launched the " 1 000 Hours Chrono " Test, which associates the JLC 1 000 Hours control to the COSC Chronometry Tests, BUT as said before, the tests are made on a complete movement, fitted with its complications, and cased up.

Here, the average accuracy is - 1 / + 4 seconds per day.

Note that for the moment, the 1 000 Hours Chrono are only achieved on the Master Grande Tradition Watches, id est, the Master Grande Tradition Perpetual Calendar Tourbillon, the Grande Tradition Minute Repeater, and the latest Grande Complication."

A winner, the Master Tourbillon, and its Cal 978 ( First prize at the 2009 Chronometry Contest ).



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So, yes, we can say that the Master 1000 Hours control has more demanding exigences than the COSC, but what was the situation before 1992?

Were all the Jaeger-Lecoultre, Jaeger or LeCoultre watches Chronometers?

Were there only wristwatches, certified as Chronometers, or other " products "?

We'll try to find some answers, here...

As J. Michael Mehltretter rightfully pointed out ( Watchtime, August 2003 ), the number of Chronometers made by JLC is nothing compared to:

- The Vintage. JLC production.

- The much bigger production from brands like Rolex and Omega, for instance, where it was far from being uncommon to read the word " Chronometer " on the dial.

How many Chronometers were released by Jaeger Lecoultre, by the way?

If we only consider the Geophysic, the Geomatic, and the 24 000 ( Cal 906 ), we are approximatively just above 8 000 pieces ( 8184, to be precise ), without counting the 24 001 or the 24 002( 105 24 001 in Yellow Gold, 1050 24 001 in Stainless steel, 234 24 002 in Yellow Gold, 1151 24 002 in Stainless Steel according to the Manufacture Heritage Gallery ), we have a total of 10 724 Chronometers.

Then, you'll have to also include the Mark XI ( 1948 - 1953: 2950 watches made for the RAF and RAAF ), which has to be considered as a Chronometer, and the elusive Master Mariner Chronometer, born in ... 1958, to celebrate the 125th Anniversary of the founding of the Manufacture, the american " answer ", or offer, to the Geophysic.

This is the list of wristwatches which are Chronometers, but you have some others to mention, too:

- The first  pocket watch Chronometer, the Cal 21 RV ( 1860 ), which sometimes had a military life ( Torpedo Boat )

- The Cal 19/20 RMSMI ( 1881 ), which is not only a Chronometer, but also a Minute Repeater.

- The famous Cal 160 and 170,from the late Thirties and Fourties, which won several Chronometry Contest.

-  The Cal 162 the Cal 171, which was housed in some Marine Chronometers, such as the Service Hydrographique De La Marine Nationale ( French Marine, to make it short ).

Before elaborating, you already see that Chronometry at JLC is a bit more than the Geophysic, Geomatic, and the different Cal 906s, and the History here is much longer than 18 years, only. 
 

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