Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Perpetual Calendar 8 Days

What is a perpetual calendar ala Jaeger-LeCoultre?

In my opinion, there are two:

The PC Alarm, as, for example, this Grande Memovox from the early 2000's:



Or the PC 8 Days, here in its latest iteration:



You will tell me that there are other Perpetual Calendars coupled to a long power reserve, on the market, like the IWC, but this last one uses an automatic movement, not a manual winding one, like the JLC.

So, yes, to me, these are the two Perpetual Calendars which most represent Jaeger-Lecoultre.

The most I see this Master Calendar 8 Days, the most I appreciate it.

It is a serious piece of horology and design, which was introduced this year in a smaller case ( 1, 5 mm less ) and gained in elegance.

The dial is as sober as it is legible, and very complete, as you have the indication of the day, the date, the month, the year, the moonphase ( till here nothing exceptional on a perpetual calendar, even if not all of them are that complete ), but also the famous indication of the " danger zone " and the 8 days power reserve information, which is not very common, to say the least.



One thing I would have preferred would have consisted in removing the " Jaeger-Lecoultre " signature, putting the " JL " logo just under 12, and locating the indication of the year just under the JL Logo, to give even more balance and clean look to the dial.

And I would have made it with a black dial, just to give it a stronger, and to say all, an irresistible look.





Another thing I love a lot is the movement, which was developped on the Cal 877, but with a modular construction ( addition of the perpetual calendar ), with its nice sunburst decoration, first introduced in 2002 ( Cal 877 ), and which can be considered as a milestone, as it inspired the decoration of many other interesting movements, at JLC, such as the Cal 848 ( Reverso Platinum Nr 2 Tourbillon ) or the 38x ( Duometres )



Of course some will say that the perpetual calendar module was conceived when IWC and JLC were under Gunter Blumlein's authority and Kurt Klaus' talent, but this can't withdraw a serious interest for those who are in search of a nice, serious and genuine complication as this one.

To discover and re discover!

Best,

Nicolas. This message has been edited by amanico on 2013-09-10 14:01:54 This message has been edited by amanico on 2013-09-13 01:26:30