Jaeger-LeCoultre

ArthurSG
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Why Does JLC Get Some Stick?

I posted the following comment in reply to Jaeger92’s thread on the rather amazing Cal 101 and thought maybe I start a thread on the same for discussion and maybe to verify if perhaps there is some truth in what I have heard of JLC from some in the past.

Basically, I’ve wondered why JLC has in the past, time and again, received some stick for not being one of the leading higher tier brands along Lange or Patek.  Granted, for MOST of their pieces IMO, the finish is not of the standard of Lange but I do not think they are too far off patek if at all (don;t flame me patek fans, I have one too).

For me, for the longest time without knowing the little that I know now of watches, I’ve always looked to JLC and the reverso as an expensive watch that I’ve always wanted.  Now however, being immersed in most things horological for just over a year and having acquired a few pieces, I have heard and read a few times of Jaeger being described as a luxury brand for the masses or the cheapest high end manufacturer (supposedly due to the reason that their watches are the cheapest to manufacture.  Again this is what I hear and Jaeger fans, don;t flame me, I just bought one for my wife and am considering a Reverso Grande of sorts to accompany that purchase).  Maybe it’s due to the many models they have introduced after the reverso range (which again for my novice opinion, is JLC defined) that some may argue is an attempt to be everything to everyone which almost always never works out in the long term.

So going back to Jaeger92’s Cal 101 thread as a case in point.  Whether it is manufactured at a low cost, which if it’s the case, it’s a credit to JLC management (I mean which business doesn’t want to keep cost low and margins high and hopefully without sacrificing quality of the end product) , it should be by any count, seen as an engineering work of art then and now.  Even more so, it should also help to perhaps better posiiton JLC as a manufacture that should be known more for it’s movement research, design and expertise?  After all, the Cal 101 as we have seen is followed by the interesting movement of the Duometre and Triptyque (and probably quite a few other pioneering calibers in between) both of which I think should be held at least in above average movement manufacturing regard no?

I may be off base with my comments above and for that I ask pardon for this always learning novice.  My understanding of movement techicals is still very much in infancy and unrefined and maybe this causes me to miss something in some comments passed? 

So what are your thoughts about JLC perhaps being a tier 2 manufacture for want of a better descriptor?