mystery of provenance

Hi Clavi,
i hope you don't get bored by reading this, but you've got some beautiful watches, and lapis is one of my favourite E855 dials by design.
The only irritating part about the lapislazuli mystery is that i mostly see them surfacing from two sources (in Paris or near Hamburg) of rather questionable reputation. One sells remarried watches, the other is an expert at an auction house while he also sells watches (conflict of interest in pricing?).
By the way, i saw Zsolt's Lapis version on Zaf's site a few years ago. I believe i also read something about a belgian guy, maybe you might know more, Clavi? We will probably never know if they really existed, unless we find an old JLC employee confirming them. The approach of an expert dealer to legitimise them by feeding them to market at elevated prices on a sporadic basis, doesn't convince me so far.
Cheers, MMK

💰550 Marketplace Listings for Jaeger LeCoultre›

Ok, let's play a little game... Your expertise on this E 855.

By: amanico : May 3rd, 2012-04:35

Here is a nice E 855 " Lapis Lazuli " which, actually, has some questionable parts. I personally see three issues. Two of them are quite easy to be solved, though, while the third one is more problematic. And you, do you see them? Best, Nicolas...

From what I can see...

By: blomman Mr Blue : May 3rd, 2012-05:00

1. Incorrect crowns. Should be signed. 2. Incorrect alarm disk (Master Reveil, white dial version with solid case back). 3. Hands? Should be baton hands…? Best Blomman

I should have mentionned " Everybody can play, except Blomman ". ;)

By: amanico : May 3rd, 2012-05:01

This message has been edited by amanico on 2012-05-03 05:01:55 This message has been edited by amanico on 2012-05-03 05:02:21

LOL! Sorry... ;) [nt]

By: blomman Mr Blue : May 3rd, 2012-05:08

No message body

So ?

By: flamenco : May 3rd, 2012-06:32

Did Bloman got it all right ? How would an original version look like ?

All right, indeed. ;)

By: amanico : May 3rd, 2012-06:47

Here is a shot of an all correct specimen ( Credit picture Artcurial ) : Best, Nicolas...

Cant to see

By: flamenco : May 3rd, 2012-07:53

the crown ?!?! Have to verify

The original crown is flatter, and signed, on the E 855.

By: amanico : May 3rd, 2012-07:55

I think I prefer the white ...

By: nwp627 : May 3rd, 2012-17:51

...alarm disc with the blue lapis even if it's not "authentic." N

That is the problem. This is a superb watch! [nt]

By: amanico : May 3rd, 2012-21:49

No message body

Hands

By: Wizir : May 3rd, 2012-06:38

It is more the second hand that looks too short for me ?

Naaah.

By: amanico : May 3rd, 2012-06:48

The minute and hour hands should be baton, not Dauphine. Best, Nicolas

ok :-) nt

By: Wizir : May 3rd, 2012-06:56

Spot on!

By: Clavi : May 3rd, 2012-07:27

The game is too easy for you An illustration...

What about the Alarm disc on yours, Clavi?

By: amanico : May 3rd, 2012-07:51

Silver, with applied arrow alarm marker 'à la ebony index dial'

By: Clavi : May 3rd, 2012-10:45

I can't find the pictures, but like Blomman I like watches by pairs, and I have two the exact same so I guess this is the right configuration (sorry, can only find this old cropped pic now) One thing to note also is that the pattern of each dial is differ...

Blue alarm disc

By: Zsolt : May 4th, 2012-05:34

I almost bought a similar watch a coulple of years ago, unfortunately I hesitated too long...on that one the alarm disc was blue too, like on the one which was sold recently on the auction. I saw the watch in real life and both (inner and outer) dials loo...

I know that one too

By: Clavi : May 4th, 2012-07:53

On that one, the hands were definitively wrong (they are IWC hands!) But otherwise it looked really good indeed.

The alarm disk...

By: blomman Mr Blue : May 3rd, 2012-13:21

He, he - well, maybe I spoiled the fun... Sorry! About the alarm disk: you have two with this config? Question, is the alarm arrow applied with a white pearl in the middle? Best Blomman

Both triangles with lume

By: Clavi : May 3rd, 2012-13:48

The 2 alarm disks really are the same you would find in a late 855 (eg ebony index, normal or fat). This is not a pearl per say, this is normal tritium filling I happen to be wearing one of them as I am typing ;-) (the other is at the bank so no twin-shot...

OK, thank you!

By: blomman Mr Blue : May 3rd, 2012-13:54

Very helpful. Do you know anything about which years JLC had these in the catalogue..? Best Blomman

No precise idea

By: Clavi : May 3rd, 2012-14:05

I have never seen this version in a catalog (but you are the master of catalogs so if you haven't seen it either I guess the chances are low). But in all logic I guess it is contemporary to the other 'scale dial' that we know of (the brown / tortoise one)...

surprising...

By: karmin : May 4th, 2012-02:10

These colored versions of the 855 (blue or brown) are indeed very nice, attractive, and quite rare. I'm just surprised by the fact that the only occurrence of these versions is the brown model in a 1970 catalog. Obviously, the blue version is authentic, b...

Jaeger-LeCoultre