JLC - A brief look at the Jaeger LeCoultre Master Tourbillon Dualtime

A brief look at the Jaeger LeCoultre Master Tourbillon Dualtime

It's always fun visiting our friends at the Jaeger LeCoultre Beverly Hills Boutique. There's always some interesting watches available. On a recent visit to the boutique I was shown a novelty from the 2014 Master Collection, the Master Tourbillon Dualtime. Three versions are available: silvered dial with pink gold case (with and without a gem-set bezel), and a blued sun-ray brushed dial in white gold and gem-set bezel. Since my favorite color is blue, I spent the most time handling the blue dialed version.

The Master Tourbillon Dualtime is fitted with the JLC 978B tourbillon movement. The original caliber 978 movement powered the Master Tourbillon back in 2009 during the Chronometrie Competition organized by the Watch Museum of Le Locle. And sure enough, the precision of the Jaeger Le Coultre Master Tourbillon won the competition. Later in 2011, JLC created two new tourbillons based on caliber 978. The first was the Master Grand Tradition a Tourbillon that had a dual time zone display and 24 hour indicator along with a date display on the outer edge of the dial. The 43mm case was available in pink gold, and a limited edition of 200 pieces in platinum. The second was the Master Date Tourbillon 39 that had the date display closer to the center of the dial. For this version, the Master Tourbillon Dualtime is presented as a 41.5mm diameter case with a thickness of 12.1mm.

The 2nd timezone is indicated by a subdial at the 12 o'clock position. The center guilloche of this subdial has a beautiful sunburst radiating pattern for the day time and a linear pattern indicating night time. The watch is easy to set with a quick crown-activated travel time change that is synchronized with the date. Hour markers are gem-set and have a separate round dot luminous marker. The date display is very well though out, with a date scale along the outer edge of the dial. On the right side of the outer dial has the 1st to the 15th, and continues on the left side of the from the 16th to the 31st. The date hand jumps from the 15th to the 16th (basically between the 5 and 7 o'clock positions) so that it provides an unobstructed view of the tourbillon. I also liked that the watchmakers chose to go with a discreet blue hand for the date so that it doesn't distract from the view of the rest of the watch. The silver colored tip of the date hand is also easy to read. The hour and minute hands are dauphine shaped and matches to overall appearance of the tourbillon.

The Jaeger LeCoultre calibre 978B movement is made of 302 pieces and the balance oscillates at a frequency of 28,800vph. Here's a video with a few closeups of the tourbillon.

The bezel of the JLC Master Tourbillon Dualtime is adorned with approximately 83 brilliant cut diamonds weighing about 1.06 carats. Normally I do not personally prefer gem set watches, but I did like the smaller diamonds used on the hour markers on the dial. The diamonds on the bezel were paired nicely with this watch and was not distracting, but if I had a choice I would prefer a blued dialed version without a regular white gold bezel.

There were several other watches to handle, and besides the JLC Master Tourbillon Dualtime, the other watch that really caught my eye was the JLC Master Ultra Thin Perpetual. More on this coming soon!

Regards,
ED-209

Jaeger-LeCoultre

A brief look at the Jaeger LeCoultre Master Tourbillon Dualtime

A brief look at the Jaeger LeCoultre Master Tourbillon Dualtime

Thanks for sharing your view on this Tourbilllon, Ed...

The MUT Perpetual

Yes, it is a remarkable case. And a very interesting watch. [nt]

re: tourbillon

more pics coming up