Jaeger-LeCoultre

BDLJ
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Feedback...

...well, I've just got off the phone with my watchrepairer. For some background, his bench is littered (perhaps the wrong word) with vintage Omegas, Rolexes, 5100's, etc etc...

His response was close to what I expected, in that:

Bumper movements were made obsolete by the full rotating rotor. Hence all movements are rather old now, and like many vintage items, they may not have had the care and attention that they receive now - resulting in 'fragility'....in addition - and exacerbating the issue - many Bumpers were 'add-ons' to an existing calibre. So the winding mechanism may not be optimised for bridge stiffness and strength. The rotor itself may be rather high to avoid scraping on the movement, resulting in larger loads on the pivots. Etc. Finally, the nature of the Bumper itself. Coming to a hard stop (cushioned only by springs, which haven't caused him trouble unless someone has messed with them and they've come loose) on every cycle puts more shocks through the system than a conventional rotor.

All very unspecific, but goes to demonstrate where this reputuation may have come from. As I wrote earlier I have two bumpers (Omega) one of which is on very high rotation, getting worn for weeks (!) at a time...no problems with winding and since the cracked jewel was replaced (about 2 years ago...) no fragility issues (as long as I don't wear it into the shower again...). Anecdote doesn't equal evidence, but I'm content with mine.