FanFrancisco
7501
first JLC's automatic bumper movement, 476 or 12A?
... i have recently acquired a JLC vintage watch, beautiful patina dial plus heat blue hands, everything look pretty good to me. i got this watch to home purely by accident, not my intention at all. as my intention was to search one vintage pocket watch box for " my date-day pocket watch" . i found the box while i also saw in the seller's shop there was also selling one beautiful a JLC vintage watch housed with the so-called first JLC's automatic bumper movement as claimed by the seller. I clicked to buy without much hesitation. in the recent " Friday's WristScan" , i posted the pic and stated it is the first automatic JLC, Caliber 12A. our Nico replied that the first JLC automatic movement is 476. after seeing his response and have further thought of that, and quickly done some research. very interestingly, according to JLC official website, it said as below: "HISTORY " First automatic Jaeger-LeCoultre watch" At the end of the Second World War, the mood was geared towards reconstruction, efficiency and pragmatism. Jaeger-LeCoultre turned its inventive genius to the area of automatic round timepieces, forerunners of the Master Control line. The firstborn housed a Jaeger-LeCoultre 476 Calibre, driven by a ‘bumper’ type weight." (following three pics extracted from JLC's official website)
i also found some sentences written by Zaf in his website as below: "1946 First Jaeger-LeCoultre automatic watch At the end of World War II, the spirit of the era is geared towards reconstruction, efficiency and pragmatism. Jaeger-LeCoultre directs its inventive genius towards the field of automatic round timekeepers, forerunners of the Master Control line. The first is equipped with Jaeger-LeCoultre Calibre 476." after reading these, it makes me puzzled whether my watch housed Caliber 12A was made before or after the Caliber 476?! hope experts out there can help me to resolve this matter. thanks a lot in advance. (following pics of my recently automatic bumper Caliber 12A watch)
(taken beside with my another manual winding JLC - Caliber P478, Ref E159)
(clearly see the 12A marked on the movement of my watch and it looks the same as the one shown in JLC's website, please note this pic was provided by the seller)
stefan
first JLC's automatic bumper movement, 476 or 12A?
... i have recently acquired a JLC vintage watch, beautiful patina dial plus heat blue hands, everything look pretty good to me. i got this watch to home purely by accident, not my intention at all. as my intention was to search one vintage pocket watch b...
It is the same movement. Which leads me to wonder ...
1/ Why it is written 12 A instead of 476. 2/ Why your movement is signed LeCoultre while your dial is signed Jaeger-Lecoultre. I have no answer to these 2 mysteries. Best, Nicolas
If you have no answer either, hope others can help!
Or perhaps we can ask MJLC? Thanks Nico, anyway. Stefan
yes understand that... hopefully someone could come in to answer this!
thanks, Nico. stefan
Name discrepancy
Just a guess.. the answer could be that the watch was bought in Europe, then serviced in the US. I've seen some reference that service centers would swap movements so the service could be done while you wait. -Don
Hello Stefan! Sorry I can´t say anything of interest...
... about historical or technical aspects of your watch, but I can say it is really beautiful, so elegant and clean design of its dial. A real beauty! Watch collecting brings many satisfactions and enjoyment, as well as many misteries and incognitas! I wi...
no problem, my friend...
... we are here to learn from each other, that's why we find here to be a great place to stay. by the way, thanks a lot for your sharing and kind words too. stefan
Excellent pair, Stefan! :)
One automatic, one manual - both beautiful! Congrats, my friend! Best Blomman
yes indeed... excellent pair....
... really enjoy these two watches that have similar dial layout! stefan
pezrhaps the 12a is a predessor of the 476??
If not then jlc must have archivesof all the movements they have concepted so you should get an answer easily
great
Thanks a lot for your answer. Then, it is the first Lecoultre's automatic calibre ?
actually...
... according to the movement number stated on my 12A watch, the production year was around in 1946 which has the same year produced as the 476, it is hard to say which was come first. stefan
After a bit of searching
If you do some searches you can find a number of examples of 12A, including articles that state that 12A is the same as 476, and that 12A was used on movements in the USA.
JLC 12A or 476?
Think I might be able to help here. Some time ago I inherited my grandfather's JLC watch. He must have got it almost as soon as he came back from the Second World War. So far as I know it was the only watch he ever owned and it was working almost up until...
Thanks for the additional and interesting info...
Thanks much for assuring. I haven\'t heard there are two movement numbers engraved on inside one JLC movement, both are referred to the same movement but one by European while another one by US. I should try to ask my local watch maker help to open and ta...
Thanks for your photos/thread as well
Mine looks identical inside to yours (photograph above - incidentally it looks like one of your bumper springs is cactus), though it has the more austere face as in the first photo - black & white advertisement at the top. It has the same yellow printed 1...
Running time?
Stefan - One last request - I'm trying to work out whether I need a new mainspring or not. While they are "unbreakable" as the replacement part package loves to advertise (must have been a novelty at the time), I suspect they can lose their "spring"/torqu...
Are you out there Stefan?
Hi Stefan - looking to reassemble movement in it's case. If you could let me know how long it runs for that would be great. Thanks
Wow!!
Bumper movement has gone extinct since the 60s, its really hard to find one nowadays, good catch my friend
