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Jaeger-LeCoultre

Restoration of my grandfather's watch: an update

 

Some of you may remember that, a few months ago, I sent my grandfather's watch, a Jaeger-LeCoultre Uniplan Etrier, to Le Sentier for a complete restoration.


After asking if I could get some photos of the work in progress, I received the following document this afternoon. The headline of the second page says: 

PIECE DISASSEMBLED - CLEANED - DIAL FRESHENED UP







Here are my initial reactions and thoughts:
  • The dial looks very clean (a bit too clean, I must say), but I prefer to reserve my judgement. 
  • I really love the shape of the case and lugs.
  • The perlage on the inner side of the case back looks lovely.
  • The front of the calibre 437 has its keyless works and looks nice, but I would have preferred to have a view of the back side, with the balance wheel and cock.
So, logically, the missing parts are the ones that weren't original and need to be replaced, or even manufactured (which would explain the very long time frame that has been announced for this restoration). And I wonder what these missing parts will look like
  • hands (hours, minutes & center seconds)
  • crown 
  • crystal.
In order to get an idea, I've done some research online and found the following example from 1933 (powered by caliber 438 - not 437), each component of which is believed to be original

And I would really love the final hands to be identical: thermally blued bevelled Sword-style for the hours and minutes hands with a lollipop counterbalance for the central seconds hand.
























credit: boldtimepieces.co.uk


Anyway, let's just wait and see what the final result will look like!

Thanks for reading.

Best, Emmanuel

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