Jaeger-LeCoultre

Hi everyone,

a friend of mine recently bought a Bulova from 1958 with a nice movement that reads "6 ADJ. heat cold isochronism" and that made me wonder. Were (some of the) vintage JLC's gifted with any accuracy adjustments? I've already searched this forum and there doesn't seem to be an elaborate topic on the matter...

Thanks for all the help!

Best,

T

Hi, Thomas,

Here are some elements of answers.

If you remember well the recent discussion about the History under the LeCoultre and Jaeger Lecoultre name, the reason is the same between Adjusted and unadjusted movements: Importation taxes.

So, for the US market, till the end of the 70ies, movements came without the watches, to avoid taxes, regarding Lecoultre watches, while Jaeger Lecoultre had adjusted movements.

BUT, it seems that it is only a difference of stamp, as both LeCoultre and JLC movements came adjusted, even those, to be clear, which came with the " unadjusted " mention.

Hence, it was a trick to avoid taxes...

If I remember well, Zaf Basha explained it very clearly in his book " Jaeger Lecoultre: A Guide For the Collector. ".

Here, an undajusted movement:

LeCoultre Cal 880: Pic found on the net, don't know who to credit for...



An adjusted movement, basically the same: Cal 883:



So, no other difference than " stamping "... All Adjusted.

Best,

Nicolas

This message has been edited by amanico on 2010-08-30 11:07:58

... were charged an extra 50 cents for each adjustment (plus additional charges for high jewel count movements) under the Smoot-Hawley Taffif Act. Thus a watch with 6 adjustments would be taxes an extra $3. This was a considerable sum in the 1930s (when the tax took effect) when the retail price of the watch of the entire watch might be only $25-50.

Below is a table that shows examples of how much import taxes increased under the new Act:


(table credit: Jones, Joseph M., “Tariff Retaliation: Repercussions of the Smoot-Hawley Bill”, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1934.)

Swiss watch exports dropped dramatically after the enactment of the new tariffs, as the chart below shows:



(chart credit: Greg Steer - November 2001)

This message has been edited by amanico on 2010-08-30 12:06:22

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Not that it makes any difference to whether they adjusted them or not....

I'm far from being a watch maker, but my guess is that is also impossible to tell from the real movements, when you have them in your hands, no?

Best,

Nicolas

If all JLC's were adjusted, to which amount of positions would they be adjusted then? Five, six? 

After reading several references to Zaf Basha's book, I'm really considering buying one... Are there other significant books on vintage JLC's?

Best,

Thomas

Adjusted 4 or 5 positions, that is what I personally observed, Thomas.

But I didn't make a compilation of adjusted movements, so I can't say if there are movements which are adjusted more than 5 times.

As for Vintage JLC Books, I know that Zaf is working on another opus.

There is also another book which speaks about Vintage JLCs, " The Reverso, The Living Legend ",  but Zaf's book is the only one totally dedicated to Vintage JLCs.

Best,

Nicolas