Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Grande Complication a Triptyque, our first look in July 2006 issue.
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Reproduced below is our first look at the Jaeger-LeCoultre Grande Complication a Triptyque as featured in our July 2006 (DOUBLE) issue of the magazine. See our separate "Coffee Break" preview of the same watch here at http://www.revolution-press.com/news/?p=86
JAEGER-LECOULTRE REVERSO A TRIPTYQUE – TOURBILLON (WITH IN-HOUSE ESCAPEMENT) SIDEREAL TIME, PEREPTUAL CALENDAR WITH EQUATION OF TIME WITH ZODIAC SIGNS AND SUN RISE AND SUNSET INDICATIONS
Admittedly there are already some truly legendary triptychs such as the Frari Triptych by Giovanni Bellini in Venice’s Santa Maria Glorioso dei Frari. But the year 2006 marks the introduction of a triptych unlike any before and that will undoubtedly stand as one of the grandest artistic achievements in human history, Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso a Trityque. While Jaeger-LeCoultre has made headlines in the last few years offering technical innovations like the Gyrotourbillon, a double cage tourbillon with equation of time and perpetual calendar and the Master Minute Repeater that produces tones at 55 decibels or double the volume of the world’s next loudest minute repeater, in 2006 the Le Sentier manufacture has raised the horological bar so far into the stratosphere that we can only revel in awe. That they managed to do it in a statement of both their haute de gamme ability as well as in a nod to their 75 years of watchcase innovation is absolutely genius.
The story of the Reverso is by now a legend. In 1931 British Polo Players in India requested a watch that could be worn during the hard charging clashes on the field. Responding to this Jacques-David LeCoultre and the Societe Jaeger turned to the most capable design engineer of the time, Rene-Alfred Chauvot. Chauvot’s solution was to make a watch that was a case inside a case. The inner case contained the movement and could be pivoted within the outer case (or carriage) that comprised essentially of a skeleton and watch lugs. Once the case was pivoted or reversed, the crystal was completely protected from blows. In 1991, Jaeger-LeCoultre’s CEO Gunther Blumlein unveiled the Reverso remade into a modern high complication with the Reverso 60eme. This was followed by a Reverso tourbillon in 1993 and a Reverso minute repeater in 1993. This year to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Reverso, Jaeger-LeCoultre has exploited the unique architecture of the Reverso case to create the world’s first three faced watch. Fittingly this marvel dubbed the Reverso a Tryptique offers up a golden harvest of haute de gamme complication.
The first face of this watch evokes a tranquil purity. It bold parameters are defined by a simple hour and minute indication, a discrete day night indicator placed in a subdial at 2 o’ clock and an oversized pulsating tourbillon (If strictly interpreting WOSTEP textbook’s definition, a semi-carousel tourbillon as the balance wheel sits offset from the central axis of the cage.) This tourbillon feature the manufacture’s in-house Ellipse Isometer escapement created by David Candaux the genius behind last years Master Minute Repeater Antoine LeCoultre. This escapement is essentially a much improved version of the famous detent escapement popularized in marine chronometers. While extremely accurate this single impulse escapement has in the past been susceptible to shock. In Candaux’s design there are numerous features that endow the escapement with enhanced shock resistance.
Activate the locking mechanism – a fantastic functional feature we’d love to see in all large size Reversos – and flip the watch case to reveal the second face of the watch. Like all Reverso this face can be flipped, locked and worn outwards. On this dial you’ll find an indication for sidereal time. Sidereal time is a depiction of the stars in the sky overhead. Because of the earth rotates, from our vantage point it appears as if these stars are shifting position. Jaeger-LeCoultre will customize this heavenly canopy to your home city as the view differs depending on your position on earth. This dial also features an equation of time indicator that gives you the difference between civil time and true solar time as well as indications for sunrise and sunset (also specific to your city). Around the perimeter of the dial is a zodiac sign indicator that allows you to tell exactly which period in the astrological zodiac you are within.
Thanks to dynamic CEO Jerome Lambert and technical wizard David Candaux, Jaeger-LeCoultre has not only offered an incredible achievement in watchmaking but one that is at once totally functional and brilliantly innovative.
The last face of the watch is placed on the back face or carriage of the watch and contains what Jaeger-LeCoultre’s CEO Jerome Lambert tells us is “the world’s slimmest perpetual calendar module.” This module (with a retrograde date indication) as with all Jaeger-LeCoultre’s perpetual calendars is synchronized with all date adjustments advancing together. This feature’s importance becomes abundantly clear when we look at how power from the main watch is transmitted to the perpetual calendar. The main watch contains two barrels. The first barrel feeds energy to the gear train while the second barrel’s sole purpose is to activate the date change of the perpetual calendar. When the watch is closed, precisely at the stroke of midnight a finger in the main watchcase will activate a pusher recessed in the running track of the carriage to instantly change all the calendar indications. So the question this begs is what happens if the main watchcase is out of the track at the stroke of midnight. David Candaux smiles when we ask him this and replies, “All you need to do is lock the main case into place. Now turn the hands past midnight and back to the correct time. As soon as the hands pass midnight the finger will be activated again, allowing the date change to take place.”
We reveal the secret of this watch at http://www.revolution-press.com/news/?p=112