Jaeger Le-Coultre Master Tourbillon

Simon Cowell's new watch. Watching the current season of American Idol, I noticed that Simon Cowell was sporting an open faced watch. There are many lower cost watches with open faces, but on the wrist of Simon Cowell, it said only one thing: Tourbillon. Some quick research on the net yielded the answer. The watch is a Jaeger Le-Coultre Master Tourbillon.

Jaeger Le-Coultre Master Tourbillon. The central focus of the design of the Jaeger Le-Coultre Master Tourbillon is the the tourbillon movement. First invented in 1795 by Abraham-Louis Breguetto counter the effects of gravity, Breguet built a watch that counteracted gravity by rotating the balance wheel of a watch or clock through 360 degrees. This is what is called a tourbillon. This is accomplished by mounting the escapement in a rotating frame, called a "carriage" which turns at regular intervals, usually once a minute. This rotation reduces the positional errors of the movement.

At that time Breguet invented the tourbillon almost all watches were pocket watches or clocks which stayed in one position most of the time. The only time a pocket watch changes position is when it's taken out by the owner to check the time. The effect of gravity on a watch or clock kept in one position all the time, like a pocket watch, is particularly noticeable on the escapement, especially the balance which rocks back and forth. This can lead to inaccuracies. Breuget's solution was the tourbillon. In a wristwatch a tourbillon, has little practical value. What makes them valuable is that they are hard to make, and hence expensive.

Jaeger Le-Coultre's, does add something to Breguet's invention, they built the carriage that houses the escapement out of titanium, making it very light, and thus requiring less energy to operate. The movement produces the expected 28,800 vibrations per hour and has a 48 hour power reserve.

The rest of the watch is design to showcase the tourbillon movement. The dial of the watch has an open face. Date is displayed through a pointer date system. A hand, with a double-triangle tip, rotates around the dial which is inscribed with the numbers 1 to 31, to indicate the date. A large gap is placed between the 15th and 16th of the month, so that none of the dates are located below the part of the dial where the tourbillon movement is displayed. On the 15th of the month, the pointer date hand jumps promptly from the 15th to the 16th so as not to hide the titanium tourbillon carriage from view.

Dual Time Watch. Jaeger Le-Coultre Master Tourbillon is also a dual time watch. In the 12 o'clock there is a sub-dial with a 24-hour indicator keeps track of home time. The main hands can be adjusted, both forwards and backwards, in one-hour jumps to keep track of local time. The date indicator, which is synchronised with local time, and likewise adjust in both directions.

The watch is available in 41mm platinum, rose gold or stainless steel case. With discounts the stainless steel version can be had at just a bit more the US$30,000. The gold and platinum models can be had at just over US$40,000 and US$50,000 respectively. These are actually very reasonable prices for a tourbillon watch.

About JLC. In 1833 Antoine LeCoultre founded a small workshop, which was to become the Manufacture Jaeger-LeCoultre. In 1903, Edmond Jaeger cam together with Jacques-David LeCoultre, grandson of Antoine to form what is now called Jaeger Le-Coultre. Jaeger Le-Coultre is a accomplished watch and clock manufacturer, and at one time even supplied blank movements to Patek Philippe. Today, Jaeger-LeCoultre is one of the world's most prestigious luxury watches and clock manufacture, based in Le Sentier, Vaud, Switzerland.