The Jaeger LeCoultre Master Grande Tradition has often been a canvas for expression for two centuries of Le Sentier manufacture expertise. Today, celebrating a heritage of being the only watchmaker to have created over 200 chiming and minute repeating calibres, Jaeger LeCoultre is proud to unveil the Master Grande Tradition Répétition Minutes Perpétuelle.

Taking inspiration from antique chiming pocket watches, the new Master Grande Tradition Répétition Minutes Perpétuelle resurrects the warm tones of vintage sonneries with an evolutionary case design paired with the modern precision watchmaking via  an innovative gong system.

Jaeger LeCoultre expresses Art of Precision with Master Grande Tradition Répétition Minutes Perpétuelle

Indeed, the new gong system of the Master Grande Répétition Minutes Perpétuelle replicates the rich tones and strong yet subtle chimes of anitque sonnerie pocket watches to great authenticity thanks to superlative case and gong design.

Instead of flat, overlapping coils common to modern minute repeater gongs, Jaeger LeCoultre took a decidedly innovative direction with by giving the gongs of the new Répétition Minutes Perpétuelle some much needed height and space for superior acoustics. The Le Sentier manufacture took two gongs, welded together at their base, and set them around the periphery of the movement. Both make a near-complete journey around the circumference before dramatically arching upwards, traversing the entire height of the movement. They then diverge and take a terminal semi-arc around the other side of the movement, stopping just before their ends meet. With this architecture and ensconced within the maximal height of the case, the resulting vibrations which creates audible sound, is dramatically boosted as a result.

Superior case and gong design – secret to the new Jaeger LeCoultre Minute Repeater

This “volumisation” is further enhanced with the proximity of the gongs to a larger proportion of the watch case, creating a reverb effect similar to when you place your smartphone into a glass cup to amplify sound from its speakers.

Another key engineering feature in Jaeger LeCoultre’s latest minute repeater is the utilisation of square gong cross-sections and the articulated “trebuchet” hammers, these signature innovations ensure that the gongs are struck with the greatest possible impact and the least interference from hammer recoil. The combination of sonnerie innovations and the helical lower-pitched gong with harmonic overtones as well as the higher pitched gong, folded on itself like tines of a tuning fork, producing a purist clarity, all contributing to the rich, textural sound produced by the Master Grande Tradition Répétition Minutes Perpétuelle.

Not a slouch when it comes to the Perpetual Calendar either

Given that a perpetual calendar is among the most practical and functional of high complications, Jaeger LeCoultre placed particular emphasis on the customer experience with regards to their latest Master Grande Tradition. Given the dangerous of inopportune setting, the new Perpetual Calendar features a “Security” zone near the axis of the hour and minute hands, allowing the user to intuit that adjusting of the watch is not advisable between the hours of 10pm and 1am due to the potential of damaging the movement.

Most typical perpetual calendars are manually wound, considering that the accuracy of calendar information across the years, leap or otherwise, requires constant energy from the mainspring, momentary forgetfulness might leave your new minute repeating perpetual calendar timepiece unwound, causing a cascade of dates and calendar indications to run in error when you do decide to don the Master Grande Tradition again. Hence the Répétition Minutes Perpétuelle ingeniously incorporates an automatic winding system for everyday convenience.

Expressing the art of precision, the automatic rotor is sandwiched between perpetual calendar and minute repeater mechanisms, the winding rotor of the calibre 950 does not obscure the superlative finishing of the Jaeger LeCoultre Master Grande Tradition Répétition Minutes Perpétuelle, keeping the timepiece continuously supplied with motion as long as its worn daily on the wrist.

Expressing the Art of Precision

Chiming watches and minute repeaters have long been a domain of expertise for Jaeger LeCoultre since 1895 when the company was awarded a patent for the world’s first silent strike regulator. Today, the Master Grande Tradition Répétition Minutes Perpétuelle represents the apex of the Le Sentier manufacture’s creativity when it comes to thoroughly optimised, energy-efficient, volume-optimised, superlatively finished mechanical calibres – the automatic calibre 950 of the Tradition Répétition Minutes Perpétuelle combines both the remarkable romanticism of the minute repeater with the engineering feat of a perpetual calendar in a cocktail of power and beauty.

JLC Master Grande Tradition Répétition Minutes Perpétuelle Price and Specs

Movement Automatic calibre 950 with 38 hours power reserve
Case 43mm white gold with 50 metres water resistance
Strap Leather
Price TBA