Monday, September 25, 2006

Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Tourbillon

Read the in-depth report of the new Jaeger-LeCoultre calibre 978 in the Master Tourbillon by Jerome Berder of ThePuristS and you cannot fail to be impressed. But the most important thing for me was that with its 10 mm diameter balance wheel of 11.5 mgcm² inertia beating at 4Hz (28,800 vph), it may well be the highest power wristwatch tourbillon I can think of. Can anyone suggest a higher power one?

To put it in perspective, its balance operates at 2.7 times higher power than a supposedly racy Richard Mille 10 mgcm2 balance running at 21600 vph. Imagine 2.7 times the power in your car.... In the case of watches, higher power = better timekeeping.

JLC really are going for the throat with this movement - the highest technical performance at the cheapest price. In a market currently full to the brim of hyperbole it's a fabulous technical effort that will be over the heads of most. Can anyone engineer better than JLC? Bearing in mind that 'VOX' need not mean an alarm presence anymore, we can surely expect the tourbillon in AMVOX3 coming soon.

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