OVERVIEW
ASTRONOMICAL WATCHMAKING EXPERTISE
Since 1833, Jaeger-LeCoultre has forged an unparalleled reputation for inventiveness, with more than 430 patents and 1,260 different calibres to its name – from the simplest to the most complex. For 2022 it has harnessed this tremendous breadth and depth of expertise to embark on a Stellar Odyssey, paying homage to the astronomical phenomena that lie at the origins of time measurement.
For La Grande Maison, such phenomena have deep significance, not only because the movement of the planets and stars is fundamental to the measuring of time, but also because its home is in the Vallée de Joux, where the exceptionally clear night sky is ideal for observing the celestial events that inspire the Manufacture’s watchmakers.
ORIGINS
THE ORIGINS OF TIME
Mankind’s first awareness of the passing of time was the transition from darkness to light as the sun moved across the sky. Longer passages of time were defined by regular patterns in the movement of the sun, moon and stars.
The earliest timekeeping devices, used in Ancient Egyptian, Babylonian and Chinese cultures, were sundials (shadow clocks), and clepsydrae (water clocks). Ancient Greek astronomers developed sophisticated models of the universe and invented instruments that reproduced the celestial cycles. The Renaissance brought a new understanding of the universe. Mechanical clocks appeared at the beginning of the 14th century.
THE BIRTH OF WATCHMAKING
Astronomers often had a keen interest in clock-making and it was Galileo who first noticed the timekeeping property of the pendulum – the first “oscillator”. In Europe, mechanical clocks appeared the 14th century, although accurate timekeeping remained elusive. The breakthrough came in 1656 when the Dutch astronomer and physicist Christiaan Huygens invented the pendulum clock. Thereafter, astronomy and horology developed in tandem, one relying on the other.
THE WATCHMAKER OF WATCHMAKERS
Driven by a strong spirit of invention, Antoine LeCoultre established his watchmaking business in 1833, setting the standard for what has become an exceptionally well-rounded Manufacture. As horloger-inventors, Jaeger-LeCoultre’s watchmakers have mastered all forms of astronomical complication, from simple moon phase displays to highly complex perpetual calendars and sky charts, translating cosmic phenomena into the tiny confines of a wristwatch case and even combining them with other functions to create Grandes Complications.
These remarkable calibres were bought by many other great Maisons for their own watches, hence Jaeger-LeCoultre’s nickname: “the watchmaker of watchmakers”.
COMPLICATIONS
THE ANOMALIES OF TIME
Although watchmaking measures time by using the values of different cycles of the heavenly bodies, the units of standard civil timekeeping are only approximate, based on the average value of Earth cycle. This difference made it significantly more complex to build an accurate calendar.
The irregularities of the calendar, with leap years as well as months of differing lengths, represent a real challenge for watchmakers, since only a highly complex system of gears can take such irregular events into account. The first perpetual calendar mechanism was developed in 1762, a complication mastered by Jaeger-LeCoultre since the end of the 19th century.
THE PERPETUAL CALENDAR MECHANISM
A perpetual calendar is a miniature mechanical computer that always shows the correct date, automatically adjusting for the different duration of months and even the leap years. It will not need any manual correction until 2100, unlike a normal date display, which needs to be adjusted at the end of every month that doesn’t have 31 days.
THE WORLD TIME
In the long history of timekeeping, time zones are relatively recent concept – but, like all measurements of time, have their origins in astronomy. The passage of our 24-hour day is based on the solar cycle, which is determined by the rotation of Earth on itself and its orbit around the Sun. Thus, as early navigators and explorers discovered, sunrise and sunset occur at different times in different places.
Watchmakers created a mechanism that could indicate different time zones at a glance, named World Time and, later, variations such as GMT and Dual Time watches. Jaeger-LeCoultre has developed great expertise in these complications, and in 2022 introduces a sumptuous new interpretation of La Grande Maison’s Universal Time calibre: the Master Grande Tradition Calibre 948.
THE SECRETS OF CONSTELLATIONS
Once referred to as “daisy chains of the gods”, the stars have always fascinated mankind. And because it is innately human to recognise patterns, early civilisations identified and named groups of stars – the constellations. Of the 88 constellations recognised today, the ones that we know best are the 12 constellations of the zodiac. Used in both astronomy and astrology, these constellations sit in a band that straddles the ecliptic (the Sun’s apparent path across the sky), and change their apparent position as Earth orbits the Sun.
Highlighting this celestial aspect of time measurement, the watchmakers of La Grande Maison have invented a mechanism able to display the position of the constellations in real time, as seen from the home of the Manufacture in the Vallée de Joux.
THE FASCINATION OF THE MOON
Even though we can easily observe the constantly changing phases of the Moon with the naked eye, watchmakers continue to be fascinated by the challenge of indicating lunar cycles more accurately. La Grande Maison has taken this complication to another level by indicating not only the moon’s synodic cycle but also its anomalistic cycle and its draconic cycle. In 2021, for the first time in the history of horology, Jaeger-LeCoultre united these three lunar displays in a single wristwatch, the Reverso Hybris Mechanica Calibre 185.
THE REVERSO COLLECTION
THE UNPREDICTABLE STARS
Although the movements of the planets and stars conform to regular and measurable patterns, there is one notable exception: shooting stars. Ephemeral and unpredictable, their occurrence is the antithesis of the measured and regular rhythms that govern watchmaking. Nevertheless, Jaeger-LeCoultre has succeeded, for the first time ever, in creating a mechanism that reproduces the totally random appearance of shooting star for the feminine Rendez-Vous collection.
THE RENDEZ-VOUS COLLECTION
THE PERPETUAL MOTION
For La Grande Maison, the perpetual movement of the Atmos clock, which works in perfect autonomy by harnessing minuscule variations in atmospheric temperature, is a metaphor for the infinity of the universe. Since the first Atmos with moon-phase display was created at the end of the 1990s Jaeger-LeCoultre has continued to develop astronomical complications for the clock, and this year introduces an extraordinary new complication that reproduces the Earth and Moon’s cycles around the Sun in the breathtaking Atmos Hybris Mechanica calibre 590, aka “Tellurium”.
THE ATMOS COLLECTION
What's next
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