Celestial complication watches

CELESTIAL COMPLICATIONS

Jaeger-LeCoultre’s fascination with celestial phenomena undoubtedly derives from measuring time through the movement of the stars and planets. Indeed, our master watchmakers have always been enchanted by the complexity and captivating beauty of the night sky that unfolds above our Maison in Switzerland’s Vallée de Joux.

CELESTIAL COMPLICATIONS

COMPLICATION

WHAT IS A CELESTIAL COMPLICATION?

A celestial complication watch captures the various astronomical cycles, such as moon phases or the sidereal day. It displays them in such a way as to demonstrate how intimately time is linked to astronomical phenomena and celestial bodies. Astronomical watches have played a major role in Jaeger-LeCoultre’s portfolio of exceptional complication watches, and have done so since the origins of the Manufacture. Having mastered the three measures of time - solar, lunar and sidereal - the watchmakers of the Manufacture have constantly innovated to create some of the most advanced and precise mechanisms capable of representing, or even predicting, celestial phenomena.

ORIGINS

ASTRONOMY AND WATCHMAKING

Astronomical phenomena lie at the origin of time measurement. For the Grande Maison, these phenomena have deep meaning, not only because the movement of the planets and stars plays an essential role in time measurement, but also because the company has its roots in the Vallée de Joux, a place where the exceptional clarity of the night sky is ideal for observing celestial events.

EXPERTISE

CELESTIAL COMPLICATION WATCHES

Reproducing cosmic phenomena in the restricted space of a wristwatch, Jaeger-LeCoultre's watchmakers have mastered all forms of astronomical complications: from simple calendar watches and moon phases to the extreme complexity of perpetual calendar watches, equation-of-time watches, sky chart watches, not forgetting draconic and anomalistic lunar cycle watches.

The architecture of some traditional celestial complication watches has remained virtually unchanged over the 190-year history of the Manufacture. However, Jaeger-LeCoultre has made it a matter of principle to improve both the precision and efficiency of these mechanisms, while combining them with other complications and even developing completely novel celestial complications.