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Watches and Wonders 2022: The Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Perpetual Calendar

Jaeger-LeCoultre introduces a perpetual calendar to its Polaris series, adding a classical calendar complication to the refined sporty collection. The debut anchors a wide-ranging set of Watches and Wonders 2022 debuts that reference the brand’s “Stellar Odyssey” theme for the year’s new releases.

The Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Perpetual Calendar, in steel.

Other debuts include a pair of new Atmos models, two impressive grand complications and two glittering additions to the Rendez-Vous collection.

You might recall that in 2018 Jaeger-LeCoultre revived the Polaris name, adding the collection named for the famed Memovox Polaris dive series of 1968.

The Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Perpetual Calendar, in pink gold.

With the new Polaris Perpetual Calendar, Jaeger-LeCoultre introduces Caliber 868AA, a new version of its existing perpetual calendar movement (first seen in 2013), here upgraded to create a retrograde display of Southern Hemisphere moon phases. The update also increases the caliber’s power reserve to a full seventy hours. Fewer power lapses makes any calendar watch is all the more practical.

Jaeger-LeCoultre colors the dial on the 42mm steel or pink gold Polaris Perpetual Calendar in a deep gradient-blue hue to suggest the transition from day to night.

Caliber 868AA powers the Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Perpetual Calendar.

To reference the origins of calendars within astronomical events, Jaeger-LeCoultre places the moon phases here at 6 o’clock, with a retrograde display for the Southern Hemisphere framing the display for its Northern counterpart. New skeleton hands allow greater visibility of the dial displays –and to maintain Polaris design codes.

All the Polaris codes are here, including a glass-box crystal, a mix of brushed and polished surfaces, and a top crown that rotates the inner bezel. The lower crown is for setting the time and winding the watch while calendar settings are adjusted via a single pusher.

Prices: $29,600 (steel) and $44,300 (pink gold).

 

Specifications : Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Perpetual Calendar

Case: 42mm x 11.97mm steel or pink gold.

Movement: Automatic Jaeger-LeCoultre Calibre 868AA. Functions: hours, minutes, seconds, perpetual calendar with moon phases in two hemispheres and red security zone, inner rotating bezel. Power reserve is 70 hours, water resistance to 100 meters.

Dial: Lacquered blue gradient.

Strap: Ref. Q9088480 (steel) interchangeable steel bracelet and rubber strap.

Ref. Q9082480 (pink gold) interchangeable rubber strap and alligator leather strap.

 

Additional Highlights from Jaeger-LeCoultre at Watches and Wonders 2022

Master Hybris Artistica Calibre 945 Galaxia in pink gold (above) and Master Hybris Artistica Calibre 945 Atomium in white gold. Each offered in a limited edition of five pieces. Prices: $535,000 (white gold) and $515,000 (pink gold).

The Master Grande Tradition Calibre 948, with universal flying tourbillon, world-time display with 24-hour indication. A limited edition of twenty. Price: $227,000.

The new Atmos Tellurium with Zodiac calendar (above). A limited edition of ten pieces: Price: $570,000.

The Atmos Infinite, with the ‘almost-perpetual’ Jaeger-LeCoultre Calibre 570 (above). Price: $15,100.

Two additions to the Rendez-Vous collection call Rendez-Vous Star and Rendez-Vous Dazzling Star (pictured above).  In pink gold or white gold, the 36mm diamond-set watch hosts a unique complication in which a diamond-set ‘shooting star’ moves across the top of the dial at random moments during the day, typically four to six times per hour. The shooting star can also be activated on demand with several turns of the crown. Prices: $75,500 (Dazzling Star only).

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The Watches

Greubel Forsey Launches New Convex Complication

Greubel Forsey continues to expand its Convexe collection, a relatively new series of watches characterized by a convex bezel and crystal that showcases the multi-level, multi-dimensional nature of its complicated movements.

The new Greubel Forsey Double Balancier Convexe.

The newest addition, the Double Balancier Convexe, finds the watchmaker’s existing Double Balancier movement (in its latest 2016 iteration) presented in a convex titanium case with a dramatic curved layout displaying the caliber’s openworked gears, wheels and bridges.

Within the undulating bezel, which Greubel Forsey first presented in 2019, we see the watch’s gear train in all its multi-level, highly finished splendor just below a semicircular black-treated titanium bridge. The skeletal hour and minute hands are set atop the gilded, stacked gear train, rotating well above the small seconds display. The seconds remain quite visible despite the display’s location deep within the movement.

The small seconds hand (lower right) is polished and blued steel, as is the four-minute hand (set between the two balances) that shows the rotational speed of the spherical differential.

Flanking each corner are the watch’s namesake two balance wheels, each inclined at 30° and separated by a constant spherical differential that ‘calculates’ their average timing rate.

The watch also gets its name from the convex profile of its 43.5 mm titanium case and bezel. The contemporary polished and brushed bezel frames the movement with undulating lines that are higher on the sides and lower at the 12 o’clock and 6 o’clock positions.

Greubel Forsey explains that it constructs each hand for this watch (and for many watches in its collection) with individual geometry, finish and color. Thus, the hour hand and the minute hand are curved and filled with SuperLuminova to complement the hour indexes.

The small seconds hand is polished and blued steel, as is the four-minute hand (set between the two balances) that shows the rotational speed of the spherical differential. Finally, the power reserve hand is polished, open-worked and tipped with red.

The Convexe collection is meant to be this high-end maker’s contemporary ‘daily wear’ collection. You’ll see none of the Greubel Forsey foundational phrases engraved on the dial or bezel within this collection. And, with 100 meters of water resistance and fully integrated lugs, the watch fits snugly on the wrist for wearing comfort rain or shine.

Greubel Forsey offers the new Double Balancier Convexe on either a textured rubber strap or titanium bracelet. The manufacturer will make twenty-two per year between 2022 and 2024 for a total of sixty-six pieces overall.

Prices: $340,000 (strap) and $385,000 (bracelet).

 

Specifications: Greubel Forsey Double Balancier Convexe


Movement: Hand-wound movement with two patents and high-end, hand-applied finishes throughout. These include frosted, polished beveling and countersinks, 
black treatment, multi-level, open-worked center bridge, black 
treatment, polished beveling and countersinks. Also, flat black polished steel differential bridge, gold plate with engraved limitation number, 
circular-grained, polished beveling and countersinks, straight-grained flanks, escapement platform inclined at a 30° angle, open-worked steel balance wheel bridges. Displays: hours and minutes, small seconds, 4-minutes spherical constant differential rotation, power-reserve (of 72 hours). Frequency: 21,600 vibrations/hour.

Case: 43.5mm by 13.75mm titanium with curved synthetic sapphire crystal, Three-dimensional, variable geometry-shaped bezel, hand-polished with hand-finished straight graining
, raised engraving “Double Balancier” and “Greubel Forsey.” Water resistant to 100 meters.

Dial: Three-dimensional, variable geometry hour ring with engraved and lacquered minute circle, black treatment, power-reserve indicator, engraved and lacquered.

Strap: Non-animal material, rubber with texture in relief, titanium folding clasp, engraved GF logo. On demand:
 3-row metal bracelet in titanium, folding clasp with integrated fine adjustment, engraved GF logo.

 

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The Watches

Louis Erard Dials Up Excellence

With the new Excellence Guilloché Main II, independent Swiss watchmaker Louis Erard adds a second watch with a hand crafted guilloché dial to its expanding series of limited edition models.

The new Louis Erard Excellence Guilloché Main II.

The new watch, featuring a stunning diamond pattern dial, follows last year’s Excellence Guilloché Main that features an equally dazzling three-dimensional check pattern guilloché dial. And while the newest watch in the series also spotlights its hand-wrought dial, it also marks the debut of a fully original Louis Erard design that has been realized by artisanal dial-maker Fehr in La Chaux-de-Fonds.

Unlike the earlier Excellence Guilloche Main, the newer edition focuses all attention to the dial pattern in part without displaying the Louis Erard name on the dial, a choice that echoes the 2021 Excellence piece the Le Regulator Louis Erard x atelier oi.

A Fehr artisan creates the dial using guilloché, a decorative art that originated in the sixteenth century. The artisan guides a chisel by hand to repeat patterns determined with a manual lathe cam. For this dial the pattern depicts an opened-up diamond with black flat spaces framed by a black track of minutes/seconds markers.

Louis Erard notes that this second Excellence Guilloché Main watch was designed according to Louis Erard board member and watch industry veteran Manuel Emch’s request that the design is fully original, and to “enhance and modernize traditional guilloché.”

Indeed, Louis Erard customized the watch’s dial production from scratch, inventing and manufacturing new cams and finishing the dial “from the first black varnishing to the final rhodium plating after the guilloché,” according to the brand.

A limited series of 99 pieces, the Louis Erard Excellence Guilloché Main II also features blued steel hands, a polished 42mm steel case with a clear sapphire caseback and water resistance to fifty meters. Inside Louis Erard fits a Sellita SW261-1 automatic movement.

With its Excellence series and ongoing, highly successful partnerships with watchmakers (including Vianney Halter and Alain Silberstein) and designers, this small Le Noirmont watchmaker continues to raise its profile among collectors in search of relatively affordable watches with truly original, eye-catching designs.

Price: CHF 3,900, or approximately $4,200.

 

Specifications: Louis Erard Excellence Guilloché Main II

Movement: Automatic Sellita SW261-1 caliber, 28,800 VpH (4Hz), élaboré grade movement, meticulously decorated, special openworked oscillating weight with black lacquered Louis Erard symbol, approx. 38 hours of power reserve.

Case: 42mm x 12.25mm polished stainless steel, 3 pieces, domed sapphire crystal with anti-reflective treatment on both sides, movement visible through the transparent caseback, water resistant up to a pressure of 50 meters, signature fir tree crown, caseback engraved with “Limited Edition 1 of 99”.

Dial: Matte black varnish, open diamond made by hand guilloché in the traditional way by Fehr & Cie SA (La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland), “Swiss Guilloché Main” transferred in powdered silver, signature fir tree hands in blued steel.

Strap: Black grained calf leather with tone-on-tone stitching, blue grained calf leather lining, polished stainless steel pin buckle, functional catch spring bars enabling the strap to be changed quickly.

Price: CHF 3,900, or approximately $4,200.

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The Watches

Roger Smith’s One Hundredth Watch is a Masterful Triple Calendar

Following his apprenticeship with the late George Daniels, Roger Smith has taken up the totem as the British master nonpareil. Devoting such exquisite attention to detail for every component of every watch, Smith’s timepieces are a rarity and among the most sought-after among wealthy collectors.

Roger Smith’s 100th watch is a triple calendar. It’s the first in his Series 4 collection.

His most recent watch, an instantaneous triple calendar, here represents only the one-hundredth individual watch made at his Isle of Man atelier over the course of twenty years. Smith’s watches embrace an ethos of subtle complexity and understated ingenuity and finesse. Supremely elegant and easy to read, Smith’s latest creation houses his own manual-wind movement with the updated monobloc co-axial escape wheel.

The entire movement is finished with exquisite fillagree and frosting in gold with components held securely with screws authentically heat-treated to a variegated blue and purple hue.

Smith’s date display is a bracket that circles the perimeter of the dial and frames the current day of the month.

On the dial-side more sophisticated aficionados will note the elegant solution to the day-of-the-month display. Rather than the typical date pointer with a hand that reaches out from the central post, Smith has deftly incorporated a system that uses a bracket that circles the perimeter of the dial and frames the current day of the month, leaving the view of the other displays uninterrupted by an additional hand emanating from the center.

This absolutely stunning timepiece, the first of Smith’s Series 4 collection, can be customized to some extent and is only available by individual consignment for patient collectors. Although the atelier does not advertise prices, you can figure on a starting point in the neighborhood of $300,000. 

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The Watches

Frederique Constant Unveils a One-Piece Silicon Oscillator in a New Movement

Frederique Constant this week unveiled a groundbreaking one-piece silicon oscillator that effectively replaces the traditional mechanical movement’s twenty-six-piece escapement assortment, and has developed a new movement around the high-tech component. The new movement, automatic Caliber FC-810, will power the Slimline Monolithic Manufacture Collection of 40mm watches, available this September.

The gold-cased model of the new Frederique Constant Slimline Monolithic Manufacture collection.The silicon oscillator appears at 6 o’clock.

Debuted after three years of research and development, Geneva-based Frederique Constant’s new oscillator beats at the ultra-high rate of 288,000 vibrations per hour, or 40 Hz, about ten times faster than traditional mechanical movement oscillators. And since it is created as a single friction-free, anti-magnetic, lightweight component, both the oscillator and the movement demonstrate ultra high efficiency.

The oscillator beats at the ultra-high rate of 288,000 vibrations per hour, or 40 Hz, about ten times faster than traditional mechanical movement oscillators.

As a result, when teamed with a standard winding spring in the new movement, watches in the new Slimline Monolithic Manufacture collection realize a full eighty-hours of power reserve.

High-tech team

Frederique Constant teamed with Nima Tolou, CEO of the Netherlands-based micro-engineering firm Flexous, to develop the silicon oscillator. Frederique Constant’s watchmaking department asked Flexous to develop a unique, flexible oscillating system in a size comparable to a traditional balance. Furthermore Frederique Constant set specifications, including: the highest possible frequency; an 80-hour power reserve; and a cost-effective formula allowing the manufacture of significant quantities at a reasonable price.

Flexous met the requests, devising a component that measures 9.8mm in diameter and 0.3mm thick, approximately the size of a conventional regulator. As noted above, the new oscillator incorporates all twenty-six components that make up the typical assortment, including the traditional balance, spring, anchor and rubies. And, echoing the traditional escapement, the new oscillator’s frequency can be fine-tuned by adjusting two tiny weights.

The watch

 The first collection Frederique Constant is fitting with the new movement is the Slimline Monolithic Manufacture, a three-hand watch with a pointer date. The 40mm round watch offers a classic Swiss dress dial with a central guilloché hobnail pattern, printed Roman numerals and Breguet-style hands.

The design of the Slimline Monolithic Manufacture echoes the brand’s pioneering use of open dials that expose portions of the movement. When it debuted in 1994, the Frederique Constant Heart Beat was the only serially produced non-skeleton Swiss-made collection that boasted an open dial.

Where that collection displayed the automatic caliber’s escape wheel at the 12 o’clock position, the new collection displays the new pulsating silicon oscillator through an aperture at 6 o’clock.

On the reverse side, a clear sapphire caseback offers an unimpeded view of the automatic FC-810 caliber, which is Frederique Constant’s thirtieth in-house movement. The brand decorates the movement with traditional Geneva stripes with perlage; the oscillating weight is open worked.

 

Frederique Constant will make the Slimline Monolithic Manufacture in three limited editions, projected to be shipped starting in September. The editions include 810 pieces in stainless steel with a blue dial ($4,795) and 810 pieces in a steel case with a silver color dial ($4,795). Also, an 18-karat gold model with a silver-colored dial will be made as a limited edition of 81 pieces ($15,995).

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