Jaeger-LeCoultre Amvox3 Tourbillon GMT Review

I've heard that 2008 should be a quiet year for Aston Martin in terms of product launches, so that the aficionados can concentrate on their new watch !

 

The Aston Martin and Jaeger-LeCoultre partnership has brought us several interesting timepieces in the last years. The Amvox1 was a very sexy revival of the Memovox range and a first glimpse at the new Polaris that is to come very soon. The Amvox1 is still around and alive and has also created a new family in the JLC range whose subscribers are very keen on!

 

The Amvox2 has brought the innovation perspective in the family! The glass activated chronograph Amvox2 was a second success! The only downside of this surprising watch was that the next one in the family would have a hard time to do better!

 

Time has come to see now the Amvox3, the third chapter that can't deceive and that won't deceive!

 

Jaeger-LeCoultre Amvox3 Tourbillon GMT

 

This new Amvox3 comes to embody the values of Jaeger-LeCoultre : innovation, craftmanship, and pursuit of excellence !

 

You will discover in this post a series of pictures of an Amvox3 prototype. The final watch will be very close to this one, except apparently for the hour and minute hands that should be in pink gold instead of the steel ones on my pics, and the red arrow on the date hand will be in pink gold too in the final version.

 

The black and pink Amvox3

 

The first new feature on this watch is its black ceramic case. Ceramic cases are not new of course but they are new for Jaeger-LeCoultre.

 

Jaeger-LeCoultre 's approach to ceramic casing has been to ensure that the use of a new material would fit the long term wish of excellence and reliability of the "Grande Maison".

 

The use of ceramic is justified by the outstanding properties of this material. Ceramics have an extreme resistance against pressure, wear and high temperatures. Aston Martin like other sports car makers uses ceramic for the braking systems. Watches don't have to stand such constraints but at least your Amvox3 may resist well to scratches!

 

Ceramics are also very light, slightly heavier than titanium but significantly lighter than steel.

 

That approach translates itself in a very advanced ceramic ZrO2.

 

The matt finish of the black case

 

The raw materials used for this ceramic ZrO2 are Zirconium Oxide at 95% and Yttrium Oxide at 5%. Yttrium Oxide is derived from aluminium and is supposed to ensure a good stability of the final product. These two compounds are used in a specific and desired degree of purity and are mixed with a black pigment (Zirconium Oxide is a white powder) and an organic binder.

 

Already beautiful, but will be much better with the final hands

 

The main challenge of producing such a ceramic is to avoid porosity  and the way to do it is to get a perfect homogeneity of the result.

 

A rich and glossy colour theme

 

Once you've got your raw materials in the desired quality and proportions the second step is the isostatic pressing of the materials.

 

The powders are pressed under high pressure with the pigment and the binder. They are put under pressure of 2000 bars in a water tank.

 

Strap, case and dial are unified by the common colour

 

Once the materials are pressed you get a block of ceramic. This block is then machined (milled) to get a pre-shape of the desired case that means a geometrical approach of the final case, not yet looking like the final case.

 

The sharp finish of the case

 

The next step is called sintering. Sintering is a heating of the pressed material to make the powders combine together. The cylinder of ceramic in our JLC case is sintered in a kiln generating temperatures over 2000 Celsius degrees.

 

During sintering the organic binder is evaporated off. This fact plus the powders combination make the volume of the piece decrease by 20 to 30 %.

 

A 44mm case perfect on my wrist

 

Once the material is sintered it is necessary to control the homogeneity by radioscopy (x-rays). This scrutiny is made to avoid any porosity that could break the case in the end.

 

A closer look

 

The resulted block is extremely hard. The hardness is said to be 1500 Vickers, compared to 600 Vickers for steel and 2000 Vickers for sapphire crystal.

 

An Amvox case 15,24mm thick vs the 15,1 mm Amvox2

 

The next step is the final shaping of the block of ceramic. The material is so hard that only tools equipped with diamond crystals can be used. The block is worked to obtain the ultimate case form. Each face and surface are worked separately, resulting in a long process.

 

A high tech case by its production

 

The final step is the polishing. The ceramic case is polished with diamond body wheels and diamond powder is used to help the polishing wheels.

 

The case has a matt finish and some polished chamfers to complete the gorgeous result. The case is finally like a "rough gem".

 

Not just a case, it's a watch

 

So we have a very nice coach to begin making our new Amvox watch!

 

But an outstanding coach doesn't make an outstanding watch. We also need a fantastic engine. A fantastic engine is necessary in this Amvox3 like a powerful engine is necessary in a car for performance, prestige, and over all fascination!

 

The tourbillon as the V12 of watch calibres

 

This Amvox3 is equipped with the Jaeger-LeCoultre calibre 988 reminding us of the 988C in the Extreme Lab. Basically the Amvox3 is between the Master Tourbillon calibre 978 and the Extreme Lab calibre. To be honest it is still technically closer to the Master Tourbillon calibre but with the patented Extreme lab winding device and also with a deeply worked modern design and decoration.

 

A much improved version of calibre 978

 

The Extreme lab winding device consists in a 14% flatter rotor with carbon fiber arms that bear an outer weight made of Iridium Platinum alloy. The iridium Platinum alloy is the most dense non toxic physical body currently available. It is 12% denser than gold and 5% denser than platinum.

 

Thanks to the better efficiency of the denser metal on the outside and of the lightness of the carbon fiber arms the overall weight of the rotating device has been decreased by 28%. This allows an equivalent efficiency in spite of the lighter weight but brings a better reliability and a better resistance to shocks as suspended weight is lesser.

 

The Extreme Lab winding device

 

The rotor obviously turns on ceramic ball bearings to reduce friction. This feature is now nearly generalized to all JLC auto calibres.

 

More gold on the back and personal side

 

This powerful engine has been tuned for its sporting use. Three aspects are emphasized: " a unique blend of sport and style", " a cutting edge technology" and " classical design references". The finish of the plate, bridges and various parts are chosen to show the strong spirit of the Aston Martin watch. This is no ordinary watch!

 

A strong watch by night

 

The opened wired pattern on the dial is made in brass and is covered with black pvd. It carries black filled applied hour indexes that are also luminescent.

 

Full glory

 

The dial is conceived like an opened bonnet to admire the mechanism.

 

What a bridge

 

The upper tourbillon bridge is gold plated (4N colour) and is made of brass. The open-worked design is reminiscent of automobile themes.

 

The tourbillon carriage is made in grade 5 titanium, is bevelled by hand and ruthenium coated. It weighs a stupendous 280 mg.

 

A jumping date

 

The jumping date mechanism appeared on the Master Tourbillon. It is here slightly modified to jump at the end of the month. The date hand now follows a monthly trajectory in arc to respect the 270 degrees hour arc of the original Amvox dial design. This is also in my opinion a much more logical trajectory than the first one.

 

Strange hand

 

Some bridges, plates and mobiles also have a ruthenium treatment while the AM/PM indicator bridge is in blackened aluminium.

 

Shades of pink and grey

 

Both sapphire crystals will receive an anti reflection treatment, what was not the case of this prototype.

 

A symmetrical seconds hand

 

The seconds hand has a symmetrical design so that its weight does not interfere with the tourbillon carriage course. The final hand will have a luminescent side so that we know which side must be used.

 

The balance wheel

 

The balance wheel has an inertia of 11.5 mgcm2 and is regulated to 4 htz, i.e. 28800 vph. It is of course a variable inertia balance for lasting precision.

 

The applied indexes

 

I have no doubt that this Amvox is the most upscale Amvox so far. It is not an Extreme Lab of course but it is not a Master Tourbillon either. The design is strong and coherent with the Aston Martin connection. This is the most refined Amvox!

 

A somewhat discreet AM logo at 6

 

This is not my favourite Jaeger-LeCoultre as the Reverso Gyrotourbillon 2 is unbeatable for me, but you must also consider that this Amvox3 is also much more affordable.

 

Its retail price should be in Europe half the price of the Aston Martin V8 Vantage, around the price of the platinum Master Tourbillon.

 

An everyday watch

 

It will last much longer than a new Aston Martin and certainly the 300 pieces of this limited edition will be avidly looked after.

 

Chronometry is a race machine

 

This watch is too appealing and enough affordable to become anything else than a new dream watch. That makes it a more dangerous watch than the Gyrotourbillon 2!

 

Don't try it if you don't want to adopt it

 

I have a surprise for the end: here is the only available picture of the final watch with the right hands.

 

A last minute surprise the final design

 

Looking even much better no?

 

The prototype of piece number one

 

I hope you enjoyed it. We'll come back to this one soon, for sure.

 

Dje

 

ps : again my sincere thanks to the Jaeger-LeCoultre teams who gave me some of their precious time while preparing the soon to come SIHH 2008.