Jaeger-LeCoultre

Tony C.
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More on the Geomatic...

Thank you for your kind comments, Nicolas. As a vintage collector, I was initially attracted to high-grade automatics from the 1950's through the early 1970's. The IWC Ingenieur was my first, and remains my favorite of that period. The Geomatic was another outstanding product of that golden era, and is of special interest given the widespread importance of the JLC ebauches.

This is a ref. E399 Geomatic, powered by a cal. 881G movement. The Geomatic was, as some of you know, the automatic successor to the widely acclaimed JLC Geophysic, which was introduced in 1958 and featured the cal. 478b. The Geomatic's featured one of three very similar movements: the 881G, 881S and 883S. All three have 23 jewels, a hacking function, and are chronometre versions of the important cal. 881 movement which was first used in 1959. The 881 was the the predecessor to the superb contemporary JLC 889/2 movement.

The 881G Geomatics, of which 1,700 were produced in stainless steel (there was a gold version as well), were manufactured between 1962 and 1968.

I've attached several more images, as well as the the production numbers which appeared in the August 2003 edition of Watch Time.

Regards,

Tony C.