Jaeger-LeCoultre

SteveG
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Thanks for another terrific article, Nicolas! and please

excuse me if my comments are covered elsewhere in the responses, this thread is so long I seem unable to keep track of how much of it I have read!

Like many observers, I think these watches look great, although I admit a good part of this must be the referencing one of my very favorite original designs, and also like many would have far preferred to see this watch with a fabulous and proper manual (observatory?) chronometer movement.

Which leads to my questions:  I am not so familiar with JLC's current lineup, do they really have no relatively simple round manual movements of the appropriate size?  Might there not be some NOS available for such a tiny production? 

But mostly, while I understand that in the 1970s the industry left behind the 'glory days' of virtually every reputable producer designing and manufacturing their own proprietary movements, it was surely not that long ago that the great movement house JLC designed and produced no less than 6 spectacular low-production movements for even much smaller production runs, the 60th anniversary watches, and at what I think must be considered comparable prices given the production quantity/commodity price/inflation metrics.  An appropriate movement need not be anything such as a completely new design, the original 478 was nothing of the sort, being not only descended from a longer line of more prosaic movements, but even using the less than ideal solutions of indirect center-seconds and obviously added-on hacking.

I guess this puts me in with the 'making money or making watches' crowd, I really cannot fathom that at a consolidated out-the-door revenue of about US$12,000,000 (my calculations only) a more appealing movement could not have been provided.