Jaeger-LeCoultre

...Jaeger LeCoultre IWC.  WIth JLC movement ;-)

I think I'm badly bending the rules posting this here, but in seriousness I have some questions for you guys.

I believe my A LeCoultre 8 day perpetual has a Kurt Klaus / IWC movement in it (?)

Whereas this (gorgeous!) IWC Mark XII Asian Market has a JLC Cal. 889/2 (?)

Could anyone explain the cross-polination going on here?

About this item:  I have been searching for this watch for years!  It is a perfect piece.  So happy to have found one.  No box / No paper / but No regrets!  The historical echoes are obvious.  It is platinum and although the watch is not large, the weight and heft is substantial.  It generates its own graviational field! 

Sorry for the awful 'in action' photo.  Will do better later on, with some photos of the back.  Lucky numbers are a cinch with these of course, but I got a great symetrical number.

 

but am looking forward to other members responses on this question.

Lovely watch by the way, I sure that you had lots of fun hunting for it.

Best regards,

George

It was fun.  Did a total double-take when I saw it in the window!  'That looks a lot like....oh my it is!'   hahahaha.

It's a hard to find watch.  The LE numbers go xxx/500, but the special Asian batch is only 300-399, and excudes all numbers with a four in it.  Sort of controversial I guess, but the watch is just so sweet.

Anyway, so 80 pieces only if I have my facts straight.

http://www.goerter.de/IWCFORUM/MARK%20XII%20SE_English.pdf

http://www.ninanet.net/watches/others12/Mediums/miwcmkxii.html

This message has been edited by maikeru on 2010-11-29 22:16:04

in a couple of watches each year, though modified. Over the years we've seen it in the Grande Reveil (1988), the Odysseus Perpetual (1992-95), the Master Perpetual (1995-2001), the Master Grande Memovox - the Grand Reveil's replacement (2001-2004), the Master 8-days Perpetual (2004-2009), and the Master Grande Reveil - the 3rd iteration of the original Grande Reveil - (2005-2009). The dates are pretty close, but approximate.

The reason for the cross-polination is that JLC was supplying IWC many ebauche throughout the years, and in the late 80's - 90's. JLC only takes the complication, not the base movement, and it's the ONLY complication (AFAIK) that JLC farms out. Not that JLC can't build perpetuals, they have for over a century. And recently, the Reverso GT QP, the Gyro I, etc.

In return, JLC has built movements and complications for IWC, most recently, the 80110 in the Ingenieur was built by JLC as a spin-off of its "Autotractor" movement, and the tools, etc., send to Schaffhausen. (JLC also spun-off a 3rd movement, the MC8000 for Cartier).

It's a great perpetual complication, and the 2nd easiest to set (behind the Ludwig Perpetual, used by - and exclusive to - UN).

-Dean

Complete explanations, I must say.

Best,

Nicolas

I'd love to hear more about this--can you shed more light on how this works? Did JLC build it and then IWC modified it, or what kind of process are we talking about? I'm quite interested to know.

DJK

Hi Dean,

I'd love to hear more too.  It's been a while since I followed the story of IWC's 80110 movement, but I seem to recall it was an inhouse development project, and not built by JLC from cal 875 (Autotractor).  I also thought that the winding systems were fairly different (modern Pelleton with jeweled, bidirectional rotor for IWC; unidirectional ceramic ball bearing rotor for JLC).

The controversy, if you want to call it that, around 80110 was that the power train geometry (ie wheel sizes and locations, but not the wheels themselves) was taken from the Valjoux 7750.  Some (not me) felt this meant the 80110 was simply a dressed-up 7750.  I think IWC resisted discussing this for a while, then eventually made a statement that was essentially a shrug: sure, the wheels may be in the same places as in the 7750, but there are only so many ways to lay out a 30 mm movement, and the power flow of the 7750 is considered excellent.  Why re-invent the wheel (or the wheels)?

But I could be misremembering or confusing two different stories.  A JLC connection would be interesting.

Tom

 

This is the first I've heard of a JLC connection. And aren't the layouts of the two movements, JLC 97X and IWC 80110, quite distinct, along with their winding systems, etc.? Are the sizes similar?

DJK

Thanks for catching that!  I believe both the 975 and 80110 are 30 mm diameter movements, and thick, too.  Both 28800 vph as well.  Layout, I can't say, and the winding gear obscures much of the movements.

Tom

 

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And it looks like it's the perfect size for you.  Enjoy!!