The Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Grande Tradition Calibre 948 World Time returns this year, cloaked in blue. This timepiece masterfully combines high-level watchmaking expertise with international timekeeping capabilities. Showcasing an exquisite champlevé enamel face in blue translucent lacquer with a domed map as seen from the North Pole, this timepiece presents 24 global time zones through a revolving exterior disc, allowing users to track time across key metropolitan areas worldwide with ease.
Each city's designation appears on a blue opaline rotating outer disc encircling the champlevé center. Beyond this metropolitan circle, a stationary 24-hour indicator ring in grey provides reference points. Emulating our planet's rotation, the Universal FlyingTourbillon carries both the world map and city disc through a complete 360-degree cycle every 24 hours, displaying the corresponding hour in each location.
Things to Know About the Watch
The Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Grande Tradition World Time ref. Q52824E2 is presented as an ultra-limited release of just 20 examples, featuring an 18K pink gold case that measures 43 mm in diameter and 14.13 mm in thickness. The case incorporates both a worldtimer mechanism and an orbital flying tourbillon that completes a 24-hour journey around the dial.
For all its mechanical intricacy, the Calibre 948 movement inside this timepiece has been engineered for straightforward user interaction. Time adjustment occurs via the crown, which coordinates all worldwide time zones simultaneously. Upon reaching a different destination, the wearer adjusts their local hour using that same crown, which advances or reverses only the hour indicator in single-hour increments. Comprising more than 40 parts, the case, with its convex bezel, contrasts with broad bevels on the lugs and hollowed-out lug sides. The case displays mirror-finish polishing across most surfaces, except the hollowed-out areas of the caseband adjacent to the lugs on each side, which receive a micro-blasted treatment.
The Artistry of the Dial
The multi-layered dial represents an extraordinary miniature masterpiece produced by skilled craftspeople in the Manufacture's Métiers Rares workshop. Combining expertise in champlevé enameling, guillochage, and lacquer application, each example demands extensive hours of painstaking labor. The dial measures 25.5 mm in diameter and features a champlevé domed map, as seen from above the Arctic Circle, with elaborately rendered landmasses hand-painted using the champlevé enamel method. The enameling process alone consumes upward of 20 hours.
The pink gold framework reveals longitude and latitude lines across the global representation, while offering visibility into the ocean layer beneath. Under this dome structure, the marine-representing disc features guilloché work in undulating patterns that evoke oceanic movement, finished with 15 successive coats of blue translucent lacquer. This stands as both an artistic achievement and among the most elaborate and refined champlevé faces witnessed in contemporary watchmaking.
Champlevé is an ancient enameling technique that has been used for centuries in creating intricate watch dials. Derived from French terminology meaning "raised field," this technique requires carving patterns into a metal base, typically copper, brass, or precious metals. These carved sections receive colored enamel fill, then undergo high-temperature firing to bond the enamel with the metal substrate, yielding a resilient and vivid surface.
The procedure begins with a craftsman etching or engraving patterns into the dial material. This might encompass botanical motifs, geometric arrangements, or more elaborate imagery, as demonstrated here with cartographic elements. After completing the engraving work, sections designated for enamel receive thorough cleaning and preparation. Enamel application requires precision and control to ensure a proper fill without spillage. The dial then enters a kiln, where heat melts and sets the enamel, followed by polishing to achieve a uniform surface.
The Movement
The Jaeger-LeCoultre Calibre 948 exemplifies exceptional watchmaking, embodying the brand's commitment to precision and innovation. This calibre marked the inaugural pairing of a world-time function with a flying tourbillon. The Universal Flying Tourbillon—proprietary to Jaeger-LeCoultre—completes a full dial revolution every 24 hours, matching the duration of an average solar day, serving as an eloquent demonstration of Jaeger-LeCoultre's technical mastery.
This 388-component automatic movement featuring 42 jewels delivers an impressive 48-hour power reserve and beats at a frequency of 28,800 vph, ensuring outstanding precision. The finishing touches to this movement are the openworked pink gold oscillating weight bearing the Jaeger-LeCoultre logo, as well as the movement's main plate, which showcases decorative engraving depicting a world map viewed from the Arctic Circle.
On the Wrist
On the wrist, the JLC Master Grande Tradition Calibre 948 World Time Blue wears true to its size on an average 7.5’’ wrist. The wrist presence of a watch of this caliber proves simply extraordinary. Yet another remarkable creation from the watchmaker of watchmakers, making horological aspirations worth pursuing. The timepiece is delivered on a deep blue, nearly black, alligator leather strap with a double-folding clasp in 18K pink gold.
Sporting a Master Grande Tradition Calibre 948 World Time is an experience that captures both sophistication and exceptional workmanship. The timepiece rests pleasantly on the wrist, its well-distributed heft serving as a perpetual reminder of its advanced engineering. The complexity of the champlevé dial draws appreciation while effortlessly granting the wearer a sense of worldwide and time cherishing connection, in addition to the spectacle rendered by the universal flying tourbillon that rotates around the dial as the day progresses.
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