Ringing in the New Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Grande Tradition Minute Repeater


Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Grande Tradition Minute Repeater 150Jaeger-LeCoultre provided watch fans with a special treat last week, when it announced its new minute repeater. The Master Grande Tradition Minute Repeater is a member of the Master Grande Tradition family, so it draws upon a classic heritage of watchmaking. But it’s also something new: this is the first time that Jaeger-LeCoultre has made an automatic minute repeater for the collection. (The previous Master Grande Tradition Minute Repeater was hand wound.)

The new Minute Repeater is 39 mm in diameter. Its case is made of rose gold. It measures 12.1 mm thick. It has a two-level, concave bezel which slopes down towards an elegant, grained dial with silver coloring. The hour indexes are simple, applied rose-gold markers; the only numerals to be found on the dial are the small Arabics on the minutes track, all in a standard JLC font. The dagger-like dauphine hands have two facets: one is sandblasted and the other is polished, to pick up the light at all angles. A small seconds counter can be found at 6 o’clock.

Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Grande Tradition Minute Repeater 560But the key feature of the Minute Repeater is, of course, the eponymous complication. The repeater uses crystal gongs for greater clarity of tone. The gongs have a “square section” made of a proprietary alloy. They are welded to the sapphire crystal, so that the whole watch can resonate together. The gongs are struck by trebuchet hammers.

Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Grande Tradition Minute Repeater Lower CU 560

To activate the minute repeater function, Jaeger-LeCoultre provides a pusher on the left side of the case. This is a notable difference from the traditional slide one expects on a repeater. The button also has a security system so that the user cannot re-trigger the repeater when it is already striking, which would run the risk of damaging the mechanism.

Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Grande Tradition Minute Repeater Pusher CU 560

The Master Grande Tradition Minute Repeater is powered by Calibre 942, a 4-Hz movement with a 40-hour power reserve. It runs in 58 jewels; in total, it has 437 parts.

The watch comes on a brown alligator strap with a rose-gold pin buckle. It is water resistant to 50 meters. Price: $169,000.

Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Grande Tradition Minute Repeater Caliber 560Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Grande Tradition Minute Repeater Logo CU 560
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  1. Debashish

    Minute-repeaters are the toughest complication to create, yet over the years JLC has created a number of outstanding minute-repeater watches, take a bow JLC!

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  2. A very nice watch.
    To give all those who cannot afford its price, it would be good to know at what decibels the crystal gongs sound. I listened to a minute repeater the other day and could hardly hear the sound (off the wrist!)
    It just rounds of the information of the watch.

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