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83,43 KBChe dire.....magnifico!!!
If 2007 has been the year of the chronograph, true to its tradition of technical invention, Manufacture Jaeger-LeCoultre presents the Duomètre. The product of four years’ research and development, it draws on an innovative concept.
The models unveiled this year are clearly dedicated to time measurement in the strictest sense, with chronographs taking pride of place in many windows. When Jaeger-LeCoultre decided to pay its homage to this useful complication, its ambitions went beyond the usual tending to design and functionality. Once again the Le Sentier firm has made an impact with the Duomètre à Chronographe which houses the new 380 calibre. Further illustration, were it needed, that innovation in mechanical watchmaking is something to which only a few can lay claim.
The end of the coupling-clutch
"In a way, we set out to reinvent the chronograph," explains Stéphane Belmont, marketing director at Jaeger-LeCoultre. "Four years of research and development have produced an entirely innovative concept, with a model that is driven by two separate mechanisms, one for the time display and one for the chronograph. Both mechanisms are synchronised by a single regulating organ but each has its own barrel, hence its own source of energy, with a 50-hour power reserve for each one. We have also included a one-sixth-of-a-second jumping seconds hand. For all these reasons, we consider the Duomètre to be the first chronometer-precision complication watch."
Virtually every chronograph on the market today functions with a coupling-clutch mechanism on a single movement. The most effective of these is the disc-based vertical coupling-clutch which couples the chronograph mechanism to the time-display mechanism, although inevitably with energy losses particularly when measuring longer intervals. The Duomètre has resolved this problem by giving the chronograph its own source of energy, thereby doing away with the coupling-clutch. "Hence the precision of the watch is not affected by the chronograph," notes Stéphane Belmont. "Furthermore, because the chronograph starts instantly, there is no interference. The objective was, of course, to achieve the greatest possible precision with an automatic calibre irrespective of the function." (specifications for the Duomètre).
An eye for detail
The Duomètre is a masterpiece of mechanical innovation but also an exceptional creation from an aesthetic point of view, with its magnificent visually-balanced dial. Two subdials are symmetrically arranged, one at 10 o’clock for the time display and the other at 2 o’clock for the chronograph. To facilitate reading, minute units from 0 to 9 are shown on a disc through an aperture in the chronograph subdial. The two power-reserve indicators, one for each mechanism, are at 5 o’clock and 7 o’clock. The jumping-seconds hand is at 6 o’clock with central seconds hands for the chronograph and time display. And so there can be no confusion, the different indicators are in two colours, one for the time display and one for the chronometer functions.
As a final touch, the chronograph is activated by a single pushpiece which starts and stops five chronograph functions with one press: hours and minutes, minute-unit disc, central seconds and jumping-seconds. The entire 390 components are commanded by a single crown. Jaeger-LeCoultre has taken attention to detail as far as to give the bridges a different form: straight shapes for the watch mechanism and arabesque for the chronograph mechanism in keeping with the Manufacture’s tradition. The going trains are circular satin-brushed with hand-polished sinks while the wheels and pinions, also hand-bevelled or embellished with polished sinks, have snailed or smoothed surfaces. The flame-blued steel screws underscore the complex nature of the calibre.
"The Duomètre revives the distinguishing features of the vintage, single pushpiece watch with exquisite decoration and an innovative mechanism," concludes Stéphane Belmont. "The price of the gold model will be in the region of CHF 35,000 for a product that stands out from classic chronographs. Our original ambition was to improve the precision of this type of mechanism. The result is a completely different chronograph."
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