Driven by Jaeger-LeCoultre’s unqiue Duomètre architecture, combined with a triple-axis tourbillon, and a Perpetual Calendar, the Le Sentier-based watchmaker’s latest high complication is a sight to behold.
The Duometre Heliotourbillon Perpetual elegantly packages a sophisticated 655-component, 89-jewel hand wound mechanical movement inside a 44 mm x 14.7 mm 950 platinum or 18K pink gold case, that features a Savonette pocket-watch profile, convex sapphire crystal, and a side-view sapphire aperture.
Built around Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Duomètre dual-power source architecture, the Duomètre Heliotourbillon Perpetual uses two barrels and two completely independent gear trains linked to a single regulating organ. One train powers the timekeeping, while the other drives the complications. According to Jaeger-LeCoultre, this ensures that the massive power draw of the perpetual calendar never compromises the accuracy of the escapement, to deliver high chronometric precision.
As the model name suggests, it offers a perpetual calendar, one of the most complex complications in watchmaking, incorporated into the Duometre Heliotourbillon Perpetual. This highly accurate calendar module accounts for leaps years and the varying lengths of each month, until 2100. It features a grand date display at 3 o’clock, a 122-year accurate moon phase, and a patented leap-year indicator that highlights the final digit in red. Uniquely, the time can be adjusted both forward and backward without damaging the calendar mechanism. But even as complicated as a perpetual calendar is, and regardless of how sought after it is in serious watch collecting, the star of the show, that can be appreciated by almost anyone, is the triple tourbillon.
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This is not Jaeger-LeCoultre’s first triple axis tourbillon, however, the Heliotourbillon is a completely new triple-axis tourbillon designed to create a “spinning top” effect to counteract gravity. It features a cylindrical hairspring and three titanium cages moving on separate axes, weighing just 0.7 grams despite its 163-part assembly.
Running at 4Hz, the watch has dual power indicators, each capable of running for 46-hours when fully wound. The Duomètre Heliotourbillon Perpetual is water-resistant to 30 meters. The timepiece is available in two 20-piece limited editions, pink gold (Ref. Q6202420), and platinum (Ref. Q6206150). The former is paired with a brown alligator leather strap, and the latter comes on a unique 5-link platinum mesh bracelet consisting of 281 pieces. The pink gold model retails for $438,000 and the platinum model price is not listed. Both are limited to 20 pieces.
Final Thoughts
Even when many brands, which are capable of producing high complications, rest on their laurels, Jaeger-LeCoultre continues to evolve its most advanced, and most expensive collections. Financially, for a company that’s selling great timepiece, albeit typically not top-of-range models, this model seemingly makes little sense. Yet here we are, with something that rivals competitors (including from its own Richemont Group) in far richer price brackets.
Photo by Jaeger-LeCoultre.
