Reverso Grande Complication Triptyque by Jaeger-LeCoultre - Three-Faced Wonder
The Reverso Grande Complication Triptyque touches imagination by its irresistible creative, aesthetic and technical appeal. The Jaeger-LeCoultre Manufacture gave birth to a timekeeping mechanism that surpassed any expectations. In fact, it should be mentioned that the wonder of watchmaking appeared due to hard work and effort of watchmakers, engineers, designers and technicians. The project required more than three years to be completed and presented to the world.
As the result, there appeared a timepiece, a union of fine traditional watchmaking and avant-garde technology, which displays three time dimensions - civil, sidereal and perpetual - on three faces. The legendary reversible case housed a manually wound mechanical movement offering remarkable horological complications. Altogether, the Reverso Grande Complication Triptyque timepiece comprises 18 complications.
The front face features a tourbillon provided with an ellipse isometer escapement. The ellipse isometer escapement has been suggested by well-established construction principles, but keeps away from the associated disadvantages.
Jaeger-LeCoultre managed to develop the masterpiece only having applied unconventional materials to provide perfect functioning of the ellipse isometer escapement in every position and protect it from any negative impact. Some of its parts are produced from monocrystalline silicon. Its basic characteristics are lightness, hardness, anti-magnetic and corrosion resistance. One more advantage - the new escapement requires no lubrication.
The Calibre Jaeger-LeCoultre 175 comprises a minute tourbillon that amazes with its supreme lightness. Its titanium cage boasts the weighs of just 0.08 grams. The total weight of the tourbillon wonder is 0.29 grams. The cage driving an elegant second hand turns on itself in a round opening placed on the hour dial. The hour and minute hands as well as the day-night indicator are also placed there. Such an eccentric location for the balance with screws was chosen on purpose - this way the wearer will be able to enjoy viewing the ellipse isometer escapement in work.
The tourbillon is a real masterpiece of watchmaking due to its design and execution and offers absolute precision.
The watch's back face serves for astronomical observation. It demonstrates a zodiacal calendar featuring an astronomical chart, as well as an equation of time and sunrise and sunset times.
A disc in an oval-shaped aperture in the dial features the angular displacement of the far-away celestial bodies and the constellations. The Reverso Grande Complication Triptyque is provided with a mechanism necessary for transposing the mean solar time into sidereal time. The disc of the celestial bodies and constellations turns fully every 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4 seconds.
The second dial is for featuring the twelve signs of the zodiac. The zodiacal calendar is indicated around the circumference of the dial, while the position of the constellations is featured in the aperture of the celestial horizon.
There are two small hands on the astronomical dial responsible for illustrating the time at which the sun rises and sets each day.
A special hand with a "sun' on its tip moves across a circle segment on the astronomical dial. It makes possible for the watch owner to be aware of the true moment of the solar zenith without any need to study astronomic tables.
The third face of the watch stands out due to its unique location - a perpetual calendar is situated in the Reverso carriage. With the help of an original patented mechanism energy is transmitted from the movement to the carriage.
Reverso Grande Complication Triptyque by Jaeger-LeCoultre, an outstanding timepiece, worth to be named a real feat of watchmaking, is housed in platinum case and will be launched only in the limited number of 75 pieces.
