The prestigious SIHH 2019 watch fair in Geneva is almost upon us, and one of the magnificent timepieces on display this year will be the Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Ultra Thin Moon Enamel, the brand’s latest version of a legendary classic. Baroque Access takes a look
With its round shape and pure lines, Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Master Ultra Thin Moon Enamel is a charming timepiece. Boasting an extremely thin case, the model highlights the brand’s exceptional artistry when it comes to guillochage and enamelling. (These Rare Handcrafts (‘Métiers Rares®’) are created by very few manufacturers. At its workshops, Jaeger-LeCoultre offers these fine skills including engraving and gem-setting, artistic techniques that require a level of skill and handcrafting that is more than a century old.
Jaeger-LeCoultre is renowned for both artistic and technical precision and its new timepiece is a perfect example. The new Master Ultra Thin Enamel’s guilloché enamel exteriors are a testament to the brand’s precision and sophistication. In this limited edition, blue is featured in all its majesty – a deep, intense midnight blue that achieves perfect harmony with the case.
Issued in a limited series of 100 pieces, the new timepiece proudly expresses its character in a pure and refined watchmaking style. This translates directly into the new hand-guilloché blue enamel dial, new hour-markers, a new polished moon, and a new engraved counter. The timepiece’s extremely thin case (10.04mm) is created in white gold; it conceals the Jaeger-LeCoultre Caliber 925, an automatic mechanical movement with a 70-hour power reserve.
One of the highlights of the new Master Ultra Thin Moon Enamel is that incredible guilloché blue enamel dial. The blue highlights the geometric motifs and the relief effect, an art reintroduced by Jaeger-LeCoultre in 1996. This has been executed completely by hand by select artisans who have been had specific training. The art of enameling requires extreme concentration and infinite patience, not to mention the meticulous attention to detail required to perform the guillochage work and apply the translucent blue enamel layer.
The Master Ultra Thin Moon Enamel features a new moon phase setting that has been redesigned with as much painstaking attention to detail as the watch dial. When the moon is full, its perfectly round and polished white disc comes to rest on an exquisite stellar background.
These limited edition timepieces revisit the standards of the Master Ultra Thin, a line of watches that has been a Jaeger-LeCoultre classic for more than 2 decades. They showcase the expertise of Jaeger-LeCoultre’s master watchmakers, artists and artisans who have ceaselessly reinvented mechanical precision and combined it with peerless artistic creativity.
The timepiece is 39mm, with a thickness of 10.04mm. The case is in white gold and the watch is water resistant. Functions include Hour/Minute/Second, Date and Moon phase. The price tag of each of the limited edition 100 watches is $35,800.