Every Watch Tells A Story: “As soon as I saw it I thought, ‘Wow! I have to have that watch one day.’”
Time+TideTommy is a Time+Tide Club member who works in cricket and, as a result, travels a lot and spends an inordinate amount of time in airports. That means he also gets a lot of exposure to new watches in the duty-free section, which is how he first spotted the Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Geographic. “As soon as I saw it I thought, ‘Wow! I have to have that watch one day’,” he recalls.
The Master Geographic is a reminder that Jaeger-LeCoultre are about a whole lot more than the Reverso. In 1992, the “watchmaker’s watchmaker” released the Master Control collection, a line of watches dedicated to the sort of traditional high-quality watchmaking for which the Le Sentier-based house is so well known. The pure style of the Master Control sits well with the credibility afforded by JLC’s “1000 Hours Control” testing program, in which the subject watch undergoes six weeks of extensive testing, covering off everything from accuracy to impact. And while these days this sort of rigorous testing procedure is increasingly par for the course, back then JLC was well ahead of the pack.
Immediately recognisable by its distinctive dial layout, the Master Geographic is Jaeger-LeCoultre’s unique interpretation of the travel watch. Sunray brushing brings unity to the complex dial, while the blued hands provide contrast. The indexes are well worth a closer look: the profile of each one curves perfectly into the join between the dial and the outer flange – the kind of barely-there detail that JLC loves to add. Updates to Calibre 939AA extend the power reserve to almost six days, while the case (in steel or Le Grand Rose gold) has been slimmed down by almost a millimetre.
But the reason Tommy ultimately managed to snag the watch is down to one of the destinations mentioned among the variety of timezones. “It’s got S.Georgia as one of the timezones on it and my wife’s name is Georgia so she gave me permission to buy it,” he recalls.
It was the killer detail that enabled Tommy to seal the deal. Unfortunately it also means he never actually uses the travel function. “I have to have it on S.Georgia all the time,” he sheepishly admits.