INTRODUCING: The Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Ultra Thin Moon Enamel

Cameron Wong

I like to imagine this time of year as an Advent calendar for watch lovers, with pre-release announcements being dropped each and every day as the countdown to SIHH 2019 ticks ever closer. Today’s delectable delight comes courtesy of Jaeger-LeCoultre, and not only is it new, it’s also blue, and delivers an impressively novel take on one of their classics. Say hello to the Master Ultra Thin Moon Enamel.

Since its beginnings in the famed Vallée de Joux, Jaeger-LeCoultre have been driven by precision. A search for accuracy that has seen the brand develop more than 1200 calibres and earned it the honourable title of “the watchmaker of watchmakers” – with many of JLC’s high-end valley neighbours calling on the manufacturer to help supply them with movements. The brand-new Master Ultra Thin Moon Enamel not only displays that generations-old technical know-how but also highlights some of the Maison’s other in-house métiers, namely, their incredibly skilled handcrafts of guillochage and enamelling.

Limited to 100 pieces worldwide, each dial is meticulously crafted by hand, with patience being not just a virtue but an absolute necessity during the entire manufacturing process. Culminating in a stunning combination of a captivating shade of intense blue enamel and an elegant radiating guilloché finish. For the first time, the MUT Moon also features slightly longer hour-markers, with the markers at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o’clock now split in two. While an engraved date ring now surrounds the moon phase display, which also features a brand-new perfectly round and polished white disk moon.

Its round case is made of white gold and measures 39mm across by 10.04mm thick – slightly thicker than the original and mostly due to the extra features of the new dial. And inside is no run-of-the-mill JLC calibre (if there can even be such a thing). The Calibre 925/2 takes the previous Calibre 925/1 and adds a 70-hour power reserve. A huge improvement on the old 43-hour reserve and a welcome change for anyone who has ever put their watch down on Friday and then had to reset a moon phase display come Monday.

If ever there was a piece that epitomises the expertise of JLC, this is it, and that quest for precision is no better showcased, both in the movement and in the dial of the Master Ultra Thin Moon Enamel.