The Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Control Calendar collection is full of impressive watches, some more complicated than others. While I do love high-horology watches, and historically, JLC has flexed their horological muscles enough times to convince me that they are certainly capable of reaching the high goals they set for themselves. However, there is a certain charm that a more classic and practical watch provides. It is essentially the same feeling you get when discovering a simple and pleasant song that makes you feel good, and you still remember it and appreciate it decades later. The watch we are reviewing today is exactly one of those. Read on! Saying this watch is simple is a misnomer though because the reality is that it is not so simple. It just appears to be not overly complicated. Let us begin our review with the part one will look at the most.
The Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Control Calendar features two windows just beneath the JLC branding at the 12 o’clock position. The two windows sit side by side and the one on the left indicates the day of the week and the window on the right indicates the name of the month.
A red-tipped central calendar hand points to the day of the month and has a unique function. When the date hand reached the 15th of the month, just before the beginning of the moon phase window between the 4 and 5 o’clock position, the hand jumps across the moon phase to the 16th of the month between the 7 and 8 o’clock position so it does not obstruct the moon phase and small seconds sub-register. In between the numerals for the 15th and 16th of the month, the french words “Quantième à Date Sautante” appear which translates to ‘calendar with a jumping date’ …pretty à propos.
This model has a silver dial with a step-down dial flange where the numerals and indices for the calendar date can be found. The applique index hour markers are beveled and have a polished finish; the same finish found on the Arabic-style numerals used for the 12, 3, and 9 o’clock positions. On the right side of the case, at around the 2 o’clock and 4 o’clock positions, you will find two recessed pushers. There is another recessed pusher on the left side of the case at the 8 o’clock position. These pushers operate the calendar and moon phase functions. The Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Control Calendar watch comes with a special tool that can be used to make these changes to the calendar and moon phase complications.
