Jaeger - LeCoultre Duomètre Unique Travel Time full review
For the occasion of its 180 years, the manufacturer Jaeger-LeCoultre wished to pay tribute to its creativity through several iconic products. As such it has revisited the concept of the Duomètre, not only to add a new piece in this collection, but also to satisfy travellers.
By René Giroud
In recent years, many brands have extended their collections of timepieces with the reading of a second time zone. Nothing surprising since, unlike 180 years ago, trips are now commonplace in an increasingly global world, where East and West have never been closer. Thus, although we are familiar with the concept of Dual-Wing movement, this Duomètre Unique Time Travel registers as an attractive new product.
At first glance
On the aesthetic point of view, this model is perfectly readable. A counter at 2:00 displays the hours and minutes of the local time while a central hand displays the seconds. A second counter located at 10:00 presents the second time zone in the form of counter stop for the hours and hands for the minutes. Note that in order to pay tribute to the address of the Jaeger-LeCoultre boutique in Paris, the numbers 7 and 9 are red. Finally, at 6:00, sits a beautiful globe with a view of the world from the North Pole, which displays the selected second time zone and rotates according to the time. This globe is slightly domed and painted in two colours, which infuse some life to the sober side of the watch.
The finely grained dial is distinguished by its elegance and symmetry while the open bottom highlights the finish work of the 383 caliber. The bridges are bevelled by hand. The mobiles are snailed or softened. The bottom of the case is not left aside as it has been engraved with the names of cities corresponding to the 24 time zones. Limited to 100 pieces, these 18K white gold timepieces measure 42mm in diameter by 13.65 mm thickness. They have been specially made for the opening of the Jaeger-LeCoultre boutique in Place Vendôme, where they will be available as of November 20, 2013.
The contribution of the Dual-Wing
The Dual-Wing movement is divided this time between the display of the local time and the second time zone. The interest remains the same: thanks to these two mechanisms, each driven by their own barrel, it is possible to reduce the loss of precision that is inherent to the interactions between mechanisms while maintaining a single regulating organ. Thus, each mechanism is independent, having its own 50 hours power reserve and does not affect the functioning of the other display. Using the Dual-Wing and two displays not only avoids energy losses due to the gear train, but eliminates much of the friction in the barrel. While winding up each barrel is done with the crown, it requests to rotate in one direction and then the other to fully charge the two springs. This implies that if one does turn the crown in only one direction, one of the mechanisms will not start. This is not really a constraint because each barrel has its own power reserve indicator. In addition, the owners of manual movements are often accustomed to execute this movement in both directions.
Increased functionality
In terms of use, this Duomètre Unique Travel Time is of an incredible simplicity. Once the local time is set thanks to the crown at 2:00, you only have to set the time zone on the globe at 6 hours through the buttons on the left side of the watch. Then the crown in position 1 allows adjusting the display of the second time zone. Subsequently, during each trip, the change of the time zone is simply obtained by pushing the buttons. If the system is simple and effective, setting the time for the second time zone by the crown also allows changing the minutes. This new feature should appeal to our Venezuelan colleagues since if there is a new change of time zone, the setting will be immediate and will not require any modification of the watch. In terms of sustainability, it is a significant point.
In conclusion, this Duomètre Unique Travel Time is not only a nice tribute to the creativity of the brand, but offers one of the most useful complications of our time. The adjustment of the second time zone to the minute is a non-negligible plus which should spare the owner and the brand the cost of uncertainties of the news. In a constantly changing world, Jaeger-LeCoultre has created a sustainable watch that fits all situations without sacrificing it’s aesthetic expertise.
