Unfortunately, a 37mm looks kind of silly on my 7.5″ wrist. Otherwise, a Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Moon like Rob’s (friend of the show since 2004) would be a perfect timepiece for formal occasions. Although Jaeger-LeCoultre seems to have entered a different route to approach its clients since a while, with big bulky watches or with high-tech materials, this Master Moon with a diameter of 37mm and a height of just 10mm is a true classic that at least will look good on you in a few decades from now. Will the Compressor watches do to? I think not.

For around 3000 Euro, you should be able to find a nice Master Moon (young occasion) in good condition, complete with box and papers. Make sure the alligator strap comes with the original JLC  folding buckle and that the strap is still in good condition. A JLC replacement strap will cost you at least 250 Euro, or you can settle for a third party strap of similar quality (ABP Paris for example).

The shape of the case is very classical and the polished and satinized parts are really stunning. The dial of the Master Moon (ref.140.2.98.S) is available in either black or wite and in grey for the platinum version of this watch. The arrow shaped hour markers remind me of 1950s and 1960s timepieces and I love the combination with the printed white date index on the dial.

The movement inside this watch is a in-house Jaeger-LeCoultre caliber 891/448 automatic movement, ticking at 28.800 beats per hour. These movements are tested against Jaeger’s own high standards on accuracy and therefore approved Master Control for 1000 hours. 1000 hours of testing before leaving the factory! The day, date and moonphase corrector are positioned in the side of the case. Two next to the crown (where the crown is in the center) and one corrector is located at 8 o’clock. You better buy a watch winder with this watch! After 38 hours the movement will stop ticking and if this is not becoming your everyday watch, you might find yourself busy setting this watch correctly a few times per week.

If your wrists allow you to wear a 37mm watch, you really should consider this Jaeger-LeCoultre when spending 2500-3500 Euro on a slightly used timepiece. The only con in my opinion is the fact that the day functionality is using a moon disc hand, I am not particular a fan of those. But that’s just very personal. Otherwise, I really can’t come up with any more cons I would have against this watch. At least the colour scheme is thought through by Jaeger-LeCoulte.

After a week of fun in the snow (wearing my Linde Werdelin 3-Timer), it is time to get back to work and back to blogging about watches. During my vacation, the invitations for BaselWorld and press releases are flooding my mailbox. So beware of some frequent updates here at Fratellowatches. Furthermore, an Orient review is coming up. Although I never took a serious look at Orient watches before, it seems to be a lot of bang for the buck. More this week!

As you can see above, I shot some pictures of my Linde Werdelin timepiece during the holiday. Although I am not particularly careful with this watch, it seems to be hard to get any scratches on this baby. Just recently, a reader of my blog asked me about the Linde Werdelin and if it was a scratch magnet…  Well, it is not. After owning it for several months now, the scratches on my Audemars Piguet Royal Oak and IWC Ingenieur are far more present (and visible). I don’t think there is even one scratch on the LW. Nice eh?

Back to answering a lot of unread e-mail on my Mac.

DMH, or Dingemans Mechanische Horloges (Dingemans mechanical watches) is a brand you probably never heard of before (although you might have seen it here and here). It is a very small Dutch watch manufacturer, with a maximum of 12 timepieces per year.

Fred Dingemans, owner of DMH, mailed me pictures of his latest creation, a DMH Jumping Hour timepiece. As you can see below, an odd looking fellow with those screws in the dial and this water resistant crown-concept you might see for the first time.

I did a small write-up on DMH and their Jumping Hour timepiece for the WatchUseek Blog, the no.1 interactive watch portal lead by Ernie Romers. In the heat of the latest SIHH and GTE news, this might be very refreshing!

Click here to read the article.

As you probably noticed already, the SIHH 2010 expo results in a lot of new and impressive timepieces by numerous manufacturers. Unfortunately, I could not make it to the SIHH and GTE myself this year, but at least I am able to track all new releases via WatchUseek, Perpetuelle, TimeZone and WorldTempus.

Audemars Piguet is also exhibitor at the SIHH in Geneva and was actually the first brand that I kept an eye on, since I’ve seem to be bitten by the AP bug. The ‘regular’ Royal Oak timepieces suits me best and not the Offshore models. These are too bulky for me and I am not too sure about all the exotic materials AP uses for these watches. This year, I am lucky, because Audemars Piguet introduced a variety of interesting Royal Oak watches, including a non-limited skeletonized version of the 15300 model and an all new Royal Oak Equation of Time in stainless steel. Also available in gold of course, to match your yacht when you hang out in Saint Tropez.

The 42mm diameter case houses an incredible complicated movement, caliber 2120/2808, consisting out of 423 parts. Base caliber 2120 is only a mere 2.45mm thick, including the rotor and all the complications added to this movement (hence the 2808 addition in the movement number) add another 2.90mm to be able to show the Hours, Minutes, Date, Day, Leap Year, Equation of Time, Astronomical Moonphase Display and the Sunrise and Sunset times for a given location.

Although the equation of time probably doesn’t come to mind when thinking of a neat complication for your timepiece, at least not in my mind, it is a very impressive functionality to measure the difference between our conventional time and true solar time. For instance, if you’d measure time using a sundial, it will become apparent that it doesn’t indicate the same time as your watch, the differences can add up to 16.25 minutes. This variation is due to the earth’s elliptical path around the sun as well as its tilted rotation axis. For convenience, modern societies have calculated an average of all the days of the year and defined the mean solar day as comprising 24 hours, corresponding to so-called legal time.

Photo courtesy of Horomundi.com

AP explains as follows:
“The mean solar culmination point depends on your exact location, on the longitude of a given location on the globe. The equation of time read-off system developed by Audemars Piguet takes account of this specific place. Unlike most other equation of time mechanisms, it is not set to a given time zone selected by the manufacturer, typically corresponding to 15 degrees longitude. The “world standard time” system divides the world into 24 time zones and takes the Greenwich meridian as the zero point. While the official time is thus the same across the width of each time zone, true solar time varies by four minutes per degree (15 degrees=1 hour). Therefore, although the clocks on the Bahnhofstrasse in Zurich and on the Rue du Rhône in Geneva indicate the same time, true noon – the point in the day when a sundial shows no shadow, or put another way, the sun is exactly directly overhead, can be observed a few minutes earlier in Zurich than in Geneva.

Not only does the Audemars Piguet mechanism take into account this local variation, it also enables one to read off the solar culmination time at any time of the day. To do so, this exceptional mechanism is personalised and adjusted according to the degree of longitude chosen by its owner. The name of the chosen city and the solar zenith in this place are engraved on the ring (such as 12.36 for Geneva). The ring also bears a graduated scale running from -15 to + 15 minutes. The zero point of the graduation is located exactly at the mean solar culmination time in the chosen place. The equation of time hand continuously displays the difference between the two values. When the hour hand corresponds to the time indicated on the graduated ring and the equation of time and minute hands are superimposed, the owner of the watch knows that the sun is exactly at its zenith. It’s exactly as if he had a sundial on his wrist, and there is no need for any mental arithmetic!”

The perpetual calendar and sunrise and sunset complications probably need no introduction, however, the combination of all these features make this one hell of a complicated timepiece. All this, without losing the original 1972 octagon shaped bezel and case design. Audemars Piguet did an excellent job, demonstrating their master watchmaker skills and using their proven Royal Oak concept. Although some people complain that Audemars Piguet is almost equal to Royal Oak (and admitted, they have plenty of other interesting collections currently), this one stands out and is hard to dispute with. No Offshore-ish design, no rubber or high-tech materials such as carbon or ceramics, just back to basics with their stainless steel case that represents the original Royal Oak model and a superb complicated mechanical masterpiece. I love this timepiece.

Photo by Paul Boutros @ TimeZone

The 26603ST (stainless steel) and 26603OR (gold) are only available on a leather strap, for now. The AP folding clasp has the famous AP monogram and comes in either stainless steel or gold. Prices will be probably published later on, when they are bound to appear in the AP boutiques and at authorized AP dealers.

Good work Audemars Piguet! Besides the Equation of Time and the before mentioned skeletonized Royal Oak Date ref.15305, there are a number of Offshores in the new programme. A Royal Oak Offshore Grand Prix Collection, Offshore Diver, Offshore Tourbillon Chronograph and an Offshore Chronograph in 37mm, intended for men. Uhuh, we all know where the 37mm Chronograph is going to end…

Last year, during SIHH2009, Ralph Lauren introduced a line of watches that definitely can be considered haute horlogerie. Some of the Ralph Lauren boutiques carried vintage watches (by Rolex, Patek Philippe etc) for quite some years now, but now they have their own impressive line-up.

This year, Ralph Lauren introduces the Slim Classique Collection. So if you think that Ralph Lauren is fashion only, think again.

The Slim Classique is a 42mm diameter timepiece and only 5.35mm thick. Last week, I blogged about the thinness factor over at Vacheron Constantin with their Ultra-Fine watches but it seems that more brands follow this trend this year at SIHH (Salon International de Haute Horlogerie) in Geneva.

This timepiece uses a movement by another king of thin, Piaget. A mechanical handwound movement (caliber RL430) with a thickness of only 2.1mm is ticking inside this RL Slim Classique. Although the caseback of this watch is solid (and therefore ideal for engraving purposes), the movement inside has a Côtes de Geneve and circular graining finish (click here for my article on movement decoration). The guilloché dial and Breguet style hands make this watch a classic and sophisticated looking timepiece and up to standards with the 42mm diameter. This will not look bad at all in the board room!

The watch itself is available in rosé gold, white gold and platinum (Pt950). The 192 diamonds (total amount of 1.11 carat) are optional for this wristwatch. Of course, you’ll wear this timepiece on a black alligator strap!

Below a close-up of the guilloché dial and Breguet style hands.

Prices are unknown at the time of writing this post. My guess is that they won’t come cheap and why should they? Although the brand name might remind most people about their Polo shirts, the used movement, used materials for case, crown and strap and the perfectly finished dial and hands are proof of the fact that they are really a true watch brand as well.