Audemars Piguet always has been one of my favourite brands, especially their Royal Oak line make my horological heart tick faster. Since a year or so, I am the proud owner of a Royal Oak watch. The Royal Oak Date (ref.15300ST) at first, then after six months, followed by the ‘Jumbo’ cult icon (ref.15202ST).

The Royal Oak Off-shore Safari is on my wish list as well, as I am impressed by this time piece ever since I had the chance to review one from one of my sponsors. AP seems to enjoy the success of their popular RO and RO Off-shore a lot, organizing release parties with the rich and famous, sponsoring all kinds of events and charities and having a few rapping and acting ambassadors.

Although I don’t think there is anything wrong with that strategy, there is something wrong with the supposedly superb service that buyers of AP time pieces deserve, or, as I would like to put it, “haute service”.

A few examples from first hand: polishing an octagonal bezel to a round bezel, needing 10 weeks for regulating a movement and delivering it back with a dust pickle under the dial and even worse, there is this example of AP losing a watch from a customer. Of course, they replaced it with a new one but what if there was a personal engraving in the case back? Goner. AP charges serious prices for servicing a time piece, customers should therefore receive the best work possible.

My suggestion to AP is to skip a few release parties or drop an ambassador and invest in proper quality control before a repaired or serviced watch leaves their factory. Unfortunately, AP is not the only manufacturer that suffers from lack of “haute service”. There are numerous examples from first hand that include brands like Omega, Jaeger-LeCoultre and a few smaller ones. I have to admit that in the end, most problems are solved, but it shouldn’t have come so far in the first place.

To be honest, the only brand that I would be totally comfortable with performing a repair or service overhaul, is the giant from Geneva, Rolex SA.

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?Ǭ� 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.

Marc Menant (product manager at Jaeger-LeCoultre) mailed me the latest JLC novelty An iPhone application that enables JLC adepts or prospects to examine their line of watches more thoroughly, where ever you are.

After downloading the 50MB application, I was immediately stunned by it. The graphics are amazing, the included videos are very nice to look at and even better.. you can fiddle around with the watches in the catalogue. The Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso can actually be reversed by a simple movement on the touch screen, the chronograph functionality works when tapping the pushers properly etc.

Perhaps the nicest feature is the one that enables you to assemble a part of the watch movement. These watch courses have an introduction video, and afterwards, you can try to assemble the movement yourself. Impressive!

If you have an Apple iPhone, what are you waiting for? Look for ‘jaeger’ in the AppStore and after selecting the application, click ‘Free’ and ‘Download’.

German watch magazines are considered to be the best by many collectors, especially those who are able to read and understand the German language One of them, Uhren Magzine, has an annual contest for the best watch in a certain price category. Readers of the magazine can vote for a certain watch that is on the list of the Goldene Unruh. If you are not familiar with Germans, you should know that they are quite proud on their homeland and the stuff they come up with (cars, pens, watches, food, beer etc).

You won’t see a German guy driving a French car for example (and vica versa in this case). For watches, they seem to make a few exceptions, but the golden rule is to vote German. Most Goldene Unruh winners of previous years were those of Lange & S?ɬ?hne, Glash?ɬ�tte Original, Nomos, Sinn, Chronoswiss… you can probably finalize this list However, this year, on the 26th of February 2009, the winner of the Goldene Unruh (2009) is the Jaeger-LeCoulte Memovox Tribute to Polaris. In the category up to 25.000 euro, this watch got most votes. Over 13000 people participated in this contest by Uhren Magazine, and most of them probably reside in Germany, Austria or Switzerland. I hope there is a small amount from the Netherlands, as a lot of people here are able to read and understand German as well.

The JLC Memovox Tribute to Polaris is a limited edtion (768 pieces in stainless steel) and tribute to the original Memovox Polaris. This watch is equipped with the famous Memovox alarm functionality (suspended gong) which can be operated with the extra crowns. The inhouse JLC caliber 956 has a power reserve of 45 hours and consists of 268 parts! The 1000 hour control have been applied to this JLC Memovox and the watch is waterresistant to 200 metres.

Thanks to Marc Menant @ Jaeger-LeCoultre for notifying me about this achievement!

Marc Menant from Jaeger-LeCoulte mailed me some information on their new Master Compressor Diving Navy SEALs watches. The grade 5 titanium cases with unidirectional bezel and water resistancy of 1000 meters meet the most stringent requirements for the United States Navy SEALs diving watch. Jaeger-LeCoultre consulted snorkelling record holder Patrick Musimu about the relevance of Jaeger’s diving watch innovations.

The Master Compressor Diving models have a shot-peened ceramic bezel and are engraved with the Navy SEALs emblem. Before paying thousands of dollars for a vintage COMEX diver from Rolex, you might want to investigate these new three models from Jaeger-LeCoultre.

Jaeger-LeCoultre introduces three models of the Master Compressor Diving watch, these are the Master Compressor Diving Alarm Navy SEALs, the Master Compressor Diving Chronograph GMT Navy SEALs and the iconic Master Compressor Diving Pro Geographic Navy SEALs.

These 44mm (Alarm) and 46.3mm (GMT and Geo) watches are being introduced on video by Jerome Lambert, CEO of Jaeger-LeCoultre. You can view the introduction video and full specifications of these watches over at Perpetuelle in this thread.

In the introduction video, Jerome Lambert is actually wearing one of the new models. It has to be said, it looks a bit BIG on his wrist.

Read more about the SIHH 2009 here: http://www.perpetuelle.com/UsrViewForumTreeView.aspx?Catid=208&pid=0