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  Columns > Ron DeCorte > Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Tourbillon

   Published in: Issue III of 2006
 
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As I mentioned earlier, the Master Tourbillon has a simple, uncomplicated calendar that is very unique. If you are looking closely at the first four photographs in this article, you will notice that the date hand jumps almost a quarter way around the dial from 15 to 16 so as not to obscure the tourbillon, a rather large move in the course of one day. This is not a retrograde complication that would add a lot of cost to the watch; instead, it is a very simple mechanism that I have never seen before.
 

In order that the date hand doesn’t obstruct the tourbillon for several days per month, the date hand makes a rather large transition from the 15th to the 16th each month. In the above photo, wheel “A” makes one revolution per day and wheel “B” makes one revolution per month (it is wheel “B” that carries the date hand). Normally it is the pointed tooth of wheel “A”, shown as detail “C”, that clicks wheel “B” one notch per day. But, in order to move the date hand rapidly from the 15th to the 16th there is a small rack of fine teeth on wheel “A” and wheel “B” that engage once per month to make the date transition rapid. This rapid transition takes place between midnight and 04:00 of the early morning of the 16th. A simple solution to what could have been a complex problem.

Note: You might notice that wheel “A” has two racks of fine teeth. This second rack has no use during the normal day to day operation of the calendar, but is only used when the calendar is being set in reverse.

 
 

Two views of the tourbillon, each a bit different. The second hands each have three spokes so as to add balance since the hands are directly connected to the tourbillon. You might notice that one spoke has a slightly different shape at the end. Also, in the left photograph, only one of the spokes is blue, while in the right photograph all three spokes are blue. Personally, I prefer the left example as it adds certainty to what hand is actually marking the seconds; after all, this is a tourbillon!  
 
 
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