Jaeger LeCoultre Master Grande Memovox Q149242A Jaeger LeCoultre Watch Review

Hi, this is Tim of The1916Company.com. Welcome and thanks for logging on. If you love this watch, email me, Tim Osso at The1916Company.com for purchase pricing and availability questions concerning this watch. In 1989, Jaeger LeCoultre launched the Grand Revay. A world premiere, it combined a Memovox alarm with an IWC Kurt Klaus sequentially programmed perpetual calendar. The complication was astonishing, but the watch was polarizing. Around the turn of this century, Jaeger LeCoultre launched this extremely Y2K compliant and also far less controversially designed Master Grand Memovox. Made in several different metals, this one rose gold. The watch combines the perpetual calendar, the moon phase, the 24-hour dial, automatic winding, and the Memovox alarm with a free-hanging bronze gong that gives it a lovely resonant sound and a broad sustain and volume that traditional 1950s, 60s, 70s, and even 80s Memovox models lacked. So, it is beautiful to the eye and it is beautiful to the ear. Now, the watch is very similar to one I owned. Mine was made of platinum, but 41.5 millimeters in diameter. It's 15.7 millimeters thick. 49.7 from lug to lug with a 21 millimeter spacing between the lugs. I loved mine. It was one of my most worn watches because it was just practical. You can see though large, it does fit on my wrist. I'd recommend for a wrist my size or larger. So, let's say 16 centimeters circumference and up. And because it does have a cupped case back and it nestles down with a sloped bezel, this will actually slide just fine under a dress cuff. No issues there. And looking down the barrel, you can see the lugs are not beyond the edge of my wrist. Here's your over the top. Taking a look at the strap, very upscale. Large rectangular symmetrical scale alligator leather for the most part. You can see there's some smaller medium and small rectangular scales towards the end. But for the most part, this is a very rare and expensive cut from the belly of the beast, literally the underside of the alligator. There's some bolstering. It's black gloss with a monotone stitch. You can see the edge has been sheer cut and lacquered for refinement. We have calfskin on the bottom, no crimping, no gouging, a brand new JLC factory strap, pull tab spring bars, allowing you to pop the strap off the case without resorting to tools. We have the second generation JLC folding clasp. You know it's the second generation because it has this media blasted channel down the center. If it's flat, that's the first generation. And if it's a double fold, that's a third generation. So, this is the second generation JLC folding clasp. It's got some unusual hallmarks on it. And I believe based on my prior experience with unconventional European hallmarks, that these relate to local assay of the buckle from inside the Portuguese market. And even different cities would have different assay stamps. So, I think that's what's going on there. Taking a look at the case, you can see it's relatively simple. This design was used on many Jaeger LeCoultre watches around the year 2000, slightly before and slightly after. So, we have these lugs that are relatively thin when viewed end on, but sheer in profile with a soft bevel along the edge. The case back is dramatically stepped in. So, the watch doesn't actually look as thick as it is when it's on the wrist. The bezels also stepped in to again, create the impression that it is a little bit thinner than it is. We've got a boxed, very lightly boxed and cambered Sapphire, two crowns. This one sets and winds the watch. And then a single point of adjustment for the IWC calendar system. So, you press it in everything, the date, the day on Francais, the month, the moon phase, and eventually even the year and the decade will update. So, you just toggle it to get it correct. And then you don't have to worry about setting all these things or looking up what the current phase of the moon is. Now, it's always important when you buy one of these to make sure that the date, month, and year set is at least remotely close to the current date because IWC used a crown quick set for this mechanism, but JLC found that people were accidentally setting the calendar forward because it was a quick set function of the crowns. They moved the calendar adjust to a button on the side of the case for their version of this. That does protect you from accidental adjustments, but it also means that setting can be a laborious thing. So, you want to make sure you keep it up to date or at least keep it running. And if you do buy one of these online, make sure it doesn't say like in 2003 on it, because you're going to be sitting there for a while. And if you have to do this thousands of times, you're probably going to break it before you catch up. Taking a quick look at the dial, it does actually have some luminescence on it. It's not obvious, but in the dark, you can read the time. Other features include a metallic silver sunburst for the primary dial, Azuraz concentric patterning for the sub registers. It's got a nice cruciform symmetry that is attractive. You can see we have alpha style hands that are half frosted for better contrast against the dial base and applique rose gold dart style faceted indices. We've got a little 24-hour dial there. So, for example, when that hand, that little red varnished hand is pointing to the red numbers, first of all, you know that you're looking at 10 PM instead of 10 AM. So, that's helpful in its way, but that's also your cue not to use the quick set to try to set the calendar. What you want to do if you got to do that is you just roll right through the date change, set it to 630, then make your corrections to the calendar, then set the time. You may have heard the alarm chirp for a moment there. We may as well bring that to the fore now. Of course, you have a setting scale outboard that allows you to set it more or less to a five-minute increment. So, you can set it pretty accurately. And if you just watch, you'll see the hour hand jumps a little bit when it engages. So, if you want to show it off to your friends, that's how you do that. The time may have actually traversed right past the go zones. We'll do that again. It is quite loud and it'll go for about 20 to 30 seconds when fully wound. One of the reasons it has such volume and sustain and a musical quality not characteristic of traditional JLC Memovox watches is because the gong actually hangs freestanding inside the case and it's made of bronze. A little bit like some eastern temple environments. You have that lovely resonant sound when the bronze is struck. So, whereas old Memovoxes from the 50s, 60s, and 70s just sort of rattle, this one truly rings and it is very loud. So, it's not deadened by the precious metal case because the gong itself is barely attached to the case and it will wake you up even with earplugs. If you're a sound sleeper and you're traveling and you're depending on this to your alarm clock, it will suffice. We also have a hacking seconds function, so you can set this watch precisely to a known accurate reference time. It's a perpetual calendar, so you don't need to set anything until the year 2100 if you keep it running and the moon phase has an adjustment interval of once every 122 years. The case back lets you know a few things that are important. First, 50 meters water resistant. It's still a dress watch. You still don't want to swim with it, but standard dress watch is 30, so 50 is a nice luxurious surplus to keep you safe. We've got the master 1,000 hours control blazing on the back, a 41.6 day test of the fully assembled watch for chronometry in six positions tested, not five like a COSC bear movement test. Also, water resistance, winding efficiency, power reserve, durability, reliability, all those things are tested over more than 41 days in the master 1,000 hours test. Four hertz beat rate, automatic winding, stop seconds, 36 joule, caliber 919. It's got the IWC designed but JLC built Kurt Klaus module on the top. Below that is the Memovox alarm, and it's got a 45-hour automatic winding power reserve that winds by directionally. It is a sophisticated movement with hundreds upon hundreds of parts, speaking to the technical competence of Jaeger LeCoultre, which is famous for complications, but specifically for Memovox alarms. You'll also learn a little bit of French, which is the lingua franca, ironically, of Jaeger LeCoultre in the Vallée du Jeu. So if you love this watch, reach out to Tim Marceau at the1916company.com for purchase and pricing details.