Posted by Through the years, Jaeger-LeCoultre made many different kind of dials…
Different in types, colours, material… Different styles. One which is very different from all the others is the dial of the Jaeger-LeCoultre reference 24000 Master Mariner Chronometer.
Which one? This one – the first out of three Master Mariner Chronometer references from the mid 1970’s.
The reference 24000 came in T.W.O dial versions, one silver grey and one dark grey.
Looking closer, we see that the dial is divided into four quarters, which have a diagonal line pattern. These lines are not like on sunburst dials…
They are deeper, carved into the metal of the dial. Depending on angle and light, each quarter will either reflect lighter or darker… This is even more evident on the darker grey dial.
Only way I can think of how these dials could have been made is that the pattern were carved into a plate which were cut into quarters and “glued” into the pattern – to me that sounds very complicated…
More likely they had a machine which was able to make this kind of pattern into the metal and the lines between each quarter is just to cover up the zigzag in between.
Another uncommon detail is the Roman numerals, mostly used by Jaeger-LeCoultre on clocks, not very often on wrist watches…
A reference which also have a different dial from what we are used to see from Jaeger-LeCoultre is the sibling of the 24000, the reference 24001 seen below. Unfortunately I still don’t have a 24001, yet…
But as you can see in the catalogue scan from 1975, the 24001 have a horizontal linear pattern. Visually it is quite similar to a competing brand/watch from the time…
Remember, this was Jaeger-LeCoultre response to all the Sport Chic watches that became popular during the 1970’s. Brands like Audemars Piguet, Girard-Perregaux and Patek Philippe, just to mention some of the most famous in this category…
While the competing watch I am thinking of have actual lines on the dial, the 24001 dial have more the illusion of lines made by waves that goes from top to bottom of the dial.
The day I find “my” 24001 we will have a closer look at that dial.
Well, the good part with the 24001 is that if you buy it, you actually owns it, not only look after it for the next generation…
Here is a list of posts related to the Jaeger-LeCoultre reference 2400X Master Mariner Chronometer.
Stay tuned, more to come…
The Blomman Watch Report 