1974 Jaeger Le-Coultre .800 Silver Ornate "Tank" Manual
Ref: 9036
Specification
Lugs : 20mm
Condition : Pre-Owned
Box & Papers : None
Case Material : 0.800 Silver
Warranty : 12-Months NON-Waterproof Warranty
Points of Mention
This watch is sold as “Watch Only” and, therefore, comes without its JLC box or paperwork. It is paired with a suitable 20mm leather strap and pin buckle. The watch is from Circa 1974 and is sold in worn condition; however, it is in very fair condition, as you can see. The watch comes with our 12-Months NON-Waterproof Warranty.
For more photos see here - https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1g9nZ4BdGwpfUBbLxd-98eaftKodQr-Ts?usp=drive_link
4K YouTube video, skip to 26:03 - https://youtu.be/H0qu8YovsI0
The Watch
Here we have a rare and unusual classic 28mm 1974 Jaeger Le-Coultre .800 Silver Ornate "Tank" shaped case. The flat-ended lugs lead to a lug-to-lug length of 36mm and a case thickness of just 7.5mm that ensures a comfortable fit on your wrist; on the right side, a domed crown, beautifully expertly crafted elaborate decorated sculpted topsides hold a domed crystal above a blue dial. Slim baton indexes mark the hours, elegant stick hands sit majestically in the centre, and the applied JLC motif completes this sophisticated dress watch at noon. On the reverse, a snap-off case back stamped with the serial number inside you find the stamped details of the watch. Inside a high-grade Manually Wound JLC Cal. 818/2, 17 Jewels beating at a leisurely 18,000 Beats per hour. The watch comes paired with a suitable 20mm leather strap and pin buckle.
Personal Note
This is a truly unusual watch from Jaeger Le-Coultre featuring a .800 Silver Ornate "Tank" case in 28mm by 36mm making it also quite large for the 1970s, never mind the unusual choice of material which only adds to its allure and interesting patina that has developed. Powered by the beautifully finished manually wound JLC Cal. 818/2, this really is a hidden gem in the vintage watch world. I would not hesitate to add this to your collection today, I suspect I will never find another!
The Brand
Antoine LeCoultre founded LeCoultre in 1833 in the small village of Le Sentier, Switzerland. By 1866, LeCoultre’s workshop had grown from home-run manufacturers spread across Switzerland to installing modern steam-driven machines to power the watchmakers' tools, moving them from their homes and bringing them together in one central unit. Now named LeCoultre & Cie, the company became the very first manufacturer in the Vallée de Joux Switzerland. Antoine and his son Elie LeCoultre employed more than 500 watchmakers in-house. In 1903, Edmond Jaeger, a watchmaker in Paris who made watches for the French Navy, challenged Swiss manufacturers to produce an ultrathin movement. Jacques-David LeCoultre, Elie’s son, rose to the challenge and created the world’s thinnest pocket watch, equipped with the LeCoultre 146 calibre, measuring just 1.38 mm thick. Over the following years, Jaeger and LeCoultre kept in touch, building a strong friendship, and in 1937, Jaeger-LeCoultre was founded. In 2013, they celebrated their 180th Anniversary. Creating iconic timepieces like the Reverso wristwatch and the brilliantly engineered Atmos clock. During the war years, the Mark VII pilot watches of the 1940s were so accurate that the Royal Air Force used them as aerial navigation instruments; later, they created the first automatic watch to house a power-reserve indicator in 1948 that the US Army Air Corps used. Jaeger-LeCoultre has developed and revolutionised the watch industry like no other manufacturer. Since 2000, it has been a wholly owned subsidiary of the Swiss luxury group Richemont. This group includes Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, IWC Schaffhausen, Panerai, Piaget, Vacheron Constantin, Montblanc, Dunhill, and Chloé.