Okay, so, I’ve been meaning to share this little project I got into, and today seems like the day. It’s about this watch, the Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Ultra Thin Perpetual Calendar. Yeah, it’s a mouthful, and no, I didn’t just buy one—way out of my league! But I got this idea to, well, “imitate” it, in my own way.
First off, I spent a lot of time just staring at pictures of this watch online. I mean, this thing is gorgeous. It’s got this classic look, you know? It’s super thin—like, ridiculously thin for a watch with all those complications. They call it “Ultra Thin” for a reason, I guess. It’s only 9.4mm thick, and 45.7mm from lug to lug. And the case is just 39mm in diameter. I started sketching it out, trying to get the proportions right. I measured my wrist, my existing watches, anything I could think of, really.
Then, I began to look into what makes this watch tick—literally. Turns out, Jaeger-LeCoultre is this old Swiss watchmaker, been around since the 1800s. They’re known for making these intricate movements, and the one in this watch is no exception. It’s got a perpetual calendar, which is, like, this super complicated mechanism that tracks the date, day, month, and even leap years, without needing to be adjusted. I watched a couple of videos on how these things are made. It’s insane!
I started to think, how can I imitate this masterpiece? I’m no watchmaker, that’s for sure. But I’m pretty good with my hands. I decided to focus on the aesthetics first. I began to collect similar-looking watches. I found some dials that had a similar vibe, with those Dauphine hands and the applied hour-markers. These watches had the same curved lugs, just like the 40-mm case of the new Master Control Calendar. It wasn’t the same, of course, but it gave me a starting point.
Next, I dove into the world of 3D printing. I know, it sounds crazy, right? But hear me out. I designed a case that mimicked the thinness of the Jaeger-LeCoultre. It wasn’t easy, took me a bunch of tries to get the dimensions right. I printed a few prototypes, tweaked the design, printed again. It was a whole process.
After I had the case, I started working on the dial. This was tricky. I ended up using a high-resolution image of the actual watch dial and printed it on this special kind of paper. It’s not the same as the real deal, obviously, but it looked pretty darn good from a distance. I even tried to imitate the moon phase complication by, get this, using a tiny LED and a piece of painted acetate. When you press a button on the side of the case, it lights up. Cheesy, I know, but it was fun to make.
Finally, I put it all together. I used a simple quartz movement for the inside—nothing fancy, just something to make the hands move. I assembled the whole thing, and you know what? It didn’t turn out half bad. It’s obviously not a Jaeger-LeCoultre, and it doesn’t have any of the fancy complications, but it kinda looks like one. At least, I think it does.
So, there you have it. My little imitation project. It was a lot of work, but I learned a ton about watches, about design, and about my own limits. And hey, I ended up with a pretty cool-looking watch, even if it’s just a shadow of the real thing. Would I do it again? Probably. It was a blast. And who knows, maybe one day I’ll actually get my hands on a real Jaeger-LeCoultre. A guy can dream, right?
Here are some highlights of what I did:
- Studied the Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Ultra Thin Perpetual Calendar.
- Sketched and took measurements for the design.
- Researched Jaeger-LeCoultre’s history and watchmaking.
- Collected similar-looking watches for inspiration.
- Designed and 3D printed a watch case.
- Created a replica dial using an image and special paper.
- Imitated the moon phase with an LED and painted acetate.
- Assembled the watch with a quartz movement.
It was a wild ride, but totally worth it. Hope you enjoyed hearing about my little adventure!
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