Power Reserve Indicator with an Automatic Movement?

Hi everyone,

When Jaeger-LeCoultre announced the new Master Control with integrated bracelet at W&W in April, I was immediately hooked. Yesterday I got to see the steel prototypes at the JLC boutique: really nice watches that wear great on the wrist.

The Power Reserve & Date version with subdials at 3 and 9 caught my eye in particular. But then it hit me: it's an automatic movement! And I started wondering: is a power reserve indicator on an automatic watch actually conceptually coherent?

My thinking: the only real use case is when I've been wearing another watch for a few days and want to know if this one still needs winding. But for that, I really only need binary info: has it still power or not. The granular display feels like overkill on an automatic.

On a hand-wound watch, the indicator makes complete sense and adds to the daily ritual. On an automatic that lives on my wrist, it seems more like a design element than a functional complication.

Curious to hear your takes. Is it an afterthought ("what should we put in the second subdial? Power reserve!") or am I missing a genuine use case?

I feel that a power reserve indicator is as entirely valid on an automatic as a manual.
As a for instance, for whatever reason your watch has not significantly wound during the day and it comes to bed time when you take it off, is there sufficient reserve for it still to be running 8 to 10 hours after? Or for that matter will it still be running after a weekend ready for the next worn working week. These are situations I have frequently encountered myself where the watch is not running after the lay up either short or long, so to me entirely valid.