I've owned three different JLC Masters in the past - all ended up getting sold, as I never really jelled with them, despite their obvious merits. These vintage inspired models have just been announced at SIHH. My immediate impression is that I like them a lot - there are some very obvious Patekesque design cues, but some interesting/controversial ideas too (blued skeleton hands?!). What do the members think ?
I think they had everything on target until the hands... I think some classic blued baton hands would have tied this piece together. As stated by @Larry S - I also think they sacrifice that "Patekesque" design when using that type of text for the 12,3,9. Far too modern for my taste. JLC ticks all the boxes for me, sometimes feel like they leave some design advancements on the table though. Happy Hunting, Thomas
The skeleton hands bother me but I don't mind the rest of the design. Big fan of JLC, more so in the past ( Kept a Reverso GD but sold Master Hometime ) and wouldn't mind getting a Deep Sea vintage chronograph one day.
I like a good sector dial like any vintage lover, but these missed the mark big time. That world time is particularly nasty.
By the way for some reason your first image is missing the chronograph pushers, but that has to be the best design of the bunch.
There we go : https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/jaeger-lecoultre-master-control-sector-dials-introducing
Do they realize that hands like that are intended to have lume in them? And that such hands make no sense on a dress watch? You can't go half way!
The placement of the date window on the Master Control Date is off to me, upsetting the symmetry of the dial.
I actually liked the Geographic the most. The symmetrically placed worldtimer disc is surprisingly uncommon exactly dead center at 6 o'clock I feel. The blue text on the worldtimer disc really pops! I almost wish the On the hands - personally I really like them. I really like the vintage 50's syringe hand look, but the vintage hands would always have lume filled in the middle. If they had gone with lume, they probably would've had to artificially age it, which would have looked a bit weird in a non-vintage-homage watch so I think the skeletonization is interesting and unique! I'm a little bit sick of brands (like JLC) just doing exact homage copies of past watches. Yes - the deep sea or 1931 reverso are classic watches, but after a while you need to start taking a risk and moving forward! Take a risk and stop being lazy! Longines and many other brands are a bit guilty of this too I think I also like the new Chronograph, much more than the current 3 sub register model, however agree that the bezel is a bit large... will have to try it on in person! the 12 and 6 are perhaps more complimentary than the 3-6-9 of the Geographic. The RRP prices of all 3 pieces are unbelievable, for a brand of JLC's quality and heritage.
One thing that does really annoy me though, is brands with stock photos of watches with blued hands. They always appear bright blue in stock photos, but in 99.9% of light conditions they do not come close to how bright they appear in these brand photos.