Jaeger-LeCoultre Grand Reveil: A Grand Revival

George Foreman. Alex Zanardi. Aerosmith. Everybody loves a comeback made good. When the comeback kid is a former superstar, even better. For Jaeger-LeCoultre, the 1989-1993 Grand Reveil exorcised the demons of the 1970s and 80s and declared to the world that La Grande Maison of the Vallée de Joux had returned to glory.

After what amounted to a 130-year winning streak (including 110 years under family control), Jaeger-LeCoultre hit the 1970s like Casey Jones. First, the disruptive onslaught of cheap eastern-built quartz watches stripped JLC of its business in the volume segment of the watch market. At the same time, many of JLC’s prestige clients including Audemars Piguet, Patek Philippe, and Vacheron Constantin curtailed their orders as the global economic turmoil of the period sapped demand for luxury goods.

Finally, the company passed through a series of middling corporate stewards after the 1948 death of guiding light and patriarch Jacques-David LeCoultre. The rot of neglect was showing by the mid seventies.

By the early 80, the company began to show signs that it was ripe for a renaissance. The 1982 revival of the signature Reverso revolving watch and the 150th Anniversary “Jubilee” series of 1983 limited editions proved that JLC still had a pulse, but the halo watch, the definitive statement of a comeback contender, remained a work in progress.

Meanwhile in Schaffhausen, IWC, led by its master watchmaker and complications specialist, Kurt Klaus, in 1985 released the DaVinci perpetual calendar. Designed to tap the newly resurgent market for luxury mechanical watches, the DaVinci perpetual was on the vanguard of a mounting revolution in complicated Swiss watches. A full perpetual calendar and moon phase with the unprecedented flexibility to set all indications via a single control, the IWC system represented the cutting-edge of high horology in its day.

At the time, IWC and JLC were corporate cousins under the umbrella of German telecom parentage. While hobbled and unfashionable, JLC remained a formidable engineering power, and IWC had become dependent on its francophone opposite number for base movements. When the Klaus perpetual module debuted, JLC saw its opportunity to call in favors, and the firm’s comeback watch was born.

The 1989 Jaeger-LeCoultre Grand Reveil was the first watch of its kind. A comprehensive perpetual calendar with an alarm function, the Reveil was and remains a formidable complication. Following the rebirth of basic mechanical timepieces as luxury articles in the mid-1980s, industry trendsetters foresaw the coming age of complications that would define the 1990s.

JLC engineered its caliber 919 Grand Reveil not to impress but to overwhelm. Its 350+ components accompanied a feature-set that read more like a Swiss Army knife than a Swiss watch. The Reveil had it all.

Klaus’ perpetual calendar is the key that defines the structure of the dial. The Klaus system is a triple date – day, date, month – that adds year and decade indications for good measure. The 24-hour hand at 6 o’clock acts as a night-day indicator and conveniently illustrates the 10pm to 3am no-go zone in red; this is the time to avoid altering the time or calendar lest the engaged mechanism be damaged.

Not content to stop at five calendar indications, Klaus added a moon phase disc with 122+ year accuracy. Beyond the unique mass of information, the Klaus system also incorporates a level of user-friendly handling ease that was singular in 1989 and remains exceptional to this day.

While the IWC DaVinci required the user to set all calendar indication from the time-fixing crown, JLC separated this function into a distinct pusher. JLC’s solution spares its users the aggravation of accidentally advancing the calendar while setting the time. Moreover, the JLC calendar crown – it’s located at eight-thirty – retains the Klaus signature of permitting the adjustment of all calendar functions from a single pusher.

Simply push the unscrewed crown, and all calendar indications advance in sequence. Even better, the JLC pusher-crown also screws down to secure the mechanism from strikes and moisture.

Along with Ulysse-Nardin’s Ludwig Oechslin and Swatch/Audemar Piguet’s Maurice Grimm, Kurt Klaus is a name that should be counted on the list of modern horology’s founding fathers. Klaus was part of a generation of master watchmakers who took high complications from the realm of bespoke orders and temperamental mechanisms to the present day of series production and reliable movements.

More than a mere designer name, Klaus ranks among the select architects of the contemporary watch universe, and the Grand Reveil ranks among the most representative embodiments of his genius.

As impressive as the Klaus perpetual is, the Grand Reveil is so much more. Consider the alarm system. While alarm watches have been a Jaeger house specialty since the 1950 debut of the caliber 489 “Wrist Alarm” (later memovox), the shortcoming of the system had been the inherent acoustic limitations of small wristwatch cases. While the firm had experimented with triple-chamber resonators in 1960s dive alarms, the real breakthrough arrived with the Grand Reveil.

Drawing inspiration from gongs in traditional Chinese temples, JLC designed a circumferential bronze surface that would serve as target for the alarm’s striker. The entire bronze ring runs alongside the inner case walls but is suspended only at its two anchor points. JLC’s bronze gong elevated the alarm watch from aural oddity to legitimate wakeup tool. The Grand Reveil lives up to its name in every sense, and its volume, rich tone, and sustain endow it with the auditory punch of a small alarm clock.

Make no mistake; JLC gave the Grand Reveil a very distinctive face. This fact is the watch’s most challenging facet. As a standard-bearer for the brand, the Grand Reveil embodies all of the design cues that defined JLC in the late 80s. The fluted lugs, double stepped bezel, and snow-white dial were characteristic of JLC’s flagship Odysseus line of the time. But the standout features of the case are the triple crowns and crown guards, and they are best understood in context.

Despite the IWC calendar module, the Grand Reveil is a JLC first and foremost, and JLC’s heritage was built on alarm watches. The memovox case shape with its multiplicity of crowns is iconic to the brand. From the original 1950 caliber 489 to the “supercompressor”-cased dive watches of the 1960s to the gargantuan alarm divers of the early seventies, JLC never shied away from showcasing the memovox crowns.

The Grand Reveil was designed to reconnect JLC to that heritage. After the company’s diversion playing me-too in the quartz wars of the late 1970s, there was a strong drive within the firm to return to Jaeger’s roots. The Grand’s highly sculpted case and 18-karat yellow gold meant that the 1989 iteration of the model verged on visually overpowering. By 1993, JLC recognized the need to soften the look, and variants in platinum and rose gold were issued in runs of 250 units each.

While the yellow gold 1989 “Grand” is a love-hate piece, the rose gold limited edition exudes palpable warmth. The 1993 rose gold Grand Reveil  may be the most appealing member of its historic family. The rose-tinted case accentuates the complex contours of the bezel and lugs. While the yellow gold and platinum variants reflect a uniformly brilliant gleam from all surfaces, the interplay of light and dark is more pronounced on the rose gold Reveil. Whereas platinum and yellow gold sparkle and flare like fire, rose gold glows like embers.

The dial is an exceptional piece worthy of JLC’s comeback statement. A true enameled cadran, the dial has been hand-painted and kiln-fired. The result of this exotic treatment is a combination of depth, luster, and age-defying richness that is as rare as it is beautiful. It will never fade, oxidize, or discolor.

JLC’s Grand Reveil enamel dial features porcelain white expanses punctuated by the royal blue of the printed alarm minute track. Red Arabic numerals jump from the peak of the 24-hour dial’s “danger zone.” Rose gold chapter rings on the sub dials add definition to the white expanse, and the fire-oxidized blue skeleton hands are beautifully consonant with the matching hue of the moon phase.

This is a special watch that grabs attention on first glance and holds an aficionado in its thrall. Some watches are easily appreciated and quickly forgotten; they contain very little that is dissonant, complex, and challenging. The Grand Reveil is charismatic, complex, and redolent of its heritage; it has more than character; it has soul.

It’s impossible to confuse the Reveil with any other watch – or even another JLC. While it pays deference to heritage, it’s every inch the singular statement that a comeback watch should be. In 1989, this monster complication declared to the industry and collectors alike that Jaeger-LeCoultre was back as a force in the haut-de-gamme sector.