Despite its remarkable track record, Manufacture Jaeger-LeCoultre had not produced any true Grand Complication calibres prior to the Master Gyrotourbillon presented in 2004. Traditionally, a Grand Complication movement is one comprising at least three complications – chronograph, perpetual calendar and minute repeater in the most classic examples –; not one with a complication regarded as ‘grander’ in the sense of more sophisticated than others that are easier to produce. For its first incursion into this realm, the “Grande Maison” in the Vallée de Joux created a watch equipped with a tourbillon adapted to wristwatch format, a running equation of time and a perpetual calendar. The Jaeger-LeCoultre Gyrotourbillon was one of the first tourbillons to be developed specifically for wristwatch movements. The original 1801 invention aimed to compensate for variations in rate due to the vertical position, which was significant for nineteenth-century watches worn in waistcoat pockets. In wristwatches, the tourbillon is more prestigious than truly functional. Jaeger-LeCoultre took part in the evolution of the tourbillon by making the regulating organ revolve around two axes instead of just one. Based on advanced studies, the desired compensation is achieved by a traditional carriage paired with an internal carriage inclined at a 90° angle. The Gyrotourbillon is an eminently fascinating spherical tourbillon. Everything about the Master Gyrotourbillon 1 watch contributes to highlighting this innovation. The equation of time – a rare complication indicating the difference between true solar time and conventional mean time – is of the ‘running’ variety. Instead of a less complex but more intrusive graduated counter, it uses a sun-tipped additional minutes hand. The display is incorporated within the time display on a dial that is open in the centre to echo the tourbillon. The overall visual harmony is completed by retrograde indications of the substantial power reserve and the perpetual calendar. The latter, in addition to visible date and month indications, comprises a leap-year cycle which has been moved to the back of the watch, being rarely consulted for normal read-offs and serving essentially for adjustments. The Gyrotourbillon is a major innovation that Jaeger-LeCoultre presents in numerous ways, not only through the variations of the Master Gyrotourbillon 1, but also in new configurations showcased in the Reverso Gyrotourbillon 2 and the Master Grande Tradition Gyrotourbillon 3. Jaeger-LeCoultre followed these, in 2019, with the Master Grande Tradition Gyrotourbillon Westminster Perpétuel – a masterwork whose three complications are among the most representative of the watchmaker’s art: a constant-force, dual-axis Gyrotourbillon, a minute repeater playing the four-phrase Westminster chimes, and a perpetual calendar whose date mechanism can be adjusted forwards and backwards.

• First Grand Complication by Jaeger-LeCoultre in wristwatch form • First version of the Gyrotourbillon revolving on two axes