What a watch!! Usually, I am not a big fan of retro-inspired watches but the Jaeger-LeCoultre Geophysic 1958 has made me take a long look at that position. The original was launched in 1958, which was a good year for Jaeger-LeCoutre as it was the 125th anniversary of the brand, and was also the world’s first International Geophysical Year, which JLC ended up making a watch for its most dangerous expedition – an underwater sojourn to the North Pole.
The original Geophysic is an exceedingly rare watch with just 1,038 pieces in steel and 30 in solid gold – this is because it was only made for one year. A business blunder? Who can say…? I’d love to say that the new Geophysic for this year won’t have the same problem but each of the case options (stainless steel, 18kt rose gold, and platinum) are going to be made in a limited series of 800 watches each.
The case is offered in a 38.5mm diameter, which is a 3.5mm upgrade to the original, and a case height of 11.4mm. The watch is fitted with crocodile leather straps, complementary to the case material. The bezel and lugs are polished, which give a dressy feel to this powerful timepiece. The case back features a depiction of the Geophysic logo. The screwed-in case back gives this watch a 100 meter water resistance.
The dial is pristine white with a cross bar design, which I rather like. There are Arabic numeral hour markers at the 3, 6, 9, and 12 positions and baton indexes making up the rest. The oversized sword shaped hands have yellow lume, which looks fantastic and stands out well against the dial.
The Jaeger-LeCoultre Geophysic 1958 carries a self-winding caliber 898/1, which is certified a chronometer by the COSC. The COSC defines a chronometer as a watch with a daily variance of less than -4/+6 seconds, the Jaeger-LeCoultre Geophysic 1958 has a daily variance of -1/+4 seconds when it is cased. Pretty impressive right? I think so. These watches hit retailers in October.
TAGS: Automatic Watches, Geophysic, Jaeger LeCoultre, Leather, Limited Edition, Mechanical Watches, Platinum, Sapphire Crystal, Selfwinding Watches, Stainless Steel, Swiss Made, Water Resistant