“When in doubt, add tourbillon.” This might have been the mantra for many high-end watch brands since the dawn of the new millennium, and while the tourbillon trend is tired, it is far from being dead… a point proven by the latest pre-SIHH release coming in the shape of the new Jaeger-LeCoultre Geophysic Tourbillon Universal Time replica watches.
It was back in 2014 that we went hands-on with the first pieces from the re-launched Geophysic collection, a line of watches based on one of the numerous “sleeping beauties” (i.e., one of many discontinued vintage watch collections) of Jaeger-LeCoultre. Originally produced for a short time in 1958 and revived in 2014, the Geophysic has received a lot of love from the brand as we saw this vintage-inspired, classical-looking, elegant collection expand. The latest addition to it is called the Jaeger-LeCoultre Geophysic Tourbillon Universal Time and it is based on the Geophysic Universal Time.
This new Geophysic world timer is the first world time watch with a flying tourbillon (who knew there still were permutations of complications not yet exhausted by Swiss brands already?) and the third ever from Jaeger-LeCoultre to feature the manufacture’s Gyrolab balance-equipped tourbillon. Just like the Geophysics from the last few years, this piece also has some cool details hidden underneath its heavy platinum dress.
It’s a tough choice whether to start with the technical or the aesthetic details, but when we let our hearts decide… it’ll have to be the Gyrolab balance. I mean it has “gyro” and “lab” in its name, and that’s as nerdy as any major Swiss brand could possibly get!
The Gyrolab balance was developed for and debuted in the Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Compressor Extreme LAB from 2007 (it is here where we’ll note that many of us in team aBlogtoWatch would love to see more pieces from this bold and high-tech range of( Jaeger-Lecoultre replica watches). This meant a strong start, but we were soon let down by the apparent omission of this JLC-logo-inspired new balance from pretty much all JLC watches made thereafter – mind you, though, the mind-alteringly awesome Reverso Gyrotourbillon of 2016 also had it. So, the Gyrolab disappeared as quickly as it came and remained tucked away safely in the manufacture all the way until 2015, when the production-made Geophysic True Second and Universal Time finally received this “new” feature.