Letter from the Publisher

An EndUrInG TrAdITIOn
nevertheless, this rivalry regarding the number of
complications within a given timepiece should not make us
lose sight of the historical definition of a grand complication
watch. Traditionally, the latter comprises three horological
complications: the first provides an astronomical indication,
such as a perpetual calendar; the second features an audible
indication, such as a minute repeater; and the third generally
uses one or several extra hands to display an additional
indication, generally a chronograph.
In its new portuguese Grande Complication, IwC has
scrupulously complied with these precepts. This timepiece
comprises a minute repeater, a chronograph as well as a
perpetual calendar that not only displays the date, day and
• 114 Grand Complications, Vol. VII
month, but also the year, the
decade, the century and even
the millennium by means of a fourdigit
display. In another interpretation of
the original definition, the Jaeger-leCoultre Master Grande
Tradition Grande Complication unites a minute repeater, a
sidereal zodiac calendar and a flying tourbillon—which serves
as a hand pointing to the sidereal hours. This distinctive feature
is powered by a complex mechanism, with a disk below the
dial performing a full rotation in 24 hours and featuring a small
sun that indicates civil time around the rim. It is topped by a
second blue lacquered disk depicting the sky chart, to which
the flying tourbillon is affixed. The latter moves in step with
the sky chart, itself mounted on a ball-bearing mechanism.
presented in 2008 in a barrel-shaped case and re-issued
in 2010 in a round version, the Chapter One model by
the Maîtres du Temps picks up the idea of a tourbillon
combined with a pointer-type astronomical indications.
This unique creation combines a single-pusher column-
wheel chronograph, a retrograde calendar, a retrograde
dual time zone display as well as the day of the week and
moonphase on two rollers placed at 6 and 12 o’clock.
top left
IWC, Portugaise Grande Complication
top right
Jaeger-LeCoultre, Master Grande Tradition Grande Complication
bottom left
Maîtres du temps, Chapter One Round