THE SOUND MAKER EXHIBITION

Swiss contemporary artist, Zimoun, employs simple raw materials and repurposed industrial components, including watch parts – and, in doing so, redefines traditional ideas of sculpture, movement and sound, drawing the audience into an almost transcendent world of sensory experience.

Zimoun’s new installation creates a unique aural signature for Jaeger-LeCoultre, evoking the sounds of nature and of the Manufacture, as well as capturing the rippling of light on the surface of the lake seen from the watchmaking ateliers.

When commissioning the new work, Jaeger-LeCoultre invited the artist to spend time in the Vallée de Joux, where he was able to absorb the valley’s natural sounds, and also spend time with the specialists who work on chiming watches within the Manufacture.

Discover the history of invention and innovation that made important foundations in watchmaking. In the 1820s, Antoine LeCoultre and his father invented a new type of music box ‘keyboard’. Cut from a single piece of metal and shaped like a comb (peigne in French), this invention improved the quality of the sound, and prevented the instrument from detuning. This finely decorated tortoiseshell music box is equipped with the LeCoultre mechanism.

Travel through the history of Minute Repeater pocket watches, tracing their link with music boxes and progressing through a collection of La Grande Maison’s most innovative and important timepieces, some of which have never before been displayed in public.

Learn the fascinating story of the Memovox, Jaeger-LeCoultre’s celebrated alarm calibre, from a series of historic models and ingenious developments to the latest models. Discover why the Memovox calibre has become the reference for alarm complications.

Inspired from the first Memovox watches of the 1950s, this new generation of alarm watches incorporates a comprehensively revised self-winding calibre 956. Previously, Memovox watches had a closed case-back, to which the gong was attached; however, the new timepiece has a transparent sapphire back and a complete redesign of the striking mechanism, with the gong now attached to the case side. Though, one important element remains unchanged, the signature “school bell” sound of the alarm, which lends such charm to Memovox.

A signature Jaeger-LeCoultre timepiece, the timepiece displays its prestigious lineage with the Memovox sports models, whose alarm served as an audible signal to remind divers that it was time to return to the surface. The Polaris Mariner design includes a unidirectional notched rehaut, skeletonized hands of different shapes and colors, power gauge and water resistance of up to 300 meters. Another differentiating element of this new model is the orange ring that is only visible when the crown at 3 o’clock is not screwed on, reminding the wearer that they have not adjusted the rehaut, leaving it free to any risky manipulation.

The Master Grande Tradition Gyrotourbillon Westminster Perpétuel represents the epitome of horological creativity and ingenuity by bringing together a panoply of chiming innovations and improvements that were first debuted by Jaeger-LeCoultre. Featuring the fifth multi-axis tourbillon with a size reduction in the redesigned tourbillon component to create a more wearable watch and a Westminster carillon minute repeater that replicates the chime of the famed Big Ben clock tower in London, with a silence-reduction mechanism to optimise melody cadence.

The Master Grande Tradition Calibre 945 harnesses more than a century and a half of accumulated expertise. This masterpiece of mechanical engineering incorporates two of the most romantic yet technically challenging complications in horology – a minute repeater and a celestial vault. The complex mechanism is further elevated by an orbital flying tourbillon.

The Sound Maker Exhibition was inaugurated at Guangdong Hall, Chengdu on November 10, 2020, with Friend of the Maison, Jing Boran. The exhibition debuted the earliest and most historically significant Jaeger-LeCoultre’s chiming masterworks and highlighted the year-long celebration of the art of sound.

The Sound Maker Exhibition celebrated the art of sound this past June 16th in Seoul, South Korea at DDP (Dongdaemun Design Plaza) with the presence of Korean actor and Friend of the Maison, Kim Woo-Bin. The exhibition revealed the inner secrets of how chiming watches work; and how it honours the skill of the artisans who have employed their rare crafts to embellish the most precious timepieces.

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