Jaeger-LeCoultre - 'Master Control 1000 Hours ' - Réserve de Marche - Automatic - Never Worn - Ref. No: 140.8.38.S - Men - 2000-2010

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Manufacture Jaeger-LeCoultre SA is Swiss luxury watch manufacturer founded by Antoine LeCoultre in 1833, based in Le Sentier, Switzerland. It has hundreds of inventions, patents, and more than one thousand movements to its name, including the world's smallest movement, one of the world's most complicated wristwatches (Grande Complication), and a timepiece of near-perpetual movement; in short, Jaeger-LeCoultre is one of the biggest names in the watchmaking world.
The earliest records of the LeCoultre family in Switzerland date from the 16th century, when Pierre LeCoultre (circa 1530 – circa 1600), a French Huguenot, fled to Geneva from Lizy-sur-Ourcq, France to escape religious persecution. In 1558, he obtained the status of “inhabitant” but left the following year to acquire a plot of land in the Vallée de Joux. Over time, a small community formed and in 1612, Pierre LeCoultre's son built a church there, marking the founding of the village of Le Sentier where the company's Manufacture is still based today.
In 1834, following his invention of a machine to cut watch pinions from steel, Antoine LeCoultre (1803-1881) founded a small watchmaking workshop in Le Sentier, where he honed his horological skills to create high-quality timepieces. In 1844, he invented the world's most precise measuring instrument at the time, the Millionomètre, and in 1847 he created a keyless system to rewind and set watches. Four years later, he was awarded a gold medal for his work on timepiece precision and Mechanization at the first Universal Exhibition in London.
In 1866, at a time when watchmaking skills were divided up among hundreds of small workshops, Antoine and his son, Elie LeCoultre (1842-1917), established the Vallée de Joux's first full-fledged manufacture, LeCoultre & Cie., pooling their employees’ expertise under one roof. Under this set-up, they developed in 1870 the first partially mechanised production processes for complicated movements.
By the same year, the Manufacture employed 500 people and was known as the “Grande Maison of the Vallée de Joux”, and by 1900, it had created over 350 different calibres, of which 128 were equipped with chronograph functions and 99 with repeater mechanisms. From 1902 and for the next 30 years, LeCoultre & Cie. produced most of the movement blanks for Patek Philippe of Geneva.
In 1903, Paris-based watchmaker to the French Navy, Edmond Jaeger, challenged Swiss manufacturers to develop and produce the ultra-thin movements that he had invented. Jacques-David LeCoultre, Antoine's grandson who was responsible for production at LeCoultre & Cie., accepted the challenge, giving rise to a collection of ultra-thin pocket watches, including the thinnest in the world in 1907, equipped with the LeCoultre Calibre 145.
The same year, French jeweller Cartier, one of Jaeger's clients, signed a contract with the Parisian watchmaker under which all Jaeger movements for a period of fifteen years would be exclusive to Cartier. The movements were produced by LeCoultre. Edmond Jaeger also acquired the patent for the atmospherically driven clock Atmos from its inventor Jean-Léon Reutter and licensed it to LeCoultre from 1936 for France, and in 1937 for Switzerland.
The collaboration between Jaeger and LeCoultre led to the company being officially renamed Jaeger-LeCoultre in 1937. Before that, LeCoultre of Switzerland and Jaeger of France also formed a company in England, Ed. Jaeger (London) Limited, in 1921 to make instruments for prestige car manufacturers. In 1927 Jaeger LeCoultre sold 75 per cent of the company to S Smith & Sons and in 1937 the company name was changed to British Jaeger Instruments Limited. The 1930 Bentley Speed Six also features gauges made by Jaeger and a clock by S. Smith & Sons.

Jaeger-LeCoultre first included a power reserve indicator or “réserve de marche” on the Powerwind in 1948, becoming the first company to put this signature complication into production. The power meter was placed on the dial, often in the 9-12 quadrant or at 12:00 o'clock. When the Master Control series was introduced in the 1990's, Jaeger-LeCoultre included a model named for this complication, the Réserve de Marche. The original model featured Cal. 928/2 but later models switched to the autotractor-based Cal. 938. All feature date by pointer at 2 00, small seconds at 6 00, and retrograde power reserve at 10 00. Over the years, a display back was added and, in 2012, the case was enlarged from 37 mm to 39 mm with a cleaner dial.
The Réserve de Marche remains a favorite model in the Jaeger-LeCoultre lineup, lauded for its go-anywhere look, clean styling, and useful complications.

Since Jaeger-LeCoultre's founding, the company has produced over 1,242 different calibres, registered approximately 400 patents and created hundreds of inventions.

Personal remark: every ultra-thin Jaeger Le-Coultre is surely a clever investment; fashion passes and changes, but the demand of connoisseurs for high quality always remains. Designing and making a small watch with a lot of complications is much more difficult than a big wristwatch with simple ETA or Sellita standard movement.

Movement:
- in-house automatic 938 calibre
- 1000 hours
- 43 hours power-reserve
- 41 jewels
- vibrations: 28.800A/h
- 273 parts
Case:
- stainless-steel, polished
- 37mm excl. crowns; 39,7mm incl. crown
- 9mm thick
- unique No: 2*****8 (for buyer only), best confirmation of authenticity
- transparent sapphire case back, screwed down with 4 screws
- polished bezel, fixed, multilayer
- anti-reflective sapphire crystal
Dial:
- snow-silver, chatoyant
- silver polished hour and minute hands, Arabic numerals and stylish hour batons
- blued sub-dials hands
- date sub-dial at 02:00 o'clock
- running seconds sub-dial at 06:00 o'clock
- power reserve indicator at 10:30 o'clock
- minute markers around outer rim
Strap:
- brand-new black Stailer anti-allergic genuine leather
- length ca. 20cm incl. wristwatch itself
- width: 20mm by lugs, 16mm by clasp
- fold-over clasp, polished stainless steel with logo
Water-resistant: 5ATM/50meters
Weight: 57 grams
Distinctive design.
High recognition value.
Excellent condition, never worn: the wristwatch comes from luxury watch-shop showcase; that's why the strap is replaced with brand new one (leather straps often suffer from temperature in shop windows due to powerful spotlights).
General professional pre-sale service was made in August 2026: the watch is keeping good time and working perfectly.
Chic wooden watch box.
Distributor's stock: the card isn't stamped.
For watches older than two years, “original warranty” means that the warranty card is included.
My personal authenticity and quality warranty: you will get warranty card (as pictured), fully completed, stamped and signed. My impeccable seller reputation speaks for itself: look at my feedbacks and sales ratings.
Insured, registered shipping worldwide with Intl. Express service — it’s not cheap, but it’s fast and reliable: two days within Europe and three days to the rest of the world.

All photos were taken personally by me and correspond to the exact wrist watch you are placing your bid on.

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