Jaeger-LeCoultre Duo Plan

LeCoultre - A steel 'Duoplan' wristwatch

circa 1926, number 63235, square white dial with black baton markers and blued hands, mechanical 'backwind' crown wind movement, rectangular case, 16mm wide, front with spring-loaded sliding aperture, verso hinged at 12H, numbered, to an aftermarket steel adjustable bracelet, presented in an unmarked fitted case In the early 1920s watch companies faced a dilemma. There was a fashion for smaller watches but decreasing the size of a watch – either with thinner cases or smaller movements - always comes at the cost of reliability. To combat the reliability issue, in 1925, Jaeger-LeCoultre launched the revolutionary Duoplan movement. Contrary to classic layouts, these movements were arranged along two planes: The lower level contained the barrel and most of the gear train and the upper level the escapement. This effectively doubled the space for their movement in the smaller watch cases and introduced reliability into miniature watchmaking. This example features a spring-loaded dial cover which must be retracted to view the watch and was arguably the forerunner to JLC's famous 'reverso' watch case, introduced in 1931. Condition Report Crystal: Complete. Some very minor surface scratches, visible under 10x magnification Dial: In fair to good condition. Some looses to the white along the top edge, viewable under 10x magnification Movement: Runs for a short while and then stops. Crown operates satisfactorily, and the hands move freely in both directions Case: Some minor surface scratches and scuffs, as to be expected, and commensurate with age and use. The spring cover operates satisfactorily.