JLC Master Moon

I purchased this watch in September of 2004, and have been wearing it approximately 50% of the time since then. Recently it was announced that this watch would be discontinued, being replaced by the new Master Calendar that was released at SIHH this spring. In my view this is a shame, because the new version, although it adds a Reserve de Marche function that the Master Moon lacks, does not have the balanced look that the Master Moon does. They have also increased the case size to 40mm, much to my dislike. However, that is a discussion for another time…..

My watch is ref. 140.8.98.S. It is the stainless steel version (also available in rose gold and white gold) and has a silver/grey dial (was available with a black dial at one time).

Box/Packaging – I know that boxes are not the reason we buy watches, but I have to say the box for this watch is very nice indeed (well at least compared to the typical Rolex box). It’s a very nicely finished wood box, with fine leather on top and inside. The wood box comes inside a blue cardboard box that is also of high quality.

Manual/Documentation – The manual for this watch is also for several other models in the Master Control series. The instructions are clearly written and easy to follow. No complaints here. I have heard that you can write to Jaeger and get the 1,000 Hours Control Certificate for a given serial number of watch, but I have not tried this yet so can’t say for sure that it’s true.

Case/Strap – the stainless steel case is finished very well. It is 37mm in diameter, is highly polished on all surfaces, and there aren’t any sharp edges so it is very comfortable to wear. The watch wears bigger than 37 mm when on the wrist due to the large dial surface. The case is about 11 mm high, and the lugs are curved slightly so that it conforms to the wrist. The case back is sapphire giving a wonderful view of the finely finished movement. The crystal is also sapphire, and is cambered. The crown is set low on the case, and is rather small but this is not a problem since the watch is an automatic and the crown is only used for adjusting the time and day of the week. The case is equipped with 3 pushers, one for the date, one for the month, and one for setting the moon-phase display. A steel tool is included to actuate the pushers, but must be used carefully to avoid slipping and scratching the case. I personally use a wooden toothpick for making the adjustments. The watch is meant to be water resistant to 5 atmospheres, but it's certainly not something I would want to test.

The watch comes with a very high quality crocodile strap – mine is high gloss black but other colours are available. It is also equipped with a deployant clasp. I have a rather small wrist, so I find the delpoyant to be somewhat uncomfortable as I have the buckle adjusted to the second smallest hole in the strap. This causes a portion of the deployant to rest on the bone in my arm. I have read that others have turned the strap around to make it more comfortable, and I plan to try this soon. The deployant is sturdy, and fastens with a satisfying “click”. It takes some force to open and close the deployant, and I have no concerns with it coming undone on its own. The deployant has the full JLC logo cast into it, and the portion of the buckle that is exposed has the stylized “JL” logo. The watch is also available with a bracelet, but I have never tried one of those on so can’t speak to the quality and comfort, but most likely JLC has done a good job in this regard, based on what I have seen of their watches so far.

One thing I have discovered about the strap is that it is designed to use curved spring pins to attach the strap to the case. This should be considered when purchasing additional straps for this model, as it would look best with a strap made for curved pins.

Dial – the silver/grey dial has a very nice finish that at first glance appears to be very plain. Upon closer inspection, you can see that the dial has a graining pattern that helps reduce reflections. The hands are dauphine style with luminous strips down the middle, and there are luminous dots at the 12, 3, 6, and 9 o’clock positions. However, this is certainly not a watch that I would count on being able to read in the dark, as the luminous areas are quite small. There are Arabic applied numbers at 12, 3, and 9 o’clock, made of stainless steel and very nicely done. The 5 minute marks are in place around the dial, and are also stainless applied markers that are very visually appealing due to their three dimensional effect. There are no individual minute marks.

The watch uses a recessed sub-seconds dial at 6 o’clock, which has a small blued second hand, but no second track so you have to guesstimate the time to the second. This recessed area has a different finish than the rest of the dial, with a pattern of concentric circles that are very subtle. This area also has the moon-phase indicator, consisting of a dark blue wheel with yellow gold moon, and yellow gold stars. The progress through the moon’s phases can be tracked using the numbers surrounding the moon-phase display, from 0 to 29 ½ days.

The watch is a full calendar, so has the day of the week, month, date, and moon-phase. The day of the week and the month are displayed in two rectangular windows under the logo at 12 o’clock. The printing on these two functions is done in red ink. The date is done with a center hand that has a red-crescent shaped indicator at the end of it. It corresponds to the dates that are printed in black ink around the periphery of the dial. This hand has an offset in it that allows it to clear the applied markers around the dial.

Overall I find the dial to be classic in its appearance and very well balanced with the markers, hands, logo, date functions, and moon-phase all in superb proportion to each other. This is no surprise considering that JLC designed this watch with inspiration from their own calendar watches from the 1940’s.

Movement – the movement on this watch is finished very well. I would not say it is one of the best-finished movements out there, but it certainly is very pretty. The main decoration on the visible portion of the movement is Cotes de Geneve (Geneva bars) arranged in concentric circles. This watch runs the JLC 891/448/2 movement, which is fitted with a pin regulation system. The movement oscillates at 28,800 vph, and has 275 parts. It has 36 jewels, and since this is a Master Control series watch, has completed the rigorous 1,000 hours testing regimen. The rotor for the auto winding mechanism is made from stainless steel, but has a 22 carat yellow gold segment mounted to its outer edge to give it the weight needed to be an efficient winder. The watch has a very satisfying “whirr” sound when the rotor is winding it, and I often hear this when I move my arm close to my ear.

The watch has a power reserve of 40 hours. The month, day of the week, and date functions are all slow changing and happen around midnight. The moon-phase indicator is also slow changing, and happens around noon each day. I assume that JLC did this to conserve power. You should not make any adjustments to the functions that are in the process of changing, so for the moon-phase that means no changes between 12:00 PM and 4: 00 PM, and for the other functions no changes should be made between 8:30 PM, and 3:30 AM. I usually make whatever changes I need to early in the morning, around 6:00 AM.

I have found this watch to very accurate over the 10 months I have owned it. Whether on my wrist, or on a winder, this watch runs on average about 0.5 seconds fast per day. I am not an accuracy freak, so I don’t check my watches that often, but when we changed from standard time to daylight savings this spring, I set the time using the USNO Master clock through the internet (I know this is only so accurate). However, in checking the time some 2 months down the road, the watch had only gained approx. 30 seconds.


The Purchase – I looked in Toronto for this watch for some time before finding one. I was originally looking at buying this used, but the primary “reputable” watch reseller in the city did not have one in the several trips I made there to see what they had. I eventually found this watch at Birks Jewelers in Toronto’s Bloor-Yorkville shopping area, known for its luxury retailing establishments (Canada’s version of 5th Avenue). I looked at several of the JLC’s they had in stock at Birks, and unlike many stories I’ve read where the salesperson did not know their watches, the man that sold me this watch was indeed a WIS. He was the manager of the watch department, and spent a great deal of time with me discussing this watch and the other options at hand (the other watch I seriously considered was the JLC Master Ultra-Thin – a watch I still have on my radar). He also helped with the most critical item in this purchase, which was convincing my wife to let me buy this piece. This watch retails for $8,000 Canadian, and I managed to get a 20% discount on this purchase, which I thought was a decent discount for a BNIB stainless steel watch. In addition to discussing the idea of what to have in a complete watch collection, the manager at Birks gave me two issues of the Watch Time special issue on JLC. He gave me one to keep, and one to sell with the watch if I ever decided to sell it.

Since buying this watch and the announcement that JLC would discontinue this model, I have looked into buying the rose gold version. That model is exactly double the price of the SS model, and I just can’t justify spending that much money on it at this time. I did have a line on a new one from a watch dealer who was offering a 30% discount, but that still leaves a large bill that I’m not willing to deal with at this time. I may keep my eye open for a used RG MM at some time in the future.

Summary – This is the only watch that I have had someone pay me a compliment on, out of the blue. I like the fact that most people do not know what it is or how much it costs, but a few people have commented that it looked very nice. This is contrast to my Rolex, where the only comments I have ever received have been someone asking “Is it real?”

If you haven’t already guessed, I love this watch. Although not technically a formal dress watch, it fills that role in my collection, but is also at home when wearing business casual attire, or with jeans. I plan to try reversing the strap as noted earlier, and also would like to try different colour straps to see how the overall appearance of the watch changes. I think JLC certainly makes watches that are very good value for the money when compared to some other brands. They are a true manufacture, and produce a small number of watches each year when compared to some other big names. It is truly a shame that the Master Moon was chosen to be discontinued, and my advice would be to get one while you can.

Images to follow.

Al

Shot of the watch, taken today! Large scan (apologies to those on dial-up).

Here's a movement shot taken a while back:

Some other shots:

[Rockrolex]

Beautiful watch, Al. I love JLCs also. Next to my GMT-II, I think my JLC Master Geographic is my second favorite watch.

[JJ Irani]

Great pics, Al, and I'm the only wanker here who's actually seen the watch for real. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyy

[Uncle-AJ]

Beautiful watch.

[padi56]

Great looking watch Imo would look better with nice blued hands.

[Rockrolex]

[QUOTE=padi56]Great looking watch Imo would look better with nice blued hands.[/QUOTE
Padi, is the word "tacky" in your dictionary?

[JJ Irani]

[QUOTE=Rockrolex]

Originally Posted by padi56

Great looking watch Imo would look better with nice blued hands.[/QUOTE
Padi, is the word "tacky" in your dictionary?

On this forum, it's more likely "whacky"!! LOL!

Al, exellent review of a stunning watch. I'm soooo envious! That is certainly on my dream 'must have' list.

[Andad]

A very special watch. congrats.

[fat-sam]

i love JLCs well done
congrats

[triplenet]

Great watch... I have the JLC Master 8 Days and its an amazing peice...

[frostie]

great looking watch and great pics. Enjoy it