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Field report: JLC Master Geographic

Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2018 10:21 pm
by Wis
The field report concept
Watches are of course made to be worn, and are made for different conditions or use. A field report takes this seriously, and presents a test of the specific properties that makes a watch suitable for the conditions under which it has been tested.

The watch
The Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Geographic has seen several iterations. This one is the antepenultimate, and is dating from 2002. WR is 5 atm. It has a leather strap with a singel fold deployant clasp. Diameter is 39 mm and height is 10 mm.
Its main feature is the ability to display two timezones, and the selection of the second timezone via a dedicated crown and a city/timezone aperture at six. There is also a day/night indicator for the second timezone. It has a date subdial and a power reserve indicator. It is an automatic. There are tiny strips of lume on the main hands.

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Test conditions
I travelled first through six timezones, and then three more after a few days. The destinations were big cities, so no rough conditions. There were heavy rain for two days. Temperatures varied from about zero to plus fifteen Celsius. It was used both indoors and outdoors, in both bright and dark conditions.

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Wearability
The dimentions of the watch ensure a very high degree of wearability, but the single deployant clasp is less comfortable than a double deplyant or a pin buckle. Still, comfortable enough to wear all day and for a number of consecutive days.

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Main feature: dual timezones
Many would probably prefer a GMT function when travelling to different timezones. However, the dual or second timezone feature of the Master Geographic is both easy to read and easy to operate, as well as more interesting both visually and mechanically. Actually the movement has more parts than one of JLC’s perpetual calendar watches. The crown at 10 makes selecting a timezone both very easy, fast and quite fun.

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Usefulness
The second timezone feature is very easy to use. Simply turn the crown at 10 and choose the appropriate timezone. I used the second time sub dial as the present time, and kept my home time permanently on the main dial. This made it unneccesary to adjust anything but the second timezone display. It did, however, make the day/night indicator useless, since I obviously could see whether it was day or night where I was. The date would also be wrong for up to nine hours per day. The main benefit was that I didn’t have to adjust the watch at all. Of course, I could have had local time on the main dial, and home time on the second time sub dial, but that would have necessitated more adjustments.

It proved really useful to have two timezones at a glance. Six, and especially nine timezones, is complicated to compute, especially after a few gin tonics and with sleep deprivation caused by severe jetlag. Also, adjusting from six to nine timezones took only a few half turns of the selector crown. It couldn’t have been any easier. Having my home time available at a glance was useful

The watch is also quite versatile. Formal enough for any but the most formal of occasions, and sporty enough for most casual attire. With the obvious exception of swimwear.

During the field test it performed admirably outdoors and indoors, on planes, in taxies, on foot and on buses. It did the job in broad daylight as well as in a dark opera house and an even darker bar.

The verdict
The Master Geographic is both stylish and useful when travelling across timezones, where the conditions does not include strenous sporting or leasure activities or very wet conditions. It does the job of keeping you informed about two timezones perfectly, and changing timezone is supremely easy. The highly polished or blue hands ensure good visibility in all but the darkest conditions. Highly recommended for travel to urbane destinations. The watch is equally at home in a serious business meeting as in the bar or at the opera afterwards.


Concluding remarks
Maybe this slightly tongue-in-cheek review will inspire others to review their watches used under the conditions they were ment for. Consider this a challenge if you will.

Re: Field report: JLC Master Geographic

Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2018 10:57 pm
by Thunder1
Bjorn, both a great watch & an informative read!!..keep them coming..

Re: Field report: JLC Master Geographic

Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2018 12:16 am
by Thegreyman
Beautiful watch and good to see the complications being used. Glad it withstood the rigours of the field test!

Re: Field report: JLC Master Geographic

Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2018 7:44 am
by Thermexman
Great to see such a lovely watch being rigorously tested to within an inch of it's life. :thumbup: :clap:

Re: Field report: JLC Master Geographic

Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2018 2:51 pm
by downer
Always enjoy real-life and long(ish)-term ownership reviews, and find them far more interesting than the so-called expert launch reviews for new watches.

This particular watch is very nice, even if I think I would find it too complex and busy for my tastes.

Thanks for posting, Bjorn. :thumbup:

Re: Field report: JLC Master Geographic

Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2018 6:51 pm
by blowfish89
Thanks Wis. I enjoyed it and am planning to create a similar thread soon

Re: Field report: JLC Master Geographic

Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2018 7:33 pm
by Wis
blowfish89 wrote:Thanks Wis. I enjoyed it and am planning to create a similar thread soon
Excellent. Looking forward to it.

Re: Field report: JLC Master Geographic

Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2018 7:39 pm
by Wis
Thanks all for your comments. The «report» was of course written as an admittedly weak parody of these kinds of watch reports, but the actual experiences are real. And I do wish to see more reports of actual use. If we would combine it with travel pictures it could be quite entertaining.