Jaeger LeCoultre Master Compressor GMT review

This is a cross-post from another watch forum, but since I'm the author I think I'm entitled to do so...

Ladies and gentlemen of the JLC forum, I humbly offer you an in-depth review of my latest arrival and first ever watch from this illustrious house, the Master Compressor GMT (MC GMT hereafter). I was quite thrilled recently to find one in pristine condition for sale on Timezone. I attempted to learn a bit more about the watch, but was unable to find a comprehensive review anywhere. That is probably because at the time of its introduction (2008) there were relatively few people writing online reviews. So you might even consider this a service to fellow watch lovers who are interested in this particular model. The truth though is that I enjoy writing watch reviews and am doing it for my own – and hopefully your - delight.


(image by the author)*

I come from a long line of Omegas and, more recently, IWCs, so it would be a reasonable assumption that I aspired to “graduate” to JLC. Reasonable, but also wrong. In fact, there are only two JLC models that I really like, the Tribute to Deep Sea (European) and the Navy SEALS Alarm. The first is unfortunately beyond my financial reach while the second (at 44mm) is too large for my tastes. Then there is the Geophysic 1958 (<b>not</b> the true seconds one), a marvel of sophisticated simplicity, but – being self-employed and working from home - I have little use for the dressier end of the watch spectrum.
So how, may you ask, did I arrive to own the MC GMT? In my search for a good and somewhat sporty watch (read: robust movement and decent water resistance) I came across the Master Hometime, a very fine watch, but too dressy again and too little WR. Then I was fortunate enough to find an MC GMT (thank you, victorescu!) and jumped at it without any second thought. So, without further ado, here comes the review itself – if you’re still with me after this long rant.

MEASURABLE PROPERTIES

Diameter – 41.5mm
Height – 13.2mm
Crown diameter – 7mm
Weight (with leather strap) – 101.7g
WR – 100m
Magnetic resistance – not stated
Accuracy – -2s/day
Power reserve – 48 hours (stated) – 51 hours (actual measurement)
Years of production – 2008-2012

CASE AND CROWN

At 41mm across, the case diameter – on paper, at least – is right in the middle of my admittedly narrow 40-42mm comfort zone. On the wrist, however, the watch looks and feels slightly smaller due to the steep downward angle of the lugs. The steel case has a very nice, rounded feel and is entirely devoid of sharp edges. That may be a traditional design approach, but it works quite well here. My only real complaint is that the entire case has an (outstandingly executed) mirror polish. Given the all-rounder nature of the watch, I think a satin polish would be both more fitting and less scratch-prone solution. The same goes for the bracelet (which I don’t yet have, but more on that later).



At 13.2mm it sits slightly higher than ideal on the wrist, but one does get used to it and it is also quite forgivable if you consider the whole package: robust (and 5.7mm high) movement, GMT complication and 100m WR. I’m also not quite sure that a case back held by four screws (as opposed to a screw-in case back) is the best solution for this type of watch, but who am I to argue with the company’s 183 years of experience? But on to the feature that gives one third of the watch name, JLC’s compressor crown. For those of you who are not familiar with it, instead of a screw-down crown this one has a butterfly screw-nut around the crown stem: one half-turn locks the crown for water resistance, and another half-turn back opens it for winding and setting. If you see a white arrow, that means the crown is locked and secure (while also showing you which direction to turn it to open) and if you see two red arrows, it means “do not dive with me until you turn the wings”! That in itself is a useful feature as it gives an immediate visual feedback – unlike screw-down crowns. Lacking the proper engineering knowledge and not having seen any diagrams of the compressor crown mechanism I cannot comment on any WR benefits or drawbacks compared to the traditional solution, but I can say this: despite my fears before wearing the watch, the crown and wings do not dig into my hand. The wings do, however, limit your grip on the otherwise pleasantly substantial signed crown (7mm) and it is slightly more difficult to pull out the crown to one of the setting positions.

DIAL AND HANDS

I will not add any words that are redundant to the images, just my personal observations. The obelisk-shaped (for want of a better description) hands, while somewhat unusual, both look good on a sports watch and are perfectly legible due to the polished areas. The same stands for the (yet again) somewhat unusual hour markers, four of which are full-size, while another four are truncated to make room for the 24-hour and seconds sub-dial. Both the hands and hour markers have ample real estate for the green lume. Having said that, the lume is nothing to write home about: on a scale of 1 to 10 – 10 being any Seiko sports watch and 8 any Omega diver – I would give it a 6 with some leniency. The only hour numeral on the dial is a fairly large decal-style 9, accentuating the sporty nature of the watch while also providing counterbalance to the double-framed date window. This window design – alas, also carried over to later models of the compressor line – means that the date wheel sits in a pit and is almost impossible to read from anything but a straight-on view.



The upper half of the 24-hour sub-dial at 12 o’clock is medium grey, while the lower half is black, offering a perfectly visible, yet discrete day-night indication. The dial also has a lot of text on it: Compressor GMT on the rehaut from 12 to 2 o’clock, brand name and logo at 9 and Automatic at 3. All of this information is also available on the case back, so why put it here? At least “Automatic” (do you ever forget that the watch you’re wearing is automatic?) is in red, so from a distance it does somewhat blend into the black of the dial.

FUNCTIONS

Date, hours, minutes, seconds at six, 24-hour indicator at 12 and a second, skeletonised hour hand that can either display a second time zone or be conveniently hidden under the main hour hand. At the first pull of the crown you can adjust the primary hour hand (i.e. local time) in one-hour jumps forward or back. This will also move the date when you go past midnight in either direction due to the Maltese cross date forwarding wheel. This also means that unlike the almost instantaneous date change of the spring-loaded mechanisms, the change takes about two hours. Not a big issue for me. Whenever I’m still awake around midnight, I rarely consult my watch for the date.



Although this is called a GMT watch, unlike traditional GMT watches - as defined by the first Rolex GMT Master released in 1954 (ref. 6542, aka Pussy Galore) – that have a GMT hand making one revolution every 24 hours, here you do need the 24-hour indicator to tell you whether it’s AM or PM. Your mileage may vary, but I actually find this quite an elegant solution due to the ability to hide the secondary hour hand when not needed.

MOVEMENT

The watch is equipped with a 975H movement introduced in 2004 and designed to be a robust automatic movement with small seconds, second time zone and 24-hour indicator. It has ceramic ball bearings requiring no lubrication, a gold outer weight on the rotor, variable inertia balance and a new, more efficient tooth profile on the gear train wheels. The stated power reserve is 48 hours. And the whole watch, of course, underwent JLC’s rigorous 42-day in-house testing process, which should – and as far as anecdotal evidence goes, does – provide peace of mind in that any hidden production defects should have been discovered and rectified before the watch reaches the customer. The movement itself was amply covered by people with real expertise so I won’t make a fool of myself by discussing something I know little of. So I will only give you a quote from my very experienced watchmaker to whom I took the watch immediately upon its arrival, as the seller had no information about its service history – better safe than sorry. He said “it may not look spectacular, but with proper care it should outlive you, your children and grandchildren”. That’s more than good enough for me. Oh, and it runs at a constant +4 s/day – maybe not a stellar performance, but should I ever be required to launch orbital vehicles based on this watch, I’ll have it fine-tuned to within 1s/day.

STRAP AND CLASP

The watch comes on a black alligator strap with contrasting white stitching and a double deployment butterfly clasp. While these are of impeccable quality and do a perfectly good job of keeping the watch on your wrist, both the strap and clasp are better suited for a dress watch. The same stands for the stainless steel bracelet, whose polished surfaces together with the polished case offer too much sparkle. Having said that, I’m a dyed-in-the-wool bracelet guy and have already placed an order for an OEM bracelet. Thankfully, JLC is nowhere near as miserly in their bracelet pricing as some other Swiss manufacturers (looking at you, IWC!).




COMFORT AND WEARABILITY

While a slightly slimmer profile wouldn’t hurt, all dimensions and the overall looks of the watch are quite adequate for a “gentleman’s watch”. One can read the time (including the second time zone) at a glance, the lume does last a good few hours and while the watch head is a bit heavy for completely forgetting you’re even wearing a watch, it does comfortably slip under a cuff. The already mentioned steep downward angle of the lugs means that this watch would at home even on smallish wrists.


(image: victorescu)

THE FINAL WORD

I was able to secure this pre-loved watch at just under half the original MSRP. That is both good and bad – it means that now I finally have the ability to sample JLC quality, but it does not speak favourably for resale value from new. Then again, it might just be because this particular model is nowhere near as well-known as the Reverso, for example. Straddling the line between elegant and sporty will always involve some degree of compromise and here, I think, is where JLC should have struck a different balance and give the watch (and bracelet) a satin finish. Having said that, this is an excellent watch from one of the great Swiss houses and it still brings an idiotic grin to my face whenever I look at it. Will it stay in my collection for the rest of my days? I don’t know. Do I regret the purchase? Not a bit.


*Unless otherwise stated, all images are by me. Feel free to use them in their original form, but do extend the courtesy of giving credit to the author. Jaeger

Attached Images