Some brands just absolutely own a particular niche. Richard Mille, for example. Not a brand we discuss in these pages a whole lot, but in terms of extremely lightweight sports watches sought after by tennis superstars and oligarchs in equal measure, they are the cream of the crop. Cartier owns extravagant shaped cases with meticulous design pedigree. Rolex is your go-to if you want a superior sports watch and have a strong desire to make an Instagram post captioned with “Got the call!” And then there?s Jaeger-LeCoultre. Jaeger-LeCoultre owns ?classic watchmaking.? I?m putting that in scare quotes because it?s kind of an annoyingly overused term, but in JLC?s case, it seems to actually apply. For better or worse, Jaeger-LeCoultre is stuck in a land that time forgot, and as much as we (that is to say, definitely me) might want them to really go for it and introduce a modern, daily-wear sports watch designed from the ground up, that?s just not what the brand seems interested in doing right now. Instead, we get watches like these new Master Control models, which are traditional, beautiful, and somewhat safe. JLC has made watches that look like this for almost as long as the manufacture has existed, and they show no signs of slowing down.
That isn?t to say that these watches don?t have some modern touches that make them compelling to a potential buyer in 2022. We?ll get to all of that. But for now, let?s focus on the aesthetic and the complications. Intere...