Jaeger-LeCoultre’s famed Calibre 101 is once again in the spotlight, with the announcement of three new high-jewellery pieces created by the Métiers Rares™ – one new 101 Secrets, and two of the 101 Bangle model.

The new ‘Secret’ is also a new design. In pink gold and set with diamonds totalling almost 27 carats, it has a rivière-style bracelet featuring a new mechanism that reveals the secret (aka the dial) on demand.

The new 101 Bangles are both pièces unique – one in pink gold with a red lacquer dial with diamonds, and one in white gold with a snow-white lacquer dial, sapphires and diamonds.

Since its debut in 1929 as a movement to be used in jewellery pieces, the manually-wound Calibre 101 has remained the smallest mechanical movement as well as the enviable feat of being still in production, albeit in made-to-order pieces due to the time and skill involved in the creation of this ‘miniature’ movement in the jewellery watch designs.

Obviously, with the modernisation of production methods and materials the movement is not the exact same one as the one from 1929, but it’s size and, as they say, ‘movement architecture’, are the same. The current Calibre 101 has 98 components (compared with the original 78), measures 14mm x 4.8mm with a thickness of 3.4 mm, and weighs a whisper under a single gram. It has a power reserve of 33 hours.

First up, the new pink gold Calibre 101 High Jewellery Secrets Watch, whose case measures 29.07 x 12.22 mm with a thickness of 9.8mm and wrist size of 160mm.

With a mother-of-pearl dial and a total of 1,024 diamonds (26.75 carats), it features a design defined by four rows of stones – two outer rows of claw-set diamonds set on either side of a double row of grain-set diamonds. The profile of the bracelet is also set with diamonds. The gem-setting requires 182 hours to complete and the stones are (basically imperceptibly) graduated in sizing.

There are two ‘secrets’ to this new Secret. The first is of course that it is a watch, with the dial hidden until the wearer chooses to reveal it. The second is a new mechanism concealed within the rows of diamonds. When the hidden button is depressed part of the bracelet pops out to reveal the watch dial. Releasing the button leads to the section being returned and it looking, once more, like pure jewellery.

The 101 Bangle Watch made its debut in 2020, and these two new pieces go back both to the early years of the Calibre 101 in terms of design inspiration – Art Deco and Modernism.

The first piece is in pink gold, with the case measuring 18.35nm x 5.98mm with a thickness of 5.97mm and wrist size of 160mm. There are 996 diamonds (19.7 carats) graduating in size and with both griffe and grain-setting. Again, the profile of the bracelet is also set with diamonds. Opening and closing the bracelet is via a hidden lock. In an unexpected colour choice, the dial is red lacquer.

The second 101 Bangle uses white gold, for the first time. The case has the same dimensions as the pink gold piece but its thickness is 5.47mm. Wrist sizing is identical to the other two new pieces.

It features a row of brilliant-cut sapphires, graduating in size and wrapping around the wrist. There are also sapphires set into the profile of the bracelet, along with white diamonds for a total of 347 sapphires (10.29 cts) and 645 diamonds (10.99 cts). The dial is more low key for this piece – white lacquer.

It’s easy to sometimes forget that there’s parts of a brand’s history that may not be blockbuster headline-grabbing items but which are still there (and available) if you want them, and whose technical importance to the history of a brand is still relevant, and impressive. The Calibre 101 is one of those things.

[Photo credit: Jaeger-LeCoultre]

Categories: Jaeger-LeCoultre, Limited Editions, watches, Women's watches