Price:
PRICE LOWERED- Asking $1850.
Dimensions:
Diameter: 30 mm wide, excluding crown
Thickness: 9.8 mm
Lug-to-Lug Length: 38.1 mm
Lug Width: 16 mm
Included with purchase:
The watch and the Speidel stitched cowhide strap in the photos. There is no box and there is no papers. I've included all the information I thought to include, but watch is sold 'as is', so please ask any questions!
Description:
The original case is in good condition for its age, but does show some wear. As far as I can tell, it hasn't been re-chromed, and the backside of the lugs really show the wear in the chrome. There's a considerable blemish on the edge of the steel caseback where previous owners (or their watchmakers) pried the caseback open for servicing. According to the previous owner, the combination of the chrome plated case and stainless steel caseback is an indication that the watch was originally WW2 military issue. The experts I've spoken to (more on that in a bit) weren't able to say if that's definitely true as examples have been found from ~1938 through 1945.
Jaeger-LeCoultre produced the manually-wound 463/A (17-jewel), 463/B (16-jewel), and 463/C (15-jewel) movements between 1938 and 1945. JLC designed all three variations of the 463 movement with an amplitude of 18,000 A/h and a power reserve of 40 hours. This watch houses the higher grade 17-jewel, gold-plated calibre 463/A movement which is clean and running crisply. The watch was reportedly last serviced in February 2018. A trusted watchmaker in Houston, TX sourced a replacement crystal for me last year when the previous one was lost. He gave the movement a look over at that time and recommended no further action at that time.
I purchased this JLC WWII-era officer’s watch from a private seller a couple years ago. The previous owner's claims about the dial being original has garnered a fair bit of debate, so full disclosure: after spending months talking to various experts who took a look at the watch under their scopes and comparing with other pieces they themselves had, I have no idea about whether or not the watch was re-dialed or not. No one was willing to make a definitive claim, and all three gave varying answers as to originality. I've included some links below for comparable pieces so you can decide for yourself, but as with the folks I spoke to, I'm not 100% convinced one way or the other.
1. https://www.chrono24.com/jaegerlecoultre/military-offiziersuhr-edelstahl-herrenuhr-1940er-jahre--ww2--id14585814.htm
2. https://theoandharris.com/shop/vintage-watches-sold/jaeger-lecoultre-6
3. https://www.watchuseek.com/threads/fs-jaeger-lecoultre-luftwaffe-black-military-wwii-vintage-1940s-cal-463-all-original.2576354/
4. https://www.classicwatch.com/discus/messages/622/19695.html?1196805079
5. https://www.watchuseek.com/threads/please-comment-on-this-463-jlc.2789698/
6. https://omegaforums.net/threads/vintage-jlc-jaeger-lecoultre-military-watch-not-proven-c-1942-luftwaffe-original-creamy-patina.51659
7. https://www.solariandcompany.com/product/rare-jaeger-lecoultre-military-wwii-463-nickle-finish-case-wrist-watch
8. https://www.classicwatch.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?t=498
All that said, the dial is in quite good, but not perfect condition. There are blemishes on the dial, particularly around the center shaft and light scratches on the new-to-this-watch crystal. The lume on the minutes hand is particularly rough, but shows the kind of uneven fading and coloration that takes decades to appear. Viewed through a loupe, the lume on the numerals is somewhat misaligned with the painted numerals. I don't know if the numerals and hands were re-lumed or not, but the folks I spoke with and I suspect that they weren't, especially when you consider how quickly it fades following excitation via UV light, see video: https://imgur.com/a/v1hOFxp