Long the mechanical movement in the world

The new Jaeger-LeCoultre Rendez-Vous collection suggests a lovely and thoroughly inventive take on a wrist watch for all a day

The Godfather of Soul James Brown once sang that this is a guy's world but he also acknowledged that it would be nothing without women (It's a Guy's Guy's Guy's World). In watchmaking, Jaeger-LeCoultre communicates this emotion with the modern Rendez-Vous collection for girls.

It is not for nothing that Jaeger-LeCoultre is called the Grande Maison of Switzerland watchmaking. The Le Sentier-based watchmaking firm has a long and storied past in the business of crafting classy mechanical timekeepers -- almost a hundred and eighty years in fact. Collectors in the know regularly trawl the internet and lists of auction houses in search of treasures created by the firm. At the same time, Jaeger-LeCoultre has this century been responsible for the most complicated watches in the world (Reverso Grande Side-effect à Triptyque) and also the most accurate mechanical wrist watches (Master Grande Tradition à Tourbillon).

An important part of this tradition has been watches for girls, which is clearly shown in the famous historical good quality 101 movement (used in the watch above). Long the mechanical movement in the world (since 1929), it has served carefully in bejeweled watches. It is descended from LeCoultre good quality 7HP from the 1880s, which powered a variety of jewelry watches. It's unlikely that any to rest on its laurels, Jaeger-LeCoultre is ushering in an entirely new era for women's watches with the Rendez-Vous collection. The firm foreshadows the introduction to the watches with one of these powerful words: Women have a date with time. Their own time.

Resolutely womanly of course, the new Rendez-Vous watches are essentially elegantly proportioned round watches. The Rendez-Vous Night & Day presents an incredibly original day/night indicator at 6 o'clock within the 29mm or 34mm case. Nicely sized Arabic hour numerals keeps things simple on the switch while the Florale hands add a playful touch.