The dial was crafted from a piece of meteorite, which hails from the asteroid belt situated between Mars and Jupiter.
Swiss watchmaker Jaeger-LeCoultre's latest version of its iconic Master Calendar timepiece includes a material as rare as it is original: meteorite.
This model, inspired by astronomy, will be available come August for a starting price of €11,700 (around RM49,846).
Traditionally a very refined watch, the 2015 Master Calendar has integrated an atypical material straight from space. The dial was crafted from a piece of meteorite, discovered and officially registered in Sweden, which hails from the asteroid belt situated between Mars and Jupiter. This rather unique material is not very malleable, and the difficulty of fashioning it into a watch makes the process that much more impressive.
"To get an aesthetically perfect dial, this block of meteorite is cut into several thin plates.... Still in its rough state at this stage, the meteorite must undergo several preparatory phases before revealing the structure of its stone that features a unique pattern shown by each cut," according to the company.
The Master Calendar displays hours, minutes, seconds, days, months and lunar phases, the last indicating a new moon, first quarter, full moon or last quarter. All movement comes courtesy of an automatic winding in-house manufactured Caliber 866 whose intricate workings are on display through the sapphire crystal case-back.
These technical components are housed in a case that is 39mm in diameter and 10.6mm thick, designed to adapt to the curve of each wrist and available in two versions: stainless steel or 18 carat pink gold. The watch is fitted with a black alligator strap with folding buckle.
The new Master Calendar will be available come August. Pricing will start at €11, 700 (about RM49,846) for the stainless steel version and €23, 400 (around RM99,693) for the 18 carat pink gold version.
We recommend: