are JLC on drugs?
Discussion
I've just been reading the Jaeger LeCoultre Duometre à Grande Sonnerie.
Here we have one of the most complicated wristwatches ever made - 26 different functions, and also that Grande Sonnerie mechanism that gives it the name.
Lovely!
So why on earth have they made it sound like a council house doorbell????
It's perfectly acceptable for the Westminster Clock Tower to play the Westminster bell chimes. It is categorically not right for anything else to do so! Anyone who actually owns a doorbell which plays the Westminster chimes is without doubt beyond all hope. What sort of person would even contemplate spending thousands of pounds on a watch whose defining characteristic will be to make them look like a complete and utter arse if it goes off in company?
Here we have one of the most complicated wristwatches ever made - 26 different functions, and also that Grande Sonnerie mechanism that gives it the name.
Lovely!
So why on earth have they made it sound like a council house doorbell????
It's perfectly acceptable for the Westminster Clock Tower to play the Westminster bell chimes. It is categorically not right for anything else to do so! Anyone who actually owns a doorbell which plays the Westminster chimes is without doubt beyond all hope. What sort of person would even contemplate spending thousands of pounds on a watch whose defining characteristic will be to make them look like a complete and utter arse if it goes off in company?
WTD said:
is that the same watch? does not say JLC at the end or look like these. perhaps that guy makes the movement AP also seem to have this complication
Edited by Pesty on Sunday 22 November 13:23
k me! What a mess." I keep thinking Chinese watches now.[url]This Youtube video|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgYhitp2icQ
[/quote] is quite interesting.
I should specify that I am in awe of the art of the watchmaker able to create such precision in such a small space. What I don't understand is why they would go to all that effort to make it sound so tacky and clichéd!
I can't help thinking that the sort of person with a wristwatch that sounds the Westminster chimes would also have ermine and diamond fluffy dice in their car. They might be the finest, most exquisitely made fluffy dice in the world, but when all is said and done, they're still fluffy dice.
[/quote] is quite interesting.
I should specify that I am in awe of the art of the watchmaker able to create such precision in such a small space. What I don't understand is why they would go to all that effort to make it sound so tacky and clichéd!
I can't help thinking that the sort of person with a wristwatch that sounds the Westminster chimes would also have ermine and diamond fluffy dice in their car. They might be the finest, most exquisitely made fluffy dice in the world, but when all is said and done, they're still fluffy dice.
Kermit power said:
I should specify that I am in awe of the art of the watchmaker able to create such precision in such a small space. What I don't understand is why they would go to all that effort to make it sound so tacky and clichéd!
I can't help thinking that the sort of person with a wristwatch that sounds the Westminster chimes would also have ermine and diamond fluffy dice in their car. They might be the finest, most exquisitely made fluffy dice in the world, but when all is said and done, they're still fluffy dice.
Perhaps Swiss notions of snobbery and what is considered 'chav' are different to yours, Kermit old bean. You may sneer a thousand sneers, and the Swiss may just look back non-plussed as they think that it's a wonderful complication and a bit of whimsy.I can't help thinking that the sort of person with a wristwatch that sounds the Westminster chimes would also have ermine and diamond fluffy dice in their car. They might be the finest, most exquisitely made fluffy dice in the world, but when all is said and done, they're still fluffy dice.
Whilst cheap doorbells playing the Westminster Chimes may be associated with council tat in certain parts of the UK, that doesn't continue to argue that the Westminster chimes' 'brand' has been irrevocably tarnished by said associations *in the UK*. And JLC are one of the very top global watch manufactures. So what if it sets a few English snobs' teeth on edge... it's these people who aren't likely to be able to afford them
If they're targeting the super-rich middle eastern set (no point targeting upper class English hedgies at the moment, short of a few superstars who picked the right direction back late last year) then the fact that the watch plays a chime set, rather than a single note, will impress them.It's all relative culture at the end, old chap... out of the watch snobs in the UK, Rolex are only considered appropriate if they are steel sports models. If I jumped in on here saying 'look at this - great watch huh?' with a solid 18k gold Rolex Presidential with diamond hour markers, a gold/red gold leopard print pattern dial and alternating rubies and sapphires round the bezel.... I'm sure my level of 'good taste' would be seriously impugned.
But Rolex makes these watches, they sell and Rolex make a lot of money from them...At least the styling of the JLC is reasonably subtle and shows some class. But the old English concept of 'class' being about subtle refinement, whispering wealth, and all the little behaviours and etiquette that nobody knows unless you've been brought up that way, is most certainly NOT global. In plenty of other cultures, 'class' is purely wealth, power and resources, and showing off is the order of the day.
And the English snobs who turn their noses up at such brash lacking of breeding... well JLC make some superbly subtle, but exquisitely fine, watches for us too (yeah, I'd probably have to admit to a *bit* of the archetypal English snob). And for people like me, who may believe that they have refined, high-class taste but don't have the wallet to back it up
, JLC are saviours because they also offer their superb complications in steel cases so many are within financial reach.So don't knock JLC - they are my number 1. Look at Asterix's two JLCs - the epitome of good taste (so much so that I've bought my girlfriend one, I think it's the same model as Asterix's wife's). Perhaps Patek edge them out with their relentlessly understated but preposterously expensive range (the snob value in Patek comes from the exclusivity, IMO) - but I'd say that JLC are one of the best when it comes to understated superiority... most of the other top watch manufactures have plenty more blinged-up vulgarities in their collections.
In fact, I can't think of a JLC model that I'd regard as being vulgar... can anyone find me one?
cyberface said:
Kermit power said:
I should specify that I am in awe of the art of the watchmaker able to create such precision in such a small space. What I don't understand is why they would go to all that effort to make it sound so tacky and clichéd!
I can't help thinking that the sort of person with a wristwatch that sounds the Westminster chimes would also have ermine and diamond fluffy dice in their car. They might be the finest, most exquisitely made fluffy dice in the world, but when all is said and done, they're still fluffy dice.
Perhaps Swiss notions of snobbery and what is considered 'chav' are different to yours, Kermit old bean. You may sneer a thousand sneers, and the Swiss may just look back non-plussed as they think that it's a wonderful complication and a bit of whimsy.I can't help thinking that the sort of person with a wristwatch that sounds the Westminster chimes would also have ermine and diamond fluffy dice in their car. They might be the finest, most exquisitely made fluffy dice in the world, but when all is said and done, they're still fluffy dice.
Whilst cheap doorbells playing the Westminster Chimes may be associated with council tat in certain parts of the UK, that doesn't continue to argue that the Westminster chimes' 'brand' has been irrevocably tarnished by said associations *in the UK*. And JLC are one of the very top global watch manufactures. So what if it sets a few English snobs' teeth on edge... it's these people who aren't likely to be able to afford them
If they're targeting the super-rich middle eastern set (no point targeting upper class English hedgies at the moment, short of a few superstars who picked the right direction back late last year) then the fact that the watch plays a chime set, rather than a single note, will impress them.It's all relative culture at the end, old chap... out of the watch snobs in the UK, Rolex are only considered appropriate if they are steel sports models. If I jumped in on here saying 'look at this - great watch huh?' with a solid 18k gold Rolex Presidential with diamond hour markers, a gold/red gold leopard print pattern dial and alternating rubies and sapphires round the bezel.... I'm sure my level of 'good taste' would be seriously impugned.
But Rolex makes these watches, they sell and Rolex make a lot of money from them...At least the styling of the JLC is reasonably subtle and shows some class. But the old English concept of 'class' being about subtle refinement, whispering wealth, and all the little behaviours and etiquette that nobody knows unless you've been brought up that way, is most certainly NOT global. In plenty of other cultures, 'class' is purely wealth, power and resources, and showing off is the order of the day.
And the English snobs who turn their noses up at such brash lacking of breeding... well JLC make some superbly subtle, but exquisitely fine, watches for us too (yeah, I'd probably have to admit to a *bit* of the archetypal English snob). And for people like me, who may believe that they have refined, high-class taste but don't have the wallet to back it up
, JLC are saviours because they also offer their superb complications in steel cases so many are within financial reach.So don't knock JLC - they are my number 1. Look at Asterix's two JLCs - the epitome of good taste (so much so that I've bought my girlfriend one, I think it's the same model as Asterix's wife's). Perhaps Patek edge them out with their relentlessly understated but preposterously expensive range (the snob value in Patek comes from the exclusivity, IMO) - but I'd say that JLC are one of the best when it comes to understated superiority... most of the other top watch manufactures have plenty more blinged-up vulgarities in their collections.
In fact, I can't think of a JLC model that I'd regard as being vulgar... can anyone find me one?
I also think the watch looks wonderful, unlike some of the blinged-up monstrosities you rightly refer to, but I couldn't get away from the thought of those bloody awful doorbells. They have just tarnished the chimes too badly in my view.
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