{"product_id":"jaeger-lecoultre-u-s-market-futurematic-as11467","title":"Jaeger-LeCoultre 'U.S. Market' Futurematic","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Futurematic might be the most underrated vintage watch to ever come out of LeCoultre\/Jaeger-LeCoultre — and it also happens to house one of the most overengineered automatic movements of the 1950s. Produced from 1951 to 1958, the Futurematic was a bold attempt to capture a new generation of buyers with something that felt genuinely futuristic: a fully automatic watch with no visible crown.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAnd no, that’s not marketing poetry. The Futurematic is effectively “crownless,” with time-setting handled via a small wheel on the caseback marked “DON’T LIFT — SLIDE.” In an era when most watches still felt like pocket watches shrunk down for the wrist, this was wildly modern. Even better: to emphasize the self-winding feature, the Futurematic cannot be manually wound at all.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cspan\u003eInside beats the LeCoultre Calibre 497\/1, a bumper-style automatic with a bidirectional oscillating weight swinging through roughly 190 degrees. But LeCoultre didn’t stop there. This movement includes a hacking seconds mechanism (rare for the era), an innovative wire hook system to prevent overwinding, and a brilliant stopwork feature that preserves roughly 6 hours of power reserve, ensuring the watch restarts quickly when worn again.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe dial keeps things classical: silver-toned, applied markers, and two symmetrical subdials — power reserve at 9 o’clock and small seconds at 3 — paired with crisp dauphine hands. Housed in a solid 14K yellow gold case (not the more common 10K gold-filled variants), it’s a true collector-grade Futurematic: a gentleman’s watch with the soul of an engineer’s prototype.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cspan\u003eA dress watch, yes. But also a mechanical mic drop.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(57, 142, 84);\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eThis spectacular piece comes from the collection of Zaf Basha, a noted authority on Jaeger-LeCoultre who has published two books: Vintage Military Watches: A Guide for the Collector and Jaeger-LeCoultre: The Ultimate Guide for the Collector. Over the years, Basha put together one of the most impressive assemblages of vintage JLC timepieces in the world, and we're thrilled and honor to offer many of them for sale on Analog:Shift. \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Jaeger LeCoultre","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42567627767895,"sku":"40980134","price":3750.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0809\/1255\/files\/AS11467_40980134_JAEGERLECOULTRE_U.SMARKETFUTUREMATIC14K-5_2bb725a2-c00a-42b4-95b6-578045f98b63.jpg?v=1772644534","url":"https:\/\/www.analogshift.com\/products\/jaeger-lecoultre-u-s-market-futurematic-as11467","provider":"Analog:Shift","version":"1.0","type":"link"}