Introduction
Master Compressor Extreme LAB
The revolutionary Master Compressor Extreme LAB watch
embodies an exceptional creation in its own right. The new oil
and lubricant-free Jaeger-LeCoultre Calibre 988C employed
in this watch provides performance which can endure the
passing years unaltered. Even at temperatures of minus 40°C,
where the oils and greases in a conventional watch freeze and
stop the movement, the Master Compressor Extreme LAB
will keep running.
Calibre 988C: the Jaeger-LeCoultre oil and
lubricant-free mechanical movement
Jaeger-LeCoultre’s engineers and watchmakers have employed
new materials and new combinations of materials to meet
this historic challenge. Easium™ carbonitride
(1)
has burst
onto the watchmaking scene. This extra-hard material has
exceptional tribological properties, making it particularly well
suited to making wheel bearings that can work dry. This is why
on the Jaeger-LeCoultre Calibre 988C a carbonitride material
replaces the traditional jewels, lubricated with a fine-grade oil,
on the balance shock-absorber, lever and escapement wheel.
The burnished steel pivots of these components undergo a
special surface treatment. The jewelled lever pallets have been
replaced by black crystalline diamond, a synthetic material as
hard as natural diamond, but with superior sliding properties.
Its friction against the silicon teeth of the escapement wheel
requires no lubricant to ensure smooth long-term operation.
The grease on the barrel has also been eliminated, in favour
of a graphite powder based mixture, which ensures that
the slipping spring and the arbor can slide inside the drum,
regardless of the temperature and humidity. In its continuous
quest to improve the reliability of its mechanical watches, Jaeger-
LeCoultre has already abandoned all lubrication on automatic
watch ball-bearing mechanisms, with the introduction several
years ago of ceramic ball-bearings, which are of course also
employed on the oscillating weight ball-bearing mechanism in
the Calibre 988C.
Redesigned balance and oscillating weight
geometry for greater accuracy
Two essential components have been redesigned in terms of
geometry to complete the quest for reliability and accuracy
on the Calibre 988C: the balance and oscillating weight.
M
aster
C
oMpressor
e
xtreMe
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1
Minute hand
2
Compression key
3
Crown
4
Date hand
5
Date scale
6
Tourbillon
7
Reference hour hand (2
nd
time zone)
8
Local hour hand
9
AM/PM indicator for the 2
nd
time zone
1
2
3
4
5
9
6
8
7
(1) Note: the Easium brand is a protected trademark not owned by Jaeger-LeCoultre.
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aster
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oMpressor
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xtreMe
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