Walt Odets dead at 79

Fridayday, 10 July 2026

I wasn’t familiar with Walt Odets, a Berkeley American clinical psychologist who passed away earlier this week. An assiduous watch enthousiast, he taught himself until he was able to fully disassemble and service a watch, and wrote about it in numerous posts in the 90s and incidentally set the standard for technical watch reviews. Jack Forster posted an hommageon Facebook, while Velociphile posted a useful list of all the writings they were able to identify, including his famous review of the Rolex Explorer 14270.

Of interest for the JLC enthusiasts will be his detailed review of the Vacheron Caliber 1120 (based on the 1967 JLC caliber 920 that was also used by Patek and Audemars for a few years) and of the JLC 34mm Master Ultra Thin ref. 145.8.79.

Subtitled “a study in simple excellence”, it is essentially a love letter to the watch, its caliber and the solid work done by JLC to deliver a robust ultra thin (5mm at its thickest point) model. In his conclusion, Odet noted:

“There are very few elements of the Master Ultra Thin that constitute new technology, or, indeed, that are even unique to this watch. In fact, with the exception of the contemporary engineering of the case, the Ultra Thin is a masterpiece of classical Swiss watchmaking. But the consistency of attention to engineering details and the extraordinarily high level of manufacturing quality have produced a whole that is much more–and, aesthetically, much less–than the combination of its parts. I believe it is fair to say that this is the finest ultra-thin wristwatch ever produced. But I would also venture that this is among the very finest watches in contemporary production, regardless of complexity. The Master Ultra Thin is probably a watch that, among Swiss manufacturers, could only have been produced by Jaeger LeCoultre. There are, in all of Switzerland, no others with the design and manufacturing skills to conceive and execute this watch with such unrelenting attention to quality. For all its simplicity of appearance, the Ultra Thin is a true masterpiece equalled by only a tiny handful of other wristwatches.”

This is high praise given how Odets had no qualms candidly calling things as they were in his reviews (see the aforementioned Explorer review). The entire article is a good example of his signature exhaustivity, and his many comments about the particular technical challenges that presents an ultra thin watch makes it a great read even (especially, I would argue) for a non technical audience.

As a side note on ref 145.8.79, JLC no longer offers a truly ultra thin watch as a regular reference in its catalogue. I can’t help but wonder how Odets would have reviewed a JLC Master Ultra Thin date or a base Polaris - both powered by the 899. The caliber date from the same early 90s as the 849 that powered the 145.8.79 (itself based on the 1975 cal 839) but I wonder if he would be complimentary of JLC’s tendency to use the same caliber in totally different cases.

Addendum: kingflum on his Substack wrote a very very good overview of Odet’s writings and what he sought to understand while reviewing a watch - a highly recommended read. A psychologist by trade, it seems that Odets was primarily interested in measuring the gap between how a watch would present itself, and what was reality once the back case had been removed and the whole caliber disassembled and examined under a microscope. Fun fact: “JLC was his favorite maker”. It’s a shame we don’t have more of his writings on JLC to hear him make his case, but this seems to match the general enthousiasme JLC was garnering through the 90s and its renaissance with a series of complicated Reverso and the Master Control platform.

More broadly it would be nice if Hodinkee, Fratello or any other large publication secured an horologist among their writers. Manufacturing standards have probably matured a lot since the 90s but cost cutting might have brought its own lot of corner cutting all worth analyzing in watch reviews. Assuming, of course, that these publication would dare calling things out (something Hodinkee seems entirely unable to do, as admitted by its own founder in a moment of candor reviewing the Patek 6196 in platinum and salmon dial).

Jeanne Pellet in the 2025 Reverso Webcomic

Wednesday, 24 June 2026

I recently got my hands on a copy of the webcomic that Olivecoatdid for JLC as a part of the Made of Makers program. The webcomic was released last year at Watches and Wonders and retraces the genesis of the Reverso (what else?). It’s quite an original medium to choose and the comic itself is an enjoyable read , but what caught me by surprise is the appearance of Jeanne Pellet as a supporting character.

Pellet is for me a fascinating character in JLC’s 20th century history: she was the right hand man of Jacques-David LeCoultre for most of his tenure, at a time when women in senior ranks of the industry were simply non existent. You won’t see her name on JLC’s website or in official books like 2006’s La Grande Maison, but she was apparently had real influence at the Manufacture.

What adds to my interest is the limited information available on her. In François Jequier’s 1983 monographie De La Forge à la Manufacture Horlogère (from the furnaces to the horology factory), Pellet appears twice over the 215 pages covering the Jacques-David is era. The first time is at the start of Jacques-David’s career, the second at his death when Pellet was confirmed in her function and added to the 12-person consultative committee set to define a refresh organizational structure after the passing of Jacques-David LeCoultre.

The way Jequier introduces her is intriguing - right at the end of an overview of Jacques David Lecoultre early years: . After describing his early childhood and education, Jequier goes on to discuss how Jacques David met his future wife Jeanne-Marguerite Stock in 1901, their wedding few months later and offersa brief description of the four children they birthed between 1902 and 1908. He then transitions to (translation from French by Google translate):

The marital harmony was short-lived; Mrs. Le Coultre made no effort to adapt to her new region and lived apart from all local life. For his part, Jacques-David quickly found solace within his factory itself by forming a close bond with a young woman, sixteen years his junior, who would remain his closest collaborator for over forty years. The least that can be said is that Miss Jeanne Pellet, born in 1891 and joining Le Coultre & Cie in 1905, gradually assumed the role of éminence grise in the eyes of all the company's employees. Her strong personality and undeniable abilities profoundly marked the internal workings of the factory until her retirement in 1956. (1)

That seems like an odd way to introduce an employee of the manufacture, even if she ended up working vey close to him!

I remember reading that paragraph twice the first time I came upon it and am still unsure how much to read into it. What is Jequier telling us when he speaks of Jacques-David finding solace with this talented and strong minded (if significantly younger) female employee? You could read it as LeCoultre finding a different kind of female presence in his life with a talented assistant much younger and developing a platonic work relationship with her - Jequier does not tell us when exactly Pellet got noticed (she entered the manufacture in 1905 at age 14 when LeCoultre was already 30 and was still having children). On the other hand, this could also be a case of the two developing some years later a relationship that became an open secret in the Vallée. It seems that Jeanne Pellet never married. Maybe Jequier felt 35 year after the fact that this biographical information was worth adding to the record, if only using a chaste language appropriate for the time (and probably with Jeanne Pellet’s blessing, as he got to interview her several times during the preparation of his book). Both stories seem plausible enough and I only wish I could have a chat with Jequier to clarify this!

The other element of interest about Pellet is just what kind of position she occupied. The webcomic, while romanticizing its story (was Pellet truly wearing pants in the late 1920s in a place as traditional as the valley?), notes that Pellet start as an apprentice and I see no reason to doubt this given her age when entering the manufacture. Jequier unfortunately does not give us much more insight on her career progression or if she was ever given a different title or what her compensation might have been like later on in her career.

One breadcrumb we get in the book is in 1913, a still young Pellet (then aged 22) was registered in the books of the manufacture as an assistant in the head office together with another staff, Ms Jacot. This information comes from a list of salaries for the entire company, by rank, starting with Elie LeCoultre (administrator), Jacques David (Director), H. Sartorial, accountant, and so forth. Pellet’s salary was 130 francs - to be compared with the 170 francs Ms Jacot (who occupied the same position but was probably more senior) was paid. Workshop heads (the rank immediately under Jacques David LeCoultre) were paid 300 francs (same as the accountant) while various skilled positions were paid from 330 for a gem foreman to 190 for simpler positions. Pellet salary was on par with the bottom rug, simple employees (the night man was paid 125, an odd job man 135) but a cut above employees paid by piece (paid between 35 and 79 francs). This aligns with a mere secretarial job and was probably a function of her age, sex, and the limited pecuniary value assigned to secretarial work at the time.

But at the same time, she certainly ended her career being much more than a simple secretary. By 1948 (35 years later!) Pellet was one of three “fondés de pouvoir” of the company (meaning she had power of attorney like powers) along with Roger LeCoultre (the new owner of his father’s death) and accountant Emile Maueur. Jacques David himself, in a speech given for his 70’s birthday where he reviewed the state of the company at the end of 1946, saved

The head office must intervene to coordinate the efforts [of all the company’s divisions] and I must give an homage to Miss Jeanne Pellet who is the manufacture’s encyclopedia. (2)

LeCoultre himself knew the vast majority of his 700-ish employees on a first name basis (earlier in his career he would always take the time to walk his floor and shake the hand of each and every employee calling them by name), so the compliment seems meaningful. Pellet might have been part of many a senior meeting and probably akin to a Chief of Staff or a Chief Administrative Officer (if not COO) toward the end of run at the manufacture. This seems square off with Jequier’s final words on her - after reviewing the new org chart decided a couple of month after the death of Jacques-David, he observes:

“the entire general administration [continues to] be under the purview of Jeanne Pellet, a genuine eminence grise of the factory for decades” (3)

We’ll probably never be able to evidence clearly how far Pellet was able to raise from her humble beginnings at the manufacture, but for me she seems to be one of these unsung figures of the Jacques-David era.

Pellet retired in 1956 aged 65, and passed away in her town of Pully a few kilometers away from Lausanne in 1983, reaching the remarkable age of 92. It es she remained quite active until the very end, Jequier thanking her in a footnote for the several interviews she gave him, allowing him to glean of lot of color about particular episodes in the life of the manufacture that was absent from financial statements and meeting minutes.

If I could spend an evening with anyone from JLC’s past, Pellet would be in my shortlist, if not on top of it. She spent 40 years at the manufacture during one of its most pivotal eras, was (maybe?) very close to Jacques David and seems to have been on the whole an extraordinarily intelligent person with a strong personality. I could imagine a worse person to have a conversation with, and this makes me glad that Olivecoat had the smart idea to bring her back from the archives.

1: De La Forge à la Manufacture Horlogère, page 353: “L’harmonie conjugale dura peu peu de temps, Mme Le Coultre ne fit pas l'effort de s'adapter à sa nouvelle région et elle vécut à l'écart de toute vie locale. Pour sa part, Jacques-David trouva rapidement des compensations à l'intérieur même de sa fabrique en se liant avec une jeune fille, de seize ans sa cadette, qui restera durant plus de quarante ans sa plus proche collaboratrice. Le moins qu'on puisse dire, c'est que Mlle Jeanne Pellet, née en 1891, entrée en 1905 chez Le Coultre & Cie, joua peu à peu le rôle d'éminence grise aux yeux de tout le personnel de l'entreprise. Sa forte personnalité et ses capacités indiscutables marqueront profondément la vie interne de l'usine jusqu'en 1956, date de sa retraite.”

2: page 540: “Le Bureau doing intervenir pour coordonner tous les efforts et je dois rendre hommage à Mlle Jeanne Pellet qui est l’encyclopédie de l’usine”

3: page 545: “Toute l’administration générale dépend de la compétence de Jeanne Pellet, véritable éminence grise de l’usine depuis des dizaines d’années”

Wednesday, 24 June 2026

The really quite good Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Chronomètre Date

Borna Bošnjak at Hodinkee Australia has a nice a review of the Master Control Chronomètre Date. I’m not sure why the review only focuses on that model rather than the entire range (I’m going to assume maybe JLC could only make that one available in Australia for the time being?) but I think we’re all the better for it as it allows the review to touch on all the right topics: JLC being a little late to the game but offering a very elegant model, an original bracelet that hits the mark, inspiration from the 1973 Mariner Chronomètre, HPG and the latest version of cal. 899 powering the watch.

On that topic, Borna makes an interesting observation that I haven’t often seen elsewhere: JLC is not particularly good at communicating its caliber work in a legible manner. Writes Borna:

For a brand that is known as the watchmaker’s watchmaker, they really don’t do themselves any favours when talking about their movements. The in-house 899 really is quite impressive, packing in all those aforementioned features into a package that’s just 3.3mm thick - but you wouldn’t know it unless you really looked.

The brand’s own literature is very light on details, and looking up “calibre 899” will yield results that match the first generation of this calibre: no silicon, and a measly 38-hour power reserve, which has become the go-to metric for judging calibre performance (for better or worse). Nothing that a simple name change couldn’t fix - the cal. 899.3 perhaps?

I agree wholeheartedly here. It’s as if JLC considered that a few specs on a watch’s description is enough to communicate effectively the work done to improve their calibers over time. Caliber 899 is the Master Control’s caliber - it launched in *1992 as the first movement to meet the 1,000 hours control standards. The caliber has obviously changed a lot over the past 34 years, but you wouldn’t know it from JLC’s communication - which seems a missed opportunity for a brand who likes to talk about the breadth of the range of calibers they built over well over a century and its effort to remain innovative in that field. It’s one thing to build authority based on an illustrious past like modern-days JLC has become an expert at, but the brand could certainly benefit from anchoring that authority to the technical work done today on the calibers of its core collections.

SJX on the Master Control Chronomètre Date

Speaking of good reviews of the Master Control Chronomètre Date, Brandon Moore at SJX also published a good read all the way back in May, making several keen observations on the watch’s dressy nature and the curiously high price of the rose gold model compared to its stainless steel counterparts.

He takes the discussion a step further on caliber 899, noting its fairly influential role at launch in 1992 and the times when JLC discreetly updated the platform to more modern standards without necessarily communicating all that much about it. For such a pillar of JLC’s modern days core range (and that’s before discussing its presence in the Master Control Ultra Thin and the Polaris ranges), this seems - again - like a missed opportunity.

JLC launches the 6th Collectibles capsule collection

Wednesday, 17 June 2026

JLC announced on Monday the launch of its 6th collectibles capsule collection. Visible in London from June 15 for a month, the collection encompasses 12 models with a decent mix or eras and models, ranging in price from 17,900 to 55,000 CHF. All models but a 1931 lady Reverso have already been sold. There’s a video on YouTube introducing the new models and the line up is also visible with various information on this page.

JLC started the Collectibles in January 2023. The concept (of which JLC offers qn overview here) was simple: a small collection of 17 of its most distinctive models from the past, fully restored and issued with an archive extract, a 3-year guarantee and a book detailing the facts of these 17 models across 558 pages. Those models offered a good balance of the usual suspects (there was a Reverso, a Memovox, a Geophysic and a Memovox Polaris) with some lesser known models like a couple of late 1960s divers. The models spanned a vast period of time (1925 through 1972), picked from a variety of designs and seemed to draw a line around the dark period of the 80s to separate the vintage period from the modern day era. The initial capsule collection launched at home in the vallée, and has since picked a different city every time, maybe to allow collectors from various parts of the world to meet with some of these watches in person. The 2nd collection launched in June 2023 in Los Angeles, the 3rd launched in Singapore in October 2024, the 4th - a ladies watch themed edition for the 100th anniversary of the DuoPlan - launched in June 2025 in Paris, and the 5th (this time an all Reverso line-up) launched January 2026 in New York City.

This 6th edition, presented to the public in London, circles back to the original concept of keeping things diverse, even if the Reverso represents slightly over half of the line-up (7 models out of 12). Among those references we find a 1972 Reverso Corvo - one of the 200 forgotten Reverso cases that started the rebirth of a model that had been largely forgotten by the Manufacture itself (the model was only one of the ,any functional concept they had birthed over the years and felt technologically antiquated nearly 40 years after its conception). A highly historically significant model if there ever was one for modern days JLC, and also offering a very original take on the dial with those minimalist (almost Bauhausian) hands and baton hour markers. Another highlight is a gorgeous 2000 white gold Reverso Sun Moon - the first time the collection allows itself to pick from modern days JLC (the Collectibles were originally marketed as picking from “the golden age of whatchmaking” - aka the 1920s-1970s period). The non-Reverso half of the collection feels a little less remarkable than editions past, maybe save for a quirky Geomatic E560 - a square certified chronometer launched in 1961 in the wake of the 1958 Geophysic, limited to 200 pieces.

I like the Collectibles collections - the watches are always gorgeous and they do convey the feeling of being extracted from a museum collection - except they’re available for you to take home if you can afford them (models in this collection are mostly in the 20-40k bracket) and are fast enough to act (as noted above all models but one are already sold three days after the press release went out). It’s a lovely way to make the maison’s heritage come alive.

Cait Bazemore at Worn and Wound wrote an article back in February touching on the origins of the project: Interviewing Matthieu Sauret, JLC’s Product & Heritage Director since 2019. His regular contacts with the auction world and various dealers made him encounter beautiful examples of JLC’s history. He came up with the concept for the Collectibles for JLC’s 190th anniversary in 2023, his team building the first capsule collection while at the same time using the Maison’s extensive archives to put together the accompanying book. The book, initially only available to buyers of the initial capsule collection, offers a richly illustrated profile of each of the 17 models with introductory blurbs by then CEO Catherine Rénier and elderly statement of the maison Franco Cologni, 88 year old at the time.

As Sauret notes in the article, the Collectibles do not exist to make money. While the watches presented are certainly not cheap, those sales probably don’t even compensate for the salary of the Heritage team responsible for tracking and acquiring potential models, to say nothing of the time spent on their restoration. Sauret notes that the project helps in two ways: it helps deepen the relationship with existing collectors who get to access curated pieces in pristine state and originated by JLC itself and it also helps educate  those affluent collectors who have bought some of JLC’s high complication pieces on the heritage of the brand and hopefully convert them into life-long friends of the House. Unmentioned in the articles, it also helps generate a bit of media coverage and strengthen the legitimacy of the brand in the Swiss watchmaking landscape along with the Patek and Vacheron of the world. Even if JLC changed hands a couple of times between 1969 and 2000, the House has kept its archives intact (not having to move your manufacture in almost two centuries probably helps!) offering a unique opportunity to identify, restore and provide ample details about these vintage models at the heart of each collection. The brand (even if it doesn’t advertise it much) is able to restore virtually any model you can bring them thanks to their archives but also their stock of old components. It’s fairly smart of them to leverage this capability into an education and communication project like this that not every other manufacture is be in a position to offer.

There is also probably a last dimension to the project: raising the profile of vintage JLC watches in general. JLC is able to offer these watches at seizable mark-ups thanks to the marketing around each launch and the safety that an official program can bring to a prospective buyer. That allows them to offer these models at prices above what they would normally reach in auction houses (for instance, a white gold Reverso identical to the Sun Moon mentioned earlier is being auctioned in Zurich from10,000CHF while JLC sold their model for a cool 29,800CHF) - which in turn helps with repricing future similar models that might come later on to market. Rising prices for your vintage models can only help with the status of the brand and the perceived future value of current JLC collections. I’m not close enough to collecting circles to know if this truly moves their decision making needle, but these are strategies that play out over years (if not decades) and in the meantime the entire community get to enjoy these beautiful objects from the Maison’s long history.

The case for a proper JLC keynote at Watches and Wonders

Saturday, 13 June 2026

As I alluded to when writing about this year’s Watches and Wonders, I was a bit underwhelmed by the “digital product presentation” that took place toward the end if the exhibition. Part of my reaction was no doubt a mismatch of my expectations with the format of the presentation. But as I watched last week’s Apple keynote at the company’s annual developer conference event, I was reminded that JLC is probably leaving on the table a good opportunity to raise its profile and build its authority in the market

On her last year as JLC CEO, Catherine Rénier did a keynote at Watches and Wonders to introduce novelties and the latest talent embarked on the made of makers program. It wasn’t perfect, but here was the CEO of the brand to tell us this year’s story about JLC and its latest product.

Jérôme Lambert did not follow up on this in 2025 or 2026, and I think it’s a mistake.

At a surface level, it seems JLC really wanted to make an impression at this year’s event by launching a lot of novelties. We got a brand new Master Chronomètre collection, some new Hybris models, some gorgeous enamel and jewelry models for Reverso - it all felt like Lambert wanted to use the event to launch a significant number of novelties (even if he kept some powder dry for the Milan Design Week event and the Miami Reverso exhibition).

On paper, the digital product presentation that JLC enthusiasts got invited to felt like something special: it’s nice to get the House’s head of patrimony to introduce us the novelties in person and even ask a few questions. The format was probably thought as opening up the exclusive sessions that VIPs and media got in person in private salons duringWatches and Wonders. At its best; the format felt like a candid access to a JLC Director. Not bad.

But at the same time, a key downside is that the whole thing felt small in scale and in execution. And fairly clunky too - the overall experience had the vibe of an internal meeting among peers with its dose of awkward moments. The technology used was Microsoft Teams (with its less than enjoyable log on process if you lost connection during the call), videos launched more or less seamlessly (with a half whispered “is this working?” when one took a little too long to start). It was certainly a positive to see the new watches in front of the camera and get a sense of their proportions in a way that marketing collateral can’t convey, but we were light-years away from a polished presentation on a stage with a solid messaging to frame each product with a compelling narrative. It didn’t leave you thinking  you had just seen the work of a leading brand in the sector. It was ultimately anecdotic - to the point that the video was never posted officially anywhere and got predicably no press of any kind.

A keynote offers the exact opposite - it gives a brand plenty of space to explain the why - what is the thinking behind each novelty, why people should care, why HPG is needed at this point in time in the arc of the Master Contol collection, and above all, why JLC is a brand in great shape worth caring (or: why choose JLC). By comparison, what JLC put together was an amicable discussion in the format of a video podcast. It’s undeniably a valuable intention - but the impact is just not the same.

The most evident contrast is with giant corporation Apple, famous for its impeccable marketing. As I like to joke sometimes, that company and its leadership made electronic devices and personal computers sexy. Think again of your 90s mobile phone or your grey plastic laptop of the time - isn’t that a small miracle? Part of that persuasion has been the ability of its senior management to put on extremely effective keynotes, maybe twice a year, to communicate directly and shape the public perception of worth of their product. JLC could use some of that muscle if the long term ambition the manufacture is to sit at the same table as Audemars, Patek or Vacheron (a maison it once owned for a while).

To those tempted to object that Apple has far more to talk about than JLC (after all thew produce several families of hardware product and a loft of software too) and can easily fill up an hour and a half, I think they’re underestimating the format and its flexibility.

This April, Lambert could have easily started a presentation and fill a rough 45-60 minutes like this:

• intro film - the Valley of Complications.

• Opening remark by Jérôme Lambert

• Quick business update, also by Lambert: since he has been back at the helm for 18 month, it would have been nice to hear that last year’s rose gold Tribute model has been a smashing success, that the manufacture has turned a corner toward the end of 2025 in terms of activity before announcing he has some great updates to share with the audience today.

• Update on the Made of Makers program

• Presentation of the new Hybris models. The sequence starts with a short film introducing the models up close, followed by a more detailed presentation by someone from Métiers d’arts or the caliber design team to tell us about what’s special with those models.

• Transition to Métiers d’art, with someone there to tell us about the latest effort in that department leading to a product video launching the Vallèe des Merveilles Reverso collection

• With these two “minor” launches out of the way, time to turn to the star event and the introduction of the Master Chronomètre collection - again, with an introductory product video followed by an in-depth presentation from potentially Lionel Favre (JLC’s director of product creation and design) if the main angle of the storytelling is going to be design - or someone else depending on the story JLC wants to craft around these new models. The presentation should also probably include a short film on HPG.

• Back to Jérôme Lambert for some final words

If this feels a little like your average Apple keynote, that’s because that’s usually the flow of these events - a quick business update to set the scene, before detailing new launches one product family at a time, with the biggest launch usually as the pièce de resistance after having covered the lesser novelties.

Such a format is costly to put together - there are the production costs of course, but also the time needed for JLC’s marketing to shape the messaging of the presentation and for Lambert and other speakers to repeat their parts until they feel natural and impactful. Perfection takes effort. But the dividends can be considerable: a 45 or 60 minutes infomercial (since that’s essentially what it is) is a perfect opportunity to communicate on JLC,  give a story to each novelty and project a brand that is confident and behave like someone with the authority of a house that given a lot to the industry in the 19th and first half of the 20th century.

And JLC could really do with that - because in luxury watchmaking like in many other places, launching good products is not enough. Potential buyers need a reason to select JLC above the myryad of quality watches available in the 9,000 - 15,000CHF segment, and being able to shake the narrative around the brand over an annual 60min presentation - if done well - is a very valuable tool. It gives JLC a rare surface to connect with its fan, remind them why they love the brand, get more personal by showcasing the various talent in the organisation (something JLC culturally like to do since its modern rebirth), and it also gives the media an opportunity to re-evaluate the brand’s standing in the industry along with its something to talk about (free adversing!).

Velociphile - in an article I have yet to write about - articulated that JLC had a problem - an authority problem.  JLC is lucky to have a powerful tagline - the watchmakers’s watchmaker. It’s memorable, unique, and immediately confers some domain authority. It is also inherited from its years as a vendor of ébauches and other horlogerie en blanc (see Johann Rupert’s recent tirade at the Richemont annual result conference last month) - in other words, a business it left behind about a century ago when starting to produce complete watches under its brand name. This technological authority (1400 calibers,‘430 patents, etc) is not visible in JLC’s current core ranges - a good example is how Polaris is fitted with dress watch calibers (Cal. 899) that do not take advantage of the larger case size. JLC today is at pain to explain what makes a Master Ultra Thin, a Rendez-Vous and a Polaris special beyond “we used to provide ébauches to half the industry 80 years ago. Supercharging communication around the all-important annual Watches and Wonders event might help address some of these branding problem - if management dares to be more ambitious on that front than a quick live Teams presentation.