Basic data: 32 diamonds / 28800 vibration frequency / one-way automatic winding / card-free hairspring / screw fine adjustment / 38 hours, 42 hours, 70 hours of power /
Cal.888 movement
The 899 movement launched in 2005 is Jaeger-LeCoultre is now one of several basic three-pin movements, but the origin of this 899 movement can be traced back to the legendary Cal.888 movement launched in 1967. The Cal.888 movement is an ultra-thin movement with a thickness of only 3.25mm and adopts two-way automatic winding. The 888 movement has a famous sibling model called Cal.920. This movement was called 2121 when it was provided to AP, and it was called 1120 when it was provided to Vacheron Constantin . In addition, including PP, the three famous brands in the watch industry are all This movement was used and is still in service today. It is truly a famous machine of a generation. We can talk about this legendary movement in detail another day when we have the opportunity.
Cal.920 movement
920 movement compared to the 888 movement. The main modification is that 920 narrows the axis of the automatic disk, allowing the originally eccentric second wheel to be centered. In order to strengthen the axis that has weakened the fixing force, the automatic A track is added to the edge of the plate to bite the base plate, which has become a major feature of the 920 series movement.
Cal.900 movement
Cal.888 movement was subsequently upgraded to Cal.900 movement. In the subsequent development, the vibration frequency was raised from 21,600 to 28,800vph. Audemars Piguet Royal Oak made great achievements after its advent in the 1970s. Among them, Japan is its main market. In order to launch small styles that suit Japanese tastes, Audemars Piguet specially customized a batch of small-diameter versions of the 900 movement from Jaeger-LeCoultre. The diameter of the movement was reduced from 28 to 25.6mm, and the model was also changed to 889. , and after Audemars Piguet, Vacheron Constantin and IWC also successively used this new miniaturized model, and the territory of 889 began to expand.
Cal.889 movement
889 was released in the early 1980s and continued to be in service for more than two decades. The automatic winding mechanism of 889 is the same as that of the earliest 888. It uses the so-called Switching Locker mechanism, which connects the automatic plate and the barrel through two automatic wheels installed on a movable pedestal. The pedestal will follow the automatic plate. The direction of rotation ensures that the automatic wheel can wind the barrel no matter which direction it is in. Compared with the two main two-way winding mechanisms, the switching wheel type headed by Rolex , and the hook type headed by SEIKO and IWC, Switching Locker is mostly used on the movements of high-end watches, which is natural for players. It has a certain charm and a corresponding level of work efficiency; however, two-way winding and one-way winding have their own merits, and Jaeger-LeCoultre made a rather rare decision in 2005, which was to modify the original two-way automatic winding 889 into 899 with one-way automatic winding. And this is the Cal.899 movement, our protagonist in this issue.
According to Jaeger-LeCoultre internal testing, the efficiency of the two-way winding is slightly higher under machine simulation, but when actually worn, the one-way winding speed is twice that of the two-way. Of course, this result is related to the design of the test parameters. , in fact, there are other brands that have tested completely opposite conclusions, but in short, Jaeger-LeCoultre modified the two-way winding of 889 into the one-way winding of 899 based on its own experimental results. An automatic wheel can be seen next to the axis of the automatic disk, and it is connected to a wolf tooth intermediate wheel. Due to the wolf tooth, the automatic wheel can only drive the intermediate wheel in one direction, and the gear teeth will slip in the opposite direction. Turn on idling. Also, it was replaced with ceramic ball bearings. If it is the 889/2 model autopilot, it uses K gold-rimmed counterweight.
899 also upgrades the balance spring part. Part of the original fast and slow needle fine-tuning of the 889 movement has been upgraded to the current card-free hairspring + speed regulating screw balance wheel (4 pieces). This equipment is now considered a standard specification, but It was rare in 2005.
Since it is not equipped with dual spring barrels, the spring material has not been significantly updated. It is just the optimization of the gear train structure that allows 899 to extend the power reserve a little from 38 in 889 to 43 hours, but now in the official website of Jaeger-LeCoultre In the data, the energy storage capacity of 899 was changed back to 38 hours. Why it was changed back again now is unknown. I heard it is due to torque and other factors.
Then in 2020, the 899 movement was updated and became the 70-hour power 899AC movement.
1 and 899AC movements have redesigned the spring box to increase the length and strength of the spring. At the same time, because the 899 series movement is an ultra-thin automatic movement, the upgrade does not increase the thickness of the movement and maintains a thickness of 3.3 mm.
2 and 899AC movements use silicon escapements to reduce friction and improve power efficiency. The
3 and 899AC movements use new lubricants and have improved second wheels. At the same time, the 899AC movement uses titanium screws, and some data indicate that titanium screws are used for the balance wheel fixing screws. The excellent quality of the
899 movement family has attracted the favor of many brands. VC's 1222SC movement, Vacheron Constantin's Overseas were also installed before the major facelift in 2016, as well as Audemars Piguet's AP2329/2846 movement, etc. etc. are all derivative versions of this movement. Jaeger-LeCoultre's movements will never disappoint, which is why Jaeger-LeCoultre has always been favored by big names such as IWC, AP, PP, and VC.
