Have you heard of jumping seconds? Maybe not from a technical point of view but you’ve surely seen them in action. A central seconds hand jumps forward every second instead of gliding around the dial. This unique feature, typical of quartz watches, is a feat of mechanical watchmaking and has been around since the 18th century when watchmakers were looking for a way to measure short time. The chronograph was in its infancy. It was called “beating the second”. Breguet called it “jump seconds”. Jaeger-LeCoultre had the bright idea to bring the function back into fashion with a new name: the true second. Unveiled last year as a limited edition update of a 1958 model, the Geophysic® has now spawned its own collection. The True Second model houses the function fuelled by its self-winding movement in an elegant steel or rose gold case (39.6 mm). Price: 8,650 CHF (steel) – 17,300 CHF (rose gold). Dan Diaconu
