LeCoultre Futurematic reference E 502 cal. 817 portholes from 1956

In 1951, the Jaeger Lecoultre released the Futurematic automatic watch. It has one unique feature:  a lock that holds the swinging weight in place when the mainspring is fully wound. It also features a special 6 hour power reserve, allowing the watch to immediately function when it is put on, rather than requiring it to be wound first. 

There are various Futurematic produced. From the movement calibers point of view, Futurematic were powered by four shock-resistant movements during the range’s lifetime namely Calibres 497 (1951), 827 (1953), 817 Porthhole (1956) and ultimately 837 Porthhole (1958). In terms of look, the lack of a conventional crown at 3 o'clock gives the case a smoother silhouette, its sharp, special lugs--echoed by the dauphine hands--give it a decidedly futuristic look.

Key features:

1. The hammer-type winding, the hammer will automatically lock when the chain is fully wound (to avoid the friction of the axis), which is a real innovative design.

2. When the mainspring runs out, it will store 6 hours of energy in the barrel (because of the poor performance of the hammer-type winding, there is a 6-hour energy reserve, which allows the mainspring and escapement to operate immediately when worn).

3. The lack of conventional crown as the crown is on the back of the watch, with a hack (stop-second) function seconds were rare at that time) that allowed unparalled accuracy

I was aiming for a Futurematic using caliber 497 black dial initially. However, I have failed to finalise the  deal and instead found another watch instead. This watch is often called Futurematic Portholes by collectors due to these 2 very small windows on the dial. The name fits it perfectly as the functions of this piece are way before its time and very futuristic. The watch dial displays 2 portholes, the one on the right with an arrow showing continuous seconds and the porthole on the left with a red/white disc displaying the power reserve of the movement.  which show the power reserve on the left and a turning arrow featuring the seconds, on the right part of the dial. 

Similar function to the Cal 497 black dial version, it has a power reserve indicator at 9:00 and small seconds 3:00, but in Cal. 817 and Cal. 837 these are tiny round windows rather than being full sub-dials. The cal. 827 returned to the full sub-dial format. 

I must admit that I disliked the Potholes design initially and find it too raw but it gradually grew onto me. The porthholes designed gave the watch a unique futuristic look coupled with the stange lugs design and it is a design either you love it or hate it. Just an exquisite timepiece, and I love the history and engineering behind the movement, and unconventional crown placement at the rear caseback.

From the internet data, the calibers 817, 827, and 837 were produced from 1956 through 1958, with just 3,500 movements made and are therefore very rare comparing to the cal. 497 witch approximately 52,500 examples were produced between 1951 and 1958. It has been said that the whole project for the Futurematic almost made the company bankrupt, as they never fully recovered their investment from sales of the Futurematic series of watches. The Potholes Calibers 817 & 837 constitues about 4.1% of the total production, meaning that for every 100 Futurematics, only 4 are the pothholes design.

 

 

It is interesting to note that the Futurematic was launched first in the US. The European version of Jaeger lecoultre Futurematic tended to be more conservative in design versus the Amerian LeCoultre versions, which tended to me more loud and avant garde...Which one do you prefer?

Having found the US version of the Futurematic, I am hoping to find a European version of the Jaeger Lecoultre E501 (Cal 497, 36mm) or 502 Futurematic potholes (Cal 817, 37mm).

https://nicwatches.com/portfolio/lecoutre-futurematic-porthole-ref-e502/

https://horoguides.com/tw/a/50%E5%B9%B4%E4%BB%A3%E6%9C%80%E6%9C%89%E6%99%BA%E6%85%A7%E7%9A%84%E7%A9%8D%E5%AE%B6futurematic

许多爱好者都知道 Jaeger-LeCoultre Futurematic，这款“无表冠”腕表（表冠位于背面）由自动保险杠驱动，并配备动力储存指示器和分散式秒针。该表被包括在许多复古概览中，部分原因是几乎完美的对称性是所有型号的特征。 

Futurematic 的专利机芯由积家在 1951 年至 1958 年间生产。它有两种变体，（最著名的）497 型机芯（生产约 53,000 枚）和 1956 年以来的衍生型 817 型机芯（约生产 3,500 枚）。不同之处在于动力储存和秒数的显示。对于更常见的型号，这是通过两只手在自己的子表盘上完成的，对于 817，所谓的“舷窗”型号，通过表盘中两个圆形窗口后面的彩色区域来完成。

也许这两款表最特别的特点是当手表完全上链时，一个“钩子”会阻止上链重量（它可以在两个弹簧之间“碰撞”以给手表上弦）。这样就不需要滑动离合器了。通过将表冠背面的表冠滑动到手表的中心（然后机芯将锁定）然后转动来调整时间。手表不能用表冠上链。为了让美国工业在第二次世界大战后继续发展，美国征收了高额进口关税，包括手表。许多瑞士品牌通过出口（也许只是“纸上”）不受监管的钟表并在美国制造和监管，从而规避了这些税收。因此，我们知道两个“品牌”Futurematics：

1. Jaeger-LeCoultre Futurematic（欧洲型号），提供 35 毫米和（后来的）37 毫米钢、镀金和金表壳，带有完全签名的机芯。
2. LeCoultre Futurematic（美式变体），就可追溯性而言，仅提供 35 毫米镀金或金表壳。该机芯在上链重量上标记为“未调整”，底盖内侧写有“LeCoultre 在美国的外壳和计时”。

欧洲型号是迄今为止最稀有的型号，尤其是钢制和 37 毫米型号。无论如何，舷窗变体很少见，纯粹是因为产量有限。Futurematic 进一步外观的唯一时尚之处是指针。表带附件有不同的表盘变体和不同的形状，它们也可以互换使用。由于手表的原因，当然总是通过小表盘保持紧密的对称性，并且手表侧面没有表冠。1958 年后，积家不再使用 Futurematic 时计。其原因尚不清楚。手表的概念已被完全抛弃，并没有用于较新的手表类型。这使得零件稀有。或许这也是许多古董收藏家不愿“入手”Futurematic 的一个原因。

Futurematics（尤其是美国变种）经常在互联网上出售。在许多情况下，这些是恢复的或合成的副本。这不一定是问题，只要风格保持稳定，毕竟变体比记录的要多。注意指针的形状，尤其是钟表的黑客功能。在许多情况下，导致这种情况的杠杆被完全破坏或移除。然后手表可以正常工作，但在更改时间时不会停止，这使得精确调整秒数变得困难。这部分或许是发烧友最追捧的部分。