Wristwatches · Wristwatch
Jaeger-LeCoultre Military-Style Watch "Cal. P478", 1940s
- Maker / attribution
- Jaeger-LeCoultre (maker)
- Date
- 1940s
- Historical period
- Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
- Country of origin
- Switzerland
- Object type
- Wristwatch
- Stock no.
- JLCP478
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Craft & Tailored (JLCP478)
- Catalogue title (original)
- 1940s Jaeger-LeCoultre Military-Style Watch "Cal. P478" (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Craft & Tailored (dealer), Los Angeles (stock number JLCP478), this is a wristwatch by Jaeger-LeCoultre, made in Switzerland, dated 1940s. The Atlas places it in the Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking period (1900 – 1945) of its Wristwatches collection. The record is illustrated with 6 photographs.
Assembled from the source record's structured fields. Dates and attributions are given as the source states them; where a field is missing the Atlas leaves it blank rather than estimating.
Catalogue description
Dealer description — Craft & Tailored
At the end of the Second World War, the mood was geared towards reconstruction, efficiency, and pragmatism. Jaeger-LeCoultre turned its inventive genius to the area of automatic round timepieces, forerunners of the Master Control line. The movement used in this watch is the Jaeger LeCoultre calibre 478, a manually-wound powerhouse based on the famed cal. 449 movement and features a center sweep seconds functionality. Outside of the movement, this is a simple, classic military-style watch designed and built by one of the best brands in the business. Stock # JLCP478 Brand Jaeger-LeCoultre Style Military-Style Model P478 Serial 35XXXX Size Men's Material Stainless Steel Dial Brushed Silver Millimeters 33 Strap 2pc Leather Strap CASE & BRACELET The case of this Jaeger-LeCoultre is fully made of stainless steel and is in remarkable condition. It has been lightly polished and shows some patina and wear from use but is in otherwise great, honest condition. The watch will come supplied on a 2pc handmade leather strap. DIAL & HANDS The brushed silver, military-style dial is in overall excellent condition and shows subtle age and a bit of patina in the upper area, which is expected for the age of the watch. The original radium lume Arabic numerals display a handsome tan coloration, the only notable element of degradation is a small amount of lume loss in the "8" numeral. The original blued steel kite-style hands are beautiful and retain original radium lume which has taken on a lovely creamy color-tone. ACCESSORIES
Historical context
Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
The wristwatch displaces the pocket watch; waterproof cases, self-winding and grand complications.
The wristwatch overtook the pocket watch. Military use in the First World War, aviation, water-resistant cases (1926), automatic winding (1923–31), rectangular Art Deco designs and early chronographs and calendars defined the period.
Read the period in the timelineMore wristwatches from this periodEarlier: Industrial Revolution
Atlas type guide
Military, pilot and travel watches
The wristwatch owes much of its adoption by men to warfare and aviation. Wristlets — small pocket watches soldered with lugs and worn on a strap — were used in colonial campaigns and became standard equipment in the First World War, with protective grilles over the crystal ('shrapnel guards'). Louis Cartier's Santos (1904), designed for the aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont, is often cited as an early purpose-made pilot's watch.
In the Second World War governments specified watches in detail: the German B-Uhr observation watches, the American A-11, and the British 'W.W.W.' (the 'Dirty Dozen' set of 1945). After the war, jet travel brought GMT and world-time watches, which show two or more time zones at once — Louis Cottier's world-time mechanism and the Rolex GMT-Master (1955) are examples.
What to look for
- Military markings on the case back: broad arrow, issue numbers, 'W.W.W.', 'A.T.P.'
- High-legibility black dials with luminous Arabic numerals; oversized crowns for gloved hands.
- 24-hour hands and rotating 24-hour bezels or city rings on GMT/world-time watches.
- Wire lugs on early wristlets converted from pocket watches.
Dating clues
- Wire-lug wristlets: c. 1900–1925.
- Military specifications of the Second World War: 1939–1945.
- GMT and world-time wristwatches: mainly after 1950.
General guidance written by the Atlas editors about this kind of object. It is not a statement about this particular piece; for that, rely on the source record above and on physical examination.
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