The Jaeger & Benzinger Edition 3 Salmon Vintage Movement Men’s Manual winding Luxury watch. Featuring a 42mm Stainless Steel case, impressive Silver dial, and outstanding precision, this timepiece showcases the premium design and quality that independent German watchmaker Jaeger & Benzinger is renowned for.
AU$7,895.00 (AU$7,177.27 ex GST for deliveries outside Australia)
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Information & Media
Jaeger & Benzinger Edition 3 Salmon – Vintage Movement
40 piece limited edition
With its beautifully finished, Breguet-frosted dial and crisp roman numerals, Jaeger & Benzinger’s Edition 3 Salmon with vintage FHF 96 movement, exudes classic elegance.
Using traditional watchmaking techniques such as hand-guilloching, hand-engraving and hand-skeletonising, each Jaeger & Benzinger timepiece is unique, thanks to the manual production process adopted to craft each watch individually.
To create the Edition 3, Jochen and Kay acquired 40 original FHF 96 movements which they modified and transformed into the stunning and reliable manual calibre that beats at the heart of each piece in this very special limited edition.
This manually wound calibre features a power reserve of 48 hours, and is only 4.6 mm high. The movement features a balance cock completely hand-engraved as well as engraved plates and bridges hand-worked by Jochen on his antique, rose engines and finished in white rhodium and rose gold to complement the delicate dial.
A Brief History of FHF Movements
The Fabrique d’Horlogerie de Fontainemelon (FHF) was founded in 1793 under the name Benguerel & Humbert. It is the oldest ebauche movement manufacturer in the world.
In 1816, FHF started industrial production of watch movements, and at one point used hydraulic energy from the River Suze together with steam power to create more than 240,000 ebauches annually.
Through a series of mergers and factory modernisation, the company was prosperous until the quartz crisis in the 1970s-80s nearly destroyed all mechanical watch production in Switzerland and Germany. The crisis caused the company to effectively dissolve into ETA in 1985.
The last FHF Calibre 96 movements were produced in the early 1970s and these movements, modified by Jaeger & Benzinger, form the core of the Edition 3 – a nod to the illustrious past of watchmaking by modern masters.
The Dial
With all Jaeger & Benzinger watches your eye is immediately drawn to the dial and the salmon model is no exception.
The aptly-named watch face is entirely hand-crafted, in-house, out of sterling silver. The dial is then hand-guilloched and engraved on historic rose engines by Jochen at a level of craftsmanship and skill that makes him one of the elite in the field of watch ennobling.
To finish the look and contrast against the rich dial, the hands are flame-blued and set to provide a striking contrast to the Roman numerals.
The Case
The Edition 3 is fitted in a high-grade, polished stainless steel case made in Pforzheim, Germany and is teamed with a hand-crafted leather band featuring a quick-change spring bar system. Please note: there are several band options available and your selection can be finalised at the time of placing your order, based on available stock.
An added touch
Even the packaging for Jaeger & Benzinger watches is hand-made in Germany, to the highest standards.
Kay Jaeger explains that the inner case, used to store the watch, can also be used as a travel case to protect your watch when you are on the move. It was designed exclusively for Jaeger & Benzinger by a small German specialty manufacturer of leather goods working to Kay’s specifications.
The outside material is made from sturdy, ox leather, while the inside is made from soft deer skin to provide optimal protection for its precious cargo. This case is entirely hand stitched and tanned, and is itself a small work of art.
The outer box, often a throw-away item, is also quite unique. It is made by a master, German book restorer who uses the same techniques to build Jaeger & Benzinger’s outer box that he uses to restore antique book covers. Another example of a fading art preserved by the boutique brand dedicated to bespoke, hand-made quality and design.
Technical specifications
• Movement: Manual wind, Calibre Jaeger & Benzinger (based on FHF 96); Ø 25,6 mm, height 4,6 mm; 17 jewels; 18.000 A/h; Hand-engraved balance cock, pearl-satinised and engraved base plate, complete movement rhodinised or gold plated (depending on model), 48 hr power reserve
• Functions: hour, minute, small second
• Case: polished/satinised stainless steel 38mm, height 9.5mm, sapphire crystal, sapphire crystal case back
• Watchstrap: hand-crafted ostrich leather with quick-change-system (variations occur depending on stock and model) Lug width: 20mm
• Dial: sterling silver manufactured in-house. Limited to 40 pieces.
• Options: Movement and dial rhodinised or rose gold-plated or frosted (light version only)
• Warranty: 2 year international warranty
Kay Jaeger
For more than three decades, Kay Jaeger has devoted his time to watches, starting out as a collector and advisor for various watch labels. In 2009, he initiated the “Manufakturmesse” in Mannheim, which has been a popular alternative to larger trade fairs ever since. In 2012 he took the next logical step by planning and developing the first collection of mechanical wristwatches under the signet JAEGER & BENZINGER together with his friend Jochen Benzinger.
Jochen Benzinger
For many years, Jochen Benzinger has enjoyed an excellent reputation in the watch industry. His watches and watch movements are characterized by exceptional precision and exclusivity. Be it engraving, skeletonizing or guilloché, there is hardly another watchmaker as skilled at traditional finishing methods as the master from Pforzheim. Jochen Benzinger’s unique style is displayed in every single watch by JAEGER & BENZINGER, which makes his watches very special.
Hardly anyone today is aware of the fact that guilloché is the evolution of the “royal craft” known as ornamental turnery. Emperors, landgraves and nearly all the higher aristocracy of the 16th to 18th century were educated in this craft. Turnery epitomized more than any other craft the contemporary philosophy of everything revolving around a sovereign ruler. Using the royal lathes, watch artists developed beautiful guilloché machines in the 18th and 19th century, with which Breguet himself cut his unique, characteristic dials.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Russian Tsar’s court jeweller Fabergé truly perfected the art of guilloché. He used guilloché as a background for his famous enamel works, among them the epitome of this work, his highly elaborate Fabergé eggs. Thanks to the renaissance of mechanical watches, some of today’s high-end watchmakers are once again adorning their products with hand-guilloché dials, unsurpassed in their elegant appearance.
The art of engraving is as old as mankind itself. Since ancient times, humans have been using cutting instruments to decorate jewellery and objects needed for everyday use.
In Europe, the art of engraving experienced a Golden Age in the 15th and 16th centuries, when armor and weapons were finely chiselled and engraved. In the 16th century, Albrecht Dürer helped the art form back to its glory days by using engraving tools for his copper printing plates and famous prints. Today, in the 21st century, Jaeger & Benzinger are using the very same tools as Dürer.
There are now only very few specialists skilled in these old finishing crafts. Our world is turning ever faster, globalization has made all people equal, computers determine our communication and people’s appetites are sated with fast food. Despite – or maybe due to – this, there are some able and willing to pay for the luxury of the truly exceptional.
Skeletonization is a method of decoration which gives closed watch movements a new and more individual character. Parts of the movement are removed using a goldsmith’s saw, allowing a direct view into and through the mechanical movement. A sapphire crystal case back makes it possible to see each of the movements.
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Availability note: Depending on availability, delivery times may vary on certain models.
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