The Jaeger & Benzinger Edition 4 Men’s 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$8,650.00 (AU$7,863.64 ex GST for deliveries outside Australia)
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Information & Media
Jaeger & Benzinger Edition 4
A captivating piece from the first glance, the balanced and classical design of this handmade timepiece is timeless.
Using traditional watchmaking techniques such as hand-guilloching, hand-engraving and hand-skeletonising, each Jaeger & Benzinger timepiece is unique. The beautiful Edition 4 is no exception with its striking, clean dial design that delivers excellent clarity and legibility.
A feature of this collection is the mesmerising, hand-guilloched, windmill pattern at the centre of each dial. Gentle curves give a sense of movement that echoes the passage of the hour and minute hand in a most appealing manner.
Another highlight of the Edition 4 collection is the unique treatment of the movement which can be viewed through the generous sapphire, exhibition case back. The detail of the sunray guilloch pattern on the three-quarter plate adds life to the movement and frames the decoratively engraved balance perfectly. Considered placement of screws and exposed wheels lend harmony and interest to this small work of horological art.
Edition 4 captures the essence of classical watchmaking combined with classical design and is a joy to wear and watch.
The Movement and Finishing
Jaeger & Benzinger have chosen to finish the movement using a three-quarter plate, which is traditional in East German watchmaking and can be found on most high-end watches from this region.
The plate is first hand guilloched using a traditional sunray pattern before being hand-engraved. Finally, the plate is finished with blued screws and perlage. The result of this combination is nothing short of dazzling.
The balance cock is hand engraved and finished with rhodium, and the movement is protected by a sapphire crystal back.
The result is always stunning and vintage watches with this level of handwork and plate feature are coveted by collectors and enthusiasts for good reason, which is why they fetch record prices at auction.
The Dial
With all Jaeger & Benzinger watches your eye is immediately drawn to the dial.
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 authenticate the look, the elegant hands are flame-blued and set to provide a striking contrast to the engraved silver dial with Roman numerals.
The Case
The Edition 4 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 leather 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 of the travel case 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: ETA 6498-2 calibre without second function; diameter 36.6mm, height 4.5mm; 17 jewels; 18,000 A/h; three-quarter plate with sunray guilloché; hand-engraved balance cock, blued screws
• Functions: hour, minute
• Case: polished/satinised stainless steel 42mm, height 11.5mm, sapphire crystal, sapphire crystal case back
• Watchstrap: hand-crafted leather with quick-change-system (variations occur depending on stock and model) Lug width: 22mm
• Dial: sterling silver manufactured in-house with windmill pattern at centre; leaf-shaped, flame-blued hands
• Options: Movement rhodinised silver or black or rose gold-plated
• 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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