Jaeger-LeCoultre and MR PORTER are pleased to announce the launch of the Master Ultra Thin Kingsman Knife watch, a limited edition of 100 timepieces, specially adapted for The King’s Man, the upcoming Kingsman origins film directed by Matthew Vaughn.
Press release with commentary in italics.
The Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Ultra Thin Kingsman Knife watch will be offered exclusively on MR PORTER, as a key part of The King’s Man ‘costume to collection’, from July 20th to September 6th. After that date, the watch will also be available directly from Jaeger-LeCoultre online and in selected boutiques.
The following timelines have been indicated to us by the JLC Singapore office:
- 20th July – 6th Sep: Sold exclusively through Mr Porter
- 6th Sep: Sale through JLC’s E-Commerce platform
- 12th Sep onwards: Commence of sale in Singapore JLC boutiques
The newest film in the Kingsman series links past and present, going back 100 years to the origins of the Kingsman agency. So too has Jaeger-LeCoultre drawn upon its great historic mastery of ultra thin calibres to develop a new timepiece directly inspired by the celebrated 1907 ‘Couteau’ (couteau is French for knife) pocket watch.
Interestingly the Kingsman movie franchise have gone through two editions, with this upcoming release being the third. They are The Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014), Kingsman: The Golden Circle (released in 2017 which is the sequel), and the current new release which is a prequel – The King’s Man, scheduled to be released in September 2020. The movie’s wardrobe department have specified watches for the agents in each of the movies. This was first done with Bremont in The Secret Service. In the followup sequel the Golden Circle, the TAG Heuer Connected watch took the honours. And now JLC with the third installment – The King’s Man.
The Master Ultra Thin Kingsman Knife watch is a refined dress watch that blends tradition and modernity in a manner perfectly suited to both The King’s Man and to contemporary style.
The aesthetic roots of the new watch are unmistakably those of Jaeger-LeCoultre’s traditional pocket watches: the very broad bezel slopes gently from the sapphire crystal to the edge of the case, creating a fine profile reminiscent of a knife blade and the winding crown, protected by its triangular bow, is placed at 12 o’clock. However, these timeless and traditional elements are brought right up to date with subtly modern details: simple index hour markers keep the dial refined and clean, while a finely drawn ring is repeated as a circular highlight on the bezel.
The aesthetics of the JLC MUT Kingsman Knife watch is very elegant. The dial layout is clean, clear, legible with the use of blued steel leaf hands being particularly sleek in appearance over the bar indices. The absence of a date on a dress watch is of note. As is the aesthetic nod of the triangular bow over the crown to the 1907 pocket watch is a nice touch.
Presented in a classically elegant 40mm size, the pink gold case is just 4.25mm thick. The ultra thin case houses Jaeger-LeCoultre’s celebrated hand-wound calibre 849. At just 1.85 millimetres thick, the movement underlines La Grande Maison’s century-old mastery of this demanding form of Haute Horlogerie: ultra thin movements require a perfect ratio between thinness and solidity, to ensure that components retain sufficient strength to ensure reliable timekeeping.
The JLC caliber 849 (released in the early 1990s, and is a derivative of the original JLC 839 which was introduced in 1975) is a mainstay in the ultra thin world, with the beautiful movement appearing in many of JLC’s MUT watches, as well as ultra thin watches of other brands. The 849 is of note among the ultra thins as it rather more robust in design and have withstood the test of time.
In tribute to the film’s narrative, the case-back of the Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Ultra Thin Kingsman Knife watch has been engraved with the Kingsman logo, as well as the legend “One of 100”, and is presented in a specially designed Kingsman sleevebox.
In an eloquent expression of the Kingsman maxim ‘Manners Maketh Man’, the Master Ultra Thin Knife is the perfect gentleman’s timepiece; not only functional but supremely elegant.
‘Our Manufacture is proud of its heritage which drives the creativity of our master watchmaking since 1833. We are delighted to partner with Matthew Vaughn and Mr Porter to unveil a unique timepiece celebrating the elegance pioneering spirit. The thinness of this watch, inspired from a pocket-watch with a knife shape from 1907 is illustrating the skills and creativity of our fully integrated Manufacture. It represents the spirit of times with timepieces passed from generation to generation’ –
Ms Catherine Renier, CEO, Jaeger-LeCoultre
‘We at MR PORTER are thrilled to be working with Matthew Vaughn and the Jaeger-LeCoultre team to exclusively launch the limited-edition Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Ultra Thin Kingsman Knife, in advance of the global release of The King’s Man later this year. The watch has a strong heritage styling coupled with being limited to only 100 pieces and will sure to be received extremely well with our growing global watch community’
Mr Sam Kershaw, Buying Director, MR PORTER
