Introducing The Luxury Vintage Jaeger-LeCoultre Club Replica Watch

The response of the Swiss replica watchmaking industry to the quartz crisis of the 1970s varied depending on the brand ethos. Some remained resolutely high-end, even as they adopted quartz technology, others developed cheaper ranges both quartz and mechanical in order to compete.

These two replica Vintage Jaeger-LeCoultre Club watches (lot 18 and 19) represent Jaeger-LeCoutre’s reaction to the problem. The ‘Club’ range of replica watches has AS movements rather than those from Jaeger-LeCoutre’s own manufacture and for this reason some collector’s regard them as ‘not quite proper Jaegers’. The quality of the case and dial manufacture is lower than you would expect from the core models too. However, they are an important part of the company’s history and their typical 70’s designs can make them an affordable collecting niche of their own.

As prices continued to fall for both quartz and mechanical Jaeger LeCoultre Club copy watches, a race developed that only quartz could win. The cheapest mechanical replica watches kept poor time and broke easily while the ever-cheaper quartz replica watches kept superb time leaving huge numbers of cheaper replica watch manufacturers unable to compete. Companies such a Jaeger-LeCoultre who maintained their high-end mechanical output, albeit at a much lower level, were best placed to recover when interest in mechanical luxury Jaeger LeCoultre vintage fake watches began to grow again in the early 1990s.

Left: Lot 18, a Jaeger-LeCoultre gentlemen’s Club wrist replica watch

Right: Lot 19, a Jaeger-LeCoultre gentlemen’s Club wrist replica watch

The full auction catalogue is available to view on our website.