A friend made a casual remark about his LeCoultre watch not having a 'Swiss' or 'Swiss Made' mark on its dial. Due to this, people were saying his watch was likely a re-dial (i.e., modified dial or dial transferred to another case - also like re-cased?). There was also mention of it being fake. To clarify, I asked if his watches were 'cased and timed in USA'. That means the company in the US (a subsidiary of LeCoultre) brought is the movements and assembled (cased) and calibrated (timed) the watch in the US. This meant cheaper (relatively) watches as complete or whole watches are subject taxes upon shipment to the US. Movements were considered parts so were treated differently.
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| On the inside of the back of the case it is indicated that the watch is 'cased and timed' in USA. |
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| The inside of the LeCoultre 9386, which was marketed in the US as a Wrist Alarm instead of Memovox. Here you can already notice the differences between the "Swiss Made" watches that were complete watches shipped to the US and those not bearing the 'Swiss' mark but had the pedigree of the maker since the movements are really the heart and soul of the watch. |
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| A vintage LeCoultre Futurematic with a 'Swiss' mark at the bottom of the dial |
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| A vintage LeCoultre Powermatic with a 'Swiss' mark at the bottom of the dial |
Here is a nice series on Jaeger-LeCoultre watches in the US market:
https://blommanwatchreport.com/2019/11/13/jaeger-lecoultre-and-the-u-s-market-part-1/
https://blommanwatchreport.com/2019/11/19/jaeger-lecoultre-and-the-u-s-market-part-2/
https://blommanwatchreport.com/2019/11/21/jaeger-lecoultre-and-the-u-s-market-part-3/
Also, here is a nice link to the criteria for what can be called 'Swiss Made'
https://www.cosc.swiss/en/bienfacture/swiss-made-un-label-sous-controle
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