No luxury watch is good value for the money. But, yeah, Blancpain is an established brand with an impressive history of making excellent watches. By luxury watch standards, you'd be doing fine by buying one.

 

JLC is pure class.

 

I'm partial to JLC - I recently made the watch in your last photo (MUT 34) my first "nice" watch, and I'm smitten with it. I suppose Blancpain is fine value by luxury watch standards, and has plenty of history of its own, but I couldn't help but be drawn to the allure of JLC's design/mechanical prowess/relative value proposition.

 

Are there other watches I should consider? I love the look of the Ultra Thin but I cant find a small one with a date and the standard MC isn't doing it for me.



Blancpain is a strange brand because it wasn't originally a luxury brand but with its rebirth ultra thin automatics seems to be one of their specialties so I would wonder if the movement in the BP is as good a JLC movement.

 

Like most, I prefer JLC, but I think used Blaincpain dress watches are a good value.

 

Blancpain isn't a manufacture and uses the fragile frederic piguet movements unlike JLC which is a true manufacture in the purest sense of the meaning. JLC for me

 

My understanding is that FP was absorbed into Blancpain which is why we don't see any FP movements in any other brands these days. I realize they never made full watches but I thought FP was considered a manufacture in terms of movements in the same sort of way that Zenith and JLC are? FP and JLC movements have been used in some of the best watch brands.

Can you please explain what makes the JLC 889 movement in a MUS better than the Blancpain or "FP" 1150?

I can see why people would like JLC better as a brand but I don't yet have an understanding of why their movements are better.

 

You might look at Grand Seiko. There are sub-38mm dressy options available new in your price range. They're more minimalist than the stuff you're looking at, but the case finishing, dial, and hands will be at least as good as (honestly, probably better than) your options above. And maybe check out Rolex Cellini watches, which people tend to forget about (and as a result they're surprisingly inexpensive used).

Really, though, there are tons of great dressy watches out there in your price range, well more than the two brands you're eyeballing now. The GS and Cellini watches are just where I'd personally go. If you're in no rush, take the time to soak up all the pretty options.

 

I love JLC but think Blancpain is a very special watch company. Both Blancpain and Breguet dress watches fall in value quickly but by no means does that imply they are lesser watch companies. Rather, it implies the people who can afford them want new ones.

 

BP is one of the best, and if I am not mistaken, they were the first to have a flying tourbillon, and produce quite a few truly high end pieces. It's more their designs that I am less a fan of. It seems like outside the fifty fathom, their watches look somewhat generic. JLCs are very pretty all around.

 

Used to sell them both and the only BP I liked was the 'Time Zone extra-flat.

 

In this case , I'd take the BP's over JLC's. Also, since both brands are excellent, I'd make my selection on which I liked to wear more and which has features that I want.

 

So let me get this straight.

Blancpain absorbs FP.
Blancpain isn't a manufacture.

Rolex absorbs Aegler.
Rolex is a manufacture.

Unfortunately for you, I can skip past all of the irrelevant spam you like typing to hide your BS.

 

So let me get this straight.

Blancpain absorbs FP.
Blancpain isn't a manufacture.

Rolex absorbs Aegler.
Rolex is a manufacture.

Unfortunately for you, I can skip past all of the irrelevant spam you like typing to hide your BS.

Speak for your ownself. Maybe I should quote all your irrelevant bs by trying to pass TAG for a manufacture when it isn't. Please give me a break with your constant and senseless whining.
Does Blancpain have the same track record than Rolex of manufacturing their own movements since their foundation?
No, and I can prove it, Rolex has a far greater history of manufacturing movements since their beginning Automatic Movements
Using a third party movement manufacturer integrated to their brand and not designing their own movement from scratch unlike Rolex doesn't make of Blancpain a true manufacture.

 

In this case , I'd take the BP's over JLC's. Also, since both brands are excellent, I'd make my selection on which I liked to wear more and which has features that I want.

 

When buying used Blancpain tends to offer relatively good "value" on most models. They are good watches with very nice finishes. Maybe the movements are not JLC level, but the finishing is right up there.

 

I own Blancpains, and JLCs. Between the two, buy whatever floats you boat the most and you'll be happier. Over time, I've kind of begun to feel Blancpain's finish is nicer than JLCs, but maybe it is just the models I own.

With respect to the 1185 vs 4130 vs B01 vs 9300 I own watches with these movements as well as watches with probably another 20 different automatic chronograph movements. Can't say I agree with Georges rankings. In use, the 4130 and BO1 and 9300 aren't quite as good as the 1185 in my experience. I actually like the 1185 a little better than the JLC 757 in my Master Compressor Chrono. Personally I'm not convinced that in house equates to better and I'm not convinced that newer movements are always better than older movements. While technically on paper, any number of movements may appear to be advances over older movements, in practice in my experience things are different.

 

Robert Jan Broer will disagree with you and so do I
https://www.watchtime.com/blog/fratello-friday-top-10-chronograph-movements/
We will probably agree to disagree, however be insured that I do like my vintage el primero chronographs and ymmv regarding the 1185.

Best regards

Georges

 

After reading this entire thread up to this point I can say that this is exactly why I like this watch forum so much. The knowledge shared is staggering. Oh...I like JLC better BTW. I have a MUT Moon and love every aspect of it.

 

judging with looks, i would go with the Blanpain... but going with prestige and class, then JLC would be best.

 

I am more satisfy with Jaeger LeCoultre's overall collection and technical development. Blancpain doesn't have enough style grab my attention.

 

Two beauty's for sure. I'd go with The JLC

 

JLC, to me, is a maison i respect more. But that Blancpain is nothing to sneer at either, and they make very good watches (with in-house movements, I might add - this whole "they are not a manufacture" statement is blatantly inaccurate).

 

Not really inhouse third party frederic piguet movements which are not highly modified, yes they are beautiful watches, quality wise they are good but for the same money I would rather have a Rolex than a Blancpain.

 

Blancpain have a lovely, consistent style for their dress watches (those proprietary numerals and skeleton leaf hands... mmm), a good feeling of visual balance for integrating complications on their dials, great finish... Can't comment on the finish of the movement actually, I didn't spend enough time looking at BP movements.
Sure, JLC might be a 'safer' bet in case you really want to flip it quickly at some point; but since you're buying both used, I don't see any risk of losing money for you there...

 

It's embarrassing that a man who clsims to be a watch fan does not know what manufacture means.

If you manufacture a movement, you are a manufacture.
It doesn't matter if you make one movement or 100 different movements, you are still a manufacture.
It doesn't matter if you've been doing it for 1 year or 100 years, you are a manufacture.
It doesn't matter if your movements are good or bad, you are a manufacture.

And I like how you're pretending Aeglar S.A/Manufacture des Montres Rolex wasn't a separate company not owned by Rolex (the watch company) but was instead a private family owned business, just like F Piguet.

 

Interesting info for comparison.

The Borer family didn't sell their company to Rolex until 2004.
Rolex movements weren't made by the same company that made the watches and weren't even owed by the same parties.

Blancpain, the watchmaking brand was owned by Jaques Piguet (and JCBiver), who was also CEO of the family that bore his name.
The 1185 was in production from 1989.
Swatch didn't buy FPiguet and Blancpain until 1992.

In other words, Jaques Piguet owned both the movement manufacturer and the watch company when the 1185 was developed and the movement was developed primarily for Blancpain (his watch company).

 

And for further reference.
Despite owning both companies, Jaques Piguet, being of the industry with a family company that has deep history in the industry and knowing what the industry terms meant, as opposed to being just some Internet wannabe, never claimed that the Piguet movements were manufacture for Blancpain.

That didn't happen until Swatch formally gave control of what was FPiguet to Blancpain in 2010.

 

I find BP to be a tad nicer made than JLC at the lower to mid range in their lineup, but the JLC movements in the same segment are nicer to look at.

Spec wise BP movements are nicer as well with higher power reserves which is more useful in day to day use. However design wise there is something about the jlc ultra thins that the Villerets can’t quite match by that’s just personal

I’d go for a used BP, at the prices you are quoting those are tremendous value imo but master control at 4K is not as enticing.

 

Wow that's a tough choice!