E502 – Calibre 817 / 837

Futurematic E502 - Movements 817 and 837

The 817 and 837 movements are very similar, and both relatively rare, although substantially less of the 837 were made, as stated on the Movements page.

The differences found[1]:

  •  The 817 was sold and cased in the US, and was signed on the dial and on the case by LeCoultre instead of Jaeger-LeCoulter (due to the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act[2]).The 837 was cased and sold outside of the US, and thus signed by Jaeger-LeCoulter. 
  • The power reserve porthole on the 817 was red, while the power reserve porthole on the 837 was dark grey.
  •  The non-US models (signed JLC) did not have calibre numbers engraved on the rotor.
If production numbers are accurate this means that only a tiny 5% of the Futurematics produced by JLC were the 817 model, and less than 1% were 837s. That makes these models (collectively known as the E502 models) substantially more rare.

These two models were produced from 1956 to 1958, and ended the run of Futurematic watches for JLC.
Example of Calibre 817. Credit: timeline.watch
Example of Calibre 837. Credit: longbear from urdebatten.dk

References:

  1. gatorcpa @ https://omegaforums.net/threads/jaeger-lecoultre-futurematic-porthole.78585/
  2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futurematic
  3. https://montresmecaniques.forumactif.com/t7318-revision-jaeger-lecoultre-futurematic-cal-837
  4. https://www.watchprosite.com/?page=wf.forumpost&q=&fi=2&ti=722338&pi=4723353
  5. https://watchguy.co.uk/repair-service-lecoultre-futurematic-calibre-817/