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RACEMATIC TJL 3 watch
The TJL 3 is the automatic version of the popular TJL 2 chronoquartz dedicated to Jacques LAFFITE. The watch is attached for this version to a particular moment in the history of Ligier, the "temporada 1979".
This is the word used to describe the South American F1 "tour" that began its season in Argentina and then in Brazil. Ligier showed up in 1979 after a complicated season in 1978, with a new car, the JS11, which reset all the counters to zero: the JS11 abandoned the Matra V12 in favor of the more than proven Cosworth V8, and offered a chassis designed for optimal exploitation of the ground effect introduced by Lotus the previous year. And it was an "airplane": Jacques Laffite and Patrick Depailler dominated these two races, with 2 victories for Jacques and a 2nd place in Brazil for Patrick Depailler.
The season was looking bright, but it would actually be complicated in its second part, due to limited budgetary means and a hang glider accident that would keep Depailler off the circuits. Laffite and Ligier, however, had demonstrated that year: French drivers and teams could dominate and win in F1. Both Alain Prost and Renault would illustrate this in the years that followed.
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< THE ARPIEM RACEMATIC CASE is made of 316L stainless steel. Its characteristics are an almost total absence of magnetism which therefore does not disturb the operation of the movement and a very low carbon content (less than 0.35%) which makes it particularly resistant to corrosion and wear. A water resistance of 10 ATM is offered, with a screwed adjustment button.
< DLC BEZEL COATING: DLC, Diamond Like Carbon, is a material combining the structure of graphite carbon with that of diamond and a variable amount of hydrogen deposited in a vacuum in thin layers. Its name refers to the qualities of diamond found in DLC: wear resistance, inalterability and low coefficient of friction. Thanks to these qualities, it is found in the design of drilling tools, engines, in the optical industry and in watchmaking of course. The DLC treatment of the TJL3 bezel gives it resistance to shocks and wear much higher than that which would have been obtained with a classic PVD coating.
< THE DIAL: the shape of the secondary dials (the "pandas") is inspired by the pressure gauges of cars from the sixties. The indexes of the main dial represent the graduations of the rev counter.
< THE TRIPLE-LAYER DESIGN OF THE DIAL gives the ARPIEM an elegant volume, which also recalls the “sandwich” alloy construction of racing car chassis before the advent of carbon.
< THE MOVEMENT: automatic MIYOTA caliber 9132 with power reserve. Mounted on 26 jewels. Frequency = 28,800 Hz.
< DOMED SAPPHIRE GLASS: this is the best quality of glass available on the market. It is actually an aluminum oxide crystal and not a glass. Even if it is produced synthetically in an industrial way, it has the same chemical composition and the same physical properties as natural sapphire. Its main virtue is its resistance to scratches. On the MOHS scale graduated from 1 to 10 which evaluates the hardness of minerals, it is classified at 9, only diamond is harder and classified at 10. Most of the minerals constituting our everyday objects are between 4 and 7 on this scale. Its domed finish gives the watch its "vintage" look.
< ANTI-REFLECTIVE TREATMENT: The glass is treated with 6 layers of anti-reflective coating which aim to limit the refraction of light on the sapphire crystal for perfect perception of colors and materials (the greater the number of layers applied, the lower the refraction of light).
< THE TACHYMETER: this one is revisited. The indexes are usually arranged irregularly on the crown. On the ARPIEM, they are placed in the manner of diving watches, the speed being given for each 5-second index on the dial.
< BACK OF THE CASE: this is equipped with a sapphire crystal revealing the rotor of the automatic movement decorated with Jacques Laffite's helmet
