We at Caseback Chronicles often talk about Maharajah Watches and how they majorly influenced the watch culture of India. Today, in this brief article we talk about an important subject of a powerful princely state and watch culture of the courts. Rao Chandrapal Singh Jadon’s rare JLC tank by Rohn Sebastian.

The story of this rare piece is from Princely State of Jaipur, historically the Kingdom of Ambher, Jaipur was one of the most powerful princely state of the Rajputana within the Raj ruled by the Kachwaha Rajputs. Focusing on the modern history, Jaipur became a princely state in 1820s and good watches started to come around 1850s with the rule of Maharaja Ram Singh to Maharaja Man Singh II.

Major Ganeral Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II, then Thakur of Isarda was crowned the Maharaja of Jaipur in 1922. Upon obtaining his ruling powers, Sawai Man Singh embarked on a programme of modernisation, creating infrastructure and founding numerous public institutions that would later result in Jaipur being selected the capital of Rajasthan.

Maj. Gen. Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II of Jaipur

Sawai Man Singh can be considered one of the most successful rulers of the Jaipur state. The deeds of the visionary Maharaja has enabled the development of not only the state of Rajasthan in sectors like education, tourism and arts and culture and also gave a major chunk of units to the now Indian Army.

Our subject of focus, this watch with the inscription on back ‘From Chandrapal, 1942‘ tells a story. This watch was once owned by Rao Chandrapal Singh Jadon who was the chief secretary to Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II of Jaipur, during the state time of Jaipur (pre-independence). Rao Chandrapal Singh held many key positions in the court of Sawai Man Singh II and was an important figure in the Jaipur state.

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As the inscription on the back clearly states that this watch was gifted or passed on to somebody close in 1942. To whom it was gifted or passed is not clearly known. The inscription Now was the watch bought off for gifting or was it given of the wrist of Rao Chandrapal is unknown but we would like to believe the latter for a pinch of personal touch.

Rao Chandrapal Singh Jadon

The contribution of Rao Chandrapal Singh Jadon’s family towards Jaipur has always been noteworthy as his son Sh. Jitendra Pal Singh founded Anokhi along with his wife. @anokhijaipur is an apparel brand aimed at reviving the art of block printing and other craftsmanship native to the state.

Rao Jadon’s JLC Calendar

This Jaeger Le-Coultre Date pointer with Day at 12 was introduced in 1930s, the watch is made of solid 18ct gold and is one of the rare timepieces from JLC. The watch does not carry a particular name likeits reversible counterpart but is often called the JLC Tank, JLC Day-Date Tank or JLC Calendar Tank. I honestly prefer the last as it is more appropriate and gives it an individual identity.

The Calendar tank was made in much lesser numbers than the reverso and had it glory in its heyday during 1930s-40s lasting till the 50s & 60s. Unfortunately (or fortunately) the watch got overshadowed by the fame of reverso and was often a case of acquired taste rather than peer pressure.

Why rare? With the advent of wrist watch making and complications, these watches were made in less numbers and even lesser in precious metals like in this case. A similar watch was spotted by Rich Fordon of Hodinkee for Bring A Loupe of the 2024 NYC auctions.

A Jaeger-LeCoultre Tank retailed by Cartier formerly owned by Joe DiMaggio.

Hodinkee calls it a JLC Tank and Sotheby’s mentions it as a gold calendar wrist watch with day and date. The aforementioned watch, just like ours, was a gift to New York Yankees’s Joe Di Maggio, considered as one of the best baseball players of all time by his team mate Bill Robinson.

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Joe’s watch was retailed by Cartier New York, a notable retailer and watchmaker themselves. During the time of Sawai Man Singh’s rule, Favre Leuba was one of the official agents of JLC in India and JLC wtches signed Favre Leuba & Co have often come up at auctions, althought this piece might have been straight from Geneva.

A JLC Reverso signed Favre Leuba & Co.

This peice being owned by an Indian noble again proves the fine taste and affluence of Maharajas and Indian nobles in horology, and it being gifted proves generosity and love towards subjects.

Jaipur has had a history with JLC, as we mentioned before, Maharaja Sawai Man Singh was not just a ruler, he was a soldier and an avid polo player. The maharaja further went on to commission a limited number of JLC Reversos for his state guards – the Sawai Man Guards which are one of the rarest JLC Reversos (and honestly a grail for myself). Read more about the Sawai Man Reverso here: The Tale of Three Reversos.

Today the watch is in the private collection of an antique collector whose name is not shared as per his will.

I was lucky enough to see this rare beauty in person which made me think about other such rare timepieces spread across India, some found some hidden carrying so many stories with them.

I am thankful to Rohn who found this watch and shared this wondeful story. Rohn is also a collector and seller and can be found at Sebastian Vintage Watches. Also thanks to @bharat1728 for finding a picture of Shri Rao Chandrapal Singh Jadon, without which the article would have been incomplete.

We hope you enjoyed the read, for any additional comments and recommendations you can reach out to us @casebackchronicles.

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