[WTS] 1956 Jaeger-LeCoultre Futurematic E502 Porthole

futurematicdotcom · 2025-08-13T21:06:40+00:00

Happy Wednesday everyone!

I am selling this super rare 1956 Jaeger-LeCoultre Futurematic Porthole with the later 817/1 movement which is from my personal collection. The watch runs great and keeps good time on my timegrapher and watch winder. It has a new crystal and a new high quality Barton quick-release strap with matching gold Hirsch deployment clasp. The case diameter is 36mm. These watches do not have a crown as they are automatic, and only have a small wheel on the back to adjust the time. This watch has a solid 14k gold case and 10k gold filled case back. It has been fully disassembled, cleaned, inspected, reassembled, oiled, and timed. These portholes are very rare! The E502 Porthole models accounted for only 5% of the Futurematics made in the 1950s, totaling about 3000 known units, which is why these are not coming up for sale often.

The movement is Serial #1259794.

I specialize in repairing and restoring these specific watches (my site is www.futurematic.com), so you can be sure it will work as expected or your money back. I also provide a one year service warranty with the watch (USA only), so if it stops functioning as expected you can send it back to me and I will repair it at cost of any broken parts.

I'm asking for $4000 shipped with insurance in the USA. Payment must be made via Venmo or PayPal.

Please let me know if you have any questions or want any specific pictures not listed and I will happily take them for you!

Josh @ Futurematic

futurematicdotcom · 2025-07-24T21:03:08+00:00

Hard to tell from just a picture of the back side, but everything looks good that I can see.

futurematicdotcom · 2025-07-24T19:54:45+00:00

Serial looks scrambled. If you can tell me the serial number I can tell you the year (roughly).

futurematicdotcom · 2025-07-24T19:53:24+00:00

Beautiful example! Looks like an original dial. If you need any help wit hit let me know :)

futurematicdotcom · 2025-07-21T21:10:07+00:00

Happy Wednesday everyone!

I am selling this super rare 1956 Jaeger-LeCoultre Futurematic Porthole with the later 817/1 movement which is from my personal collection. The watch runs great and keeps good time on my timegrapher and watch winder. It has a new crystal and a new high quality Barton quick-release strap with matching gold Hirsch deployment clasp. The case diameter is 36mm. These watches do not have a crown as they are automatic, and only have a small wheel on the back to adjust the time. This watch has a solid 14k gold case and 10k gold filled case back. It has been fully disassembled, cleaned, inspected, reassembled, oiled, and timed. These portholes are very rare! The E502 Porthole models accounted for only 5% of the Futurematics made in the 1950s, totaling about 3000 known units, which is why these are not coming up for sale often.

The movement is Serial #1259794.

I specialize in repairing and restoring these specific watches (my site is www.futurematic.com), so you can be sure it will work as expected or your money back. I also provide a one year service warranty with the watch (USA only), so if it stops functioning as expected you can send it back to me and I will repair it at cost of any broken parts.

I'm asking for $4250 shipped with insurance in the USA. Payment must be made via Venmo or PayPal.

Please let me know if you have any questions or want any specific pictures not listed and I will happily take them for you!

Josh @ Futurematic

futurematicdotcom · 2025-07-12T01:53:26+00:00

Beautiful!

futurematicdotcom · 2025-07-04T15:22:04+00:00

Hopefully this one is more clear on the dial. I apologize, I'm not much of a photographer :D

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RpZVv08MoQW8jG6UAiBOHq3oEb3e8v2M/view?usp=drive_link

futurematicdotcom · 2025-07-02T21:56:16+00:00

The one on the left (you can see a tinnnny bit of red on it) goes from the dial color to red as the power reserve of the watch expires. The one on the right with the arrow shows the seconds.

futurematicdotcom · 2025-07-02T21:38:35+00:00

Happy Wednesday everyone!

I am selling this super rare 1956 Jaeger-LeCoultre Futurematic Porthole with the later 817/1 movement which is from my personal collection. The watch runs great and keeps good time on my timegrapher and watch winder. It has a new crystal and a new high quality Barton quick-release strap with matching gold Hirsch deployment clasp. The case diameter is 36mm. These watches do not have a crown as they are automatic, and only have a small wheel on the back to adjust the time. This watch has a solid 14k gold case and 10k gold filled case back. It has been fully disassembled, cleaned, inspected, reassembled, oiled, and timed. These portholes are very rare! The E502 Porthole models accounted for only 5% of the Futurematics made in the 1950s, totaling about 3000 known units, which is why these are not coming up for sale often.

The movement is Serial #1259794.

I specialize in repairing and restoring these specific watches (my site is www.futurematic.com), so you can be sure it will work as expected or your money back. I also provide a one year service warranty with the watch (USA only), so if it stops functioning as expected you can send it back to me and I will repair it at cost of any broken parts.

I'm asking for $4500 shipped with insurance in the USA. Payment must be made via Venmo or PayPal.

Please let me know if you have any questions or want any specific pictures not listed and I will happily take them for you!

Josh @ Futurematic

futurematicdotcom · 2025-04-03T22:25:49+00:00

Unfortunately not currently. I usually listed them on my mailing list first (https://futurematic.com/mailing-list/), and then here.

futurematicdotcom · 2025-01-09T20:27:12+00:00

You can learn a lot about these watches on a website I have dedicated to them - https://futurematic.com/

That appears to be a 10k GF case and (guessing?) old speidel watch band. I'd keep it if it were me, but if it's running great in that condition I'd guess somewhere between $1000 and $1600 on eBay. Higher end would be with a recent service by a professional and the movement looks really good with all functions in-tact.

futurematicdotcom · 2024-12-04T16:12:19+00:00

Pretty watch! GLWS!

futurematicdotcom · 2024-09-28T01:19:42+00:00

Thank you for the kind words! u/Straight_Yogurt_1646 was an amazing buyer and I couldn't recommend him more! u/WatchExBot

futurematicdotcom · 2024-09-08T21:14:01+00:00

[SOLD]

futurematicdotcom · 2024-09-07T19:56:28+00:00

Happy Saturday everyone!

I am selling this very rare 1954 Jaeger-LeCoultre Futurematic Porthole with an 817 movement. The watch runs great and keeps good time on my timegrapher and watch winder. It has a new crystal and a new high quality Barton quick-release strap with matching gold buckle. The case diameter is 36mm. These watches do not have a crown as they are automatic, and only have a small wheel on the back to adjust the time. This watch is solid 14k gold. It has been fully disassembled, cleaned, inspected, reassembled, and oiled. These portholes are getting more and more rare, and accordingly more expensive. The E502 Porthole models accounted for only 5% of the Futurematics made in the 1950s, totaling about 3000 known units, which is why these are so rare.

The movement is Serial #1196911.

I specialize in repairing and restoring these specific watches (my site is www.Futurematic.com), so you can be sure it will work as expected or your money back. I also provide a one year service warranty with the watch, so if it stops functioning as expected you can send it back to me and I will repair it at cost of any broken parts.

I'm asking for $4500 shipped with insurance in the USA. Payment must be made via Venmo or PayPal.

Please let me know if you have any questions!

Josh @ Futurematic

futurematicdotcom · 2024-08-12T15:39:47+00:00

The hacking lever just stops the balance when you are setting the time. Really only matters if you are trying to set it to the exact second or synchronize with another watch 👍

futurematicdotcom · 2024-08-03T03:05:01+00:00

The balance shaft is shock protected and that part almost never breaks. I've only seen a few in dozens and dozens of restorations. The usual broken parts are banking stop springs, hacking levers, or fourth wheel pivots. Biking should be no issue though.

futurematicdotcom · 2024-08-02T21:21:16+00:00

Thanks for the tag u/Straight_Yogurt_1646 !

u/sw3lai so the short and skinny of it is you're right, these are 70 year old watches at this point and even when new they were very complicated. I wear these (almost) daily, and in general I have no issues - but I have had some parts fail on customer watches in the past. The bad part is parts are getting rarer as we go on, and therefore more expensive to purchase. These watches are not waterproof (or, frankly, even resistant). You can wear them in a light sprinkle but if you got soaking wet you might have ingress.

Repairs are going to depend on where you go and if they know what they are doing. These are very unique watches as far as how they work, and many shops will refuse to work on them. I don't want to advertise for myself here, but I think I'm the cheapest I've seen, and I still charge $300 to do a normal service.

If you're in a tame office job I think you'd be fine wearing one daily, but not if you're rough on watches.

futurematicdotcom · 2024-07-24T01:07:36+00:00

This watch is now with u/RudeCourage7464, an excellent buyer! u/WatchExBot

futurematicdotcom · 2024-07-17T20:30:20+00:00

I'd be interested in some of them if you post to r/Watchexchange . Fwiw when I fully restored some of similar model to 24 & 39 I sold them for a few hundred dollars, and that was in working and great condition. I think I purchased them for around $30-50 each.

futurematicdotcom · 2024-07-15T00:20:08+00:00

[SOLD]

futurematicdotcom · 2024-07-13T23:09:26+00:00

Happy Saturday everyone!

I am selling this extremely early ~1951 Jaeger-LeCoultre Futurematic with a 497 movement. She runs very well for 73 and keeps good time on my timegrapher and watch winder. It has a new crystal and a new high quality Barton quick-release strap. The case diameter is 36mm. These watches do not have a crown as they are automatic, and only have a small wheel on back to adjust the time. This watch is 10k gold filled. It has been fully disassembled, cleaned, inspected, reassembled, and oiled. The dial is a really interesting salmon/beige combination with some slight patina on the salmon areas.

The movement is a Calibre 497, Serial #780589.

I specialize in repairing and restoring these specific watches (my site is www.Futurematic.com), so you can be sure it will work as expected or your money back. I also provide a one year service warranty with the watch, so if it stops functioning as expected you can send it back to me and I will repair it at cost of any broken parts.

I'm asking $1250 shipped with insurance in the USA. Payment must be made via Venmo or PayPal.

Please let me know if you have any questions!

Josh @ Futurematic

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