Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Polaris range comprises a host of covetable timepieces, with the nostalgic, limited-edition Memovox alarm watch sure to pique the interest of collectors, says Chris Hall.
Few horological complications were treated as mercilessly by the digital revolution as the mechanical alarm watch – nothing could be simpler than telling a miniature speaker to beep at a preordained time. Engineering the frequencies to be incredibly annoying presumably took most of the effort. The hammer-and-springs alarm predecessor, while admittedly not complex by horological standards, was a three-course meal compared to the takeaway that superseded it.
Mechanical alarms were the preserve of just a handful of manufacturers, one of the best-known being Jaeger-LeCoultre. Others, such as Vulcain, were famous solely for their alarm watches, but Jaeger-LeCoultre had the distinction of supplying half of the industry with movements – including illustrious names such as Patek Philippe – as well as making the watch worn by Queen Elizabeth II at her coronation.
Jaeger-LeCoultre called its alarm watch the Memovox – the voice of memory – and dozens of variants existed, including a gold-cased model worn by Charlie Chaplin for the last 25 years of his life. In 1959 the Memovox Deep Sea became the first diver’s watch with an alarm – to tell you when it was time to ascend, of course – and in 1965 an improved, more audible version was launched, bearing the name Polaris. The origins of the name are unclear; some say it is associated with the ballistic nuclear missiles used by the US (and carried by the British Royal Navy from 1968). And although there is a tenuous naval connection, it’s hard to see that the brand would have made such a direct link to weapons of mass destruction. More believable is a general marketing impulse to evoke a spirit of exploration, as the original meaning of the word is Pole Star.
This year Jaeger-LeCoultre has brought the Polaris name back (not quite for the first time; there was another tribute ten years ago), this time at the head of a whole collection of watches. Among them is a limited-edition Memovox, faithful to the 1968 diver that has become a collector favourite. Back then the Polaris was a type of Memovox (just over 1,700 were made), but now the Memovox is a type of Polaris – the range also includes a chronograph, time-only dive models and a world timer (WT) that can give the time in 24 cities.
It marks a big step for Jaeger-LeCoultre – the first of several designed to re-frame the brand in terms that are more appealing to younger buyers. The vintage angle to the narrative might not seem like the most obvious path to millennial hearts, but there is a universal accessibility to the watches that should serve them well, combined with enough personality to stand out.
Take the simplest watches in the collection, the Polaris Automatic and Polaris Date. They have retained the dual-crown system of the 1960s dive watches, something that’s by no means necessary today (even with the sportier blue dial and steel bracelet, these are unlikely to see much water) but that adds that all-important “fiddle factor”. The crown at two o’clock rotates an inner bezel with simple markers for tracking elapsed time. Instead of a chunky bezel around the outside of a dive watch, this was an alternative solution to the problem of never overestimating your remaining oxygen reserves and allowed the watch to stay relatively slender.
Further up the range, the choice to launch with a chronograph and a world timer says loud and clear that these are watches for active, energetic types. Jaeger-LeCoultre hasn’t had a tough, sporty watch since the oversized and somewhat over-engineered Master Compressor series was launched; its other staples such as the Reverso are better suited to well-tailored gents. I’m a particular fan of the chronograph.
The one that will excite collectors, however, is the Memovox. Very faithful to its 1968 inspiration, it has three crowns: one for setting the time, one for that rotating inner bezel and one to set the alarm. This is indicated by the position of the arrowhead on the central disc, which rotates (you can, therefore, only set the alarm for a time within the next 12 hours). The new watch has dropped one key feature of its ancestors – a double-layered case back, with perforations on the outer case that made for a louder alarm. This won’t detract from your appreciation of the watch very much; having two layers would have made the whole case thicker, for one thing.
What does raise eyebrows is the pricing: the Polaris Automatic costs £5,950, which is pretty entry-level for a brand of this calibre (and also part of the overarching strategy), but the Memovox costs nearly twice as much at £11,300. That’s more than the chronograph (£9,600), and despite it being a limited edition of 1,000, I feel the asking price is a bit steep. What do I know though – by the time you read this, they will probably have sold out.
