JAEGER- LECOULTRE POLARIS CHRONOGRAPH WORLD TIMER
The only watch you’ll need when rushing between time zones
LET’S GO ON the record with this: The 1968 Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Memovox is among the top 10 coolest vintage watches in the world.
Not only was it rare – only 1,714 were made – but it was also a full-blown dive watch with a mechanical alarm. These are the kind of pieces that make collectors weak in the knees.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of that iconic timepiece, and to celebrate it, JLC has launched a collection of five sports watches based on the Polaris theme. Showcased at the SIHH 2018, these include the Polaris Date and Polaris Memovox that are the closest in function and aesthetics to the 1968 original.
Then there’s the Polaris Automatic that keeps it simple with a three-hander neatly packaged in a 41mm dial and the Polaris Chronograph - where things begin to get interesting when you factor in the tworegister chronograph that has a 30-minute and 12-hour totaliser.
But the Polaris collection really hits it out of the park with the fifth and final timepiece in the collection – the incredibly handsome Polaris Chronograph World Timer.
This is the most complicated watch of the 2018 Polaris collection and features a GMT, world timer and chronograph. JLC has combined the chronograph and world time function, as it has previously done in the AMVOX and the Master Compressor Extreme timepieces, but now added a world timer to the mix as well. To JLC’s credit, it’s still managed to keep a lot of empty breathing space on the dial, which is available in blue and black with a sunray, opaline and grained finish.
Under that dial, the in-house Calibre 752 fitted with a column-wheel chronograph gives its owner some serious bragging rights. The automatic winding timepiece has a power reserve of 65 hours, which is plenty for when you get lazy for a few days and forget to wind it up. The 44mm case will occupy a considerable amount of real estate on your wrist, but the decision to use titanium to construct it means that it is lightweight too. And you can fit it with either a calf or alligator leather strap.
Here’s to the next 50 years, JLC.