2 photos
The Polaris Memovox is, admittedly, somewhat of a sleeper within the realm of classic dive watches. An innovative version of the Jaeger-LeCoultre Memovox alarm watch adapted for underwater use, the Polaris Memovox featured a Super Compressor-style, triple-crown case with internal rotating bezel and built-in alarm. The idea was that one would use the alarm to alert the diver to the need to begin an ascent (sound travels significantly faster underwater than it does in air).
Unfortunately, production of the original Polaris Memovox took place in 1968, just before the advent of the quartz crisis — though a second version of the watch was produced in the 1970s, called the Polaris Memovox II, it’s estimated that total production of the original was less than 2,000 pieces.
Reintroduced in a limited edition in 2008 and as part of a larger Polaris collection in 2018 in celebration of the original model’s 50th anniversary, Jaeger-LeCoultre has now introduced a special Polaris Date Limited Edition based on the colors of the Polaris Memovox II, but without the alarm function (hence the absence of “Memovox” from the model name).
Featuring a 42mm steel case with 200m of water resistance, a blue, hand-laquered double-gradient sunray dial with aged Super-LumiNova and a blue rubber Clous de Paris strap that’s unique to the model, the limited edition makes use of the in-house caliber 899A/1 with 38 hours of power reserve.
With a date wheel in place of the alarm function, the new blue special edition is admittedly more utilitarian in 2019 than an alarm-equipped watch would be for most people — in an age of dive computers, the underwater alarm watch is somewhat of a romantic anachronism. The new Polaris Date Limited Edition will retail for $8,250 in a run of 800 total pieces.
