Jaeger-LeCoultre woke up the watch market with the first version of its pioneering mechanical alarm watch, the Memovox, in 1950. Over the subsequent 70 years, the Swiss manufacture has continued to produce and update the Memovox caliber, most recently placing it inside a new model in the sporty Polaris collection. This year, the most recent upgrades to the groundbreaking movement take center stage in the new Master Control Memovox Timer, which launches today.

Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Control Memovox Timer (Ref. Q410848J)

The watch joins this year’s revamped Master Control collection, introduced back in April on the Watches & Wonders digital platform, and immediately takes its place alongside the new Chronograph Calendar (covered here) as a headliner of the series. Taking inspiration from the first Memovox watches while adding a number of contemporary elements, the watch’s sunray-brushed dial has elongated triangular indices and Arabic numerals at the hour markers (plus a date at 3 o’clock), central Dauphine hands, and a palette of blue and silver tones on its concentrically arranged rings. The rounded 40-mm case, with the sloped bezel and curving lugs characteristic of Master Control cases, features polished and brushed surfaces; its back is fitted with a sapphire viewing window, a first for a Memovox and a rarity for any watch with a mechanized alarm, which customarily requires its gong to be attached to a solid caseback. In this new model, the o...