This year at SIHH, Jaeger-LeCoultre introduced the Polaris collection, basing a series of new models on the iconic 1968 Polaris Memovox (picture below via Analog/Shift). This vintage model is arguably the most famous of the brand?s alarm watches, but it came standing on the shoulders of at least four other significant vintage models. The first was the original Memovox released in 1950, entering as JLC?s response to the 1947-released Vulcain Cricket, and this was followed by the automatic Memovox of 1956, quickly making a name for itself as the first automatic alarm watch on the market. Three years later, in 1959, the brand looked to innovate even further by releasing the Deep Sea Alarm, which was both the first underwater alarm watch and Jaeger-LeCoultre?s first dive watch for the burgeoning scuba diving industry. The original Polaris Memovox from 1968
However, JLC was not satisfied with the Deep Sea, and so innovated again, releasing a super-compressor-style watch in 1965 now known as the original Polaris Memovox, featuring a threefold caseback that enabled the alarm to be better heard under the waves. Then in 1968 came the last of the Golden Age innovations for the alarm watch, with the brand releasing what became its most iconic Memovox design of all, again under the Polaris name. In the Polaris Memovox’s production run from 1965 to 1970, only 1,714 pieces were produced, with even fewer being produced in the 1968 style. Of these watches, most were used for their in...