The Laings Journal
Paying homage to its distinguished watch legacy and drawing upon more than a century of expertise in chiming watches, the Grande Maison introduces the Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Mariner – adding two new high-performance timepieces to the sporty, yet elegant collection.
Jaeger-LeCoultre produce watches of the utmost technical expertise and no challenge is too big. They made their mark in diving watches many years ago and their collection has continued to expand. True to their guiding philosophy of uniting innovation and tradition, the Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Mariner timepieces pay homage to the Maison’s past, while adding two entirely new high-performance diving watches to the collection.
Here we explore the latest additions – the Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Mariner.
DIVING ORIGINS
Back in the fifties, scuba diving was a risky and challenging military activity. The only tool available for diving was the watch, creating a strong demand for professional diving timepieces. In 1959, Jaeger-LeCoultre responded with a unique solution, a self-winding Memovox movement, which provided an aural warning that it was time to return to the surface.
The Manufacture is highly skilled in striking movements, and the Memovox has become the reference in wristwatch alarm calibres since it was introduced 70 years ago. Since then it has been employed in watches designed for both an urban lifestyle and underwater sports.
A NEW GENERATION
The Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Mariner draws on this diving watch heritage, presenting two new models – the Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Mariner Memovox and the Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Mariner Date.
The 42mm cases feature the key design codes of the Polaris cases, with their taut lines, glass-box crystals, and dynamic mix of brushed and polished surfaces. In keeping with their purpose as high-performance diving watches their cases are water-resistant to 300 metres. Furthermore, the crown used to set the notched inner-bezel is screwed-down to avoid any unintentional movement, with the addition of an orange security band to warn divers when it is not fully screwed down.
Distinguished by their rich gradient-blue colour the dials remain true to the contemporary Polaris aesthetic, compromising of three concentric circles finished in different textures and featuring bold trapezoid-shaped indexes and three Arabic numerals. To complete the look the central disc of the dial is sunray-brushed, complementing the overall style.
The hands, indexes and numerals are filled with SuperLumiNova® to ensure excellent legibility in low light, as required of all diving watches. However, Jaeger-LeCoultre has gone one step further, maximising divers’ safety by using different colours to distinguish the hour and minute hands.
JAEGER-LECOULTRE POLARIS MARINER MEMOVOX
Celebrating THE SOUND MAKER™, the Jager-LeCoultre Polaris Mariner Memovox pays direct homage to their first diving watches, with their robust capabilities and distinctive aesthetic. The self-winding movement, Calibre 956, is also a direct descendant of their first automatic alarm watch calibres. First introduced in 2008, it has been comprehensively revised by the Manufacture’s engineers and this latest interpretation features a transparent sapphire case-back, allowing the wearer to watch the hammer in action. One important element remains unchanged, the signature ‘school bell’ sound of the alarm, which lends such charm to the Memovox.
It also retains the signature three-crown configuration of the earliest Memovox diving watches. The top crown controls the alarm, turning the central disc of the dial so that the triangular pointer lines up with the desired alarm time; the central crown operates the inner dive bezel and the lowest crown sets the time.
JAEGER-LECOULTRE POLARIS MARINER DATE
The Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Mariner Date offers the classic diving-watch functions of hours and minutes, with a running time indicator (seconds-hand) and unidirectional inner bezel, with the addition of an instantly-jumping date display. The dual-crown configuration is typical of super compressor-type diving watch cases, with the upper crown for operating the inner bezel and the lower one for setting the time and date.
Since they introduced the Calibre 899, engineers have constantly updated it to incorporate the latest performance-enhancing technology. The new-generation version powering this latest model is fitted with technical improvements to guarantee a power reserve of 70 hours.
EXPLORE THE POLARIS COLLECTION
Thank you for reading! Follow our latest news on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest, or if you have any questions, please pop us an email at [email protected].