COURTESY OF JAEGER-LE COULTRE
images of divers in its advertising,
alongside the slogan “Horloger
de la Marine”. And it was at the
beginning of the ’70s that the
Memovox Polaris II made its
debut. The redesign was so
radical that it was almost an
entirely new watch.
The case was now tonneau
shaped, almost ovoid. Inside was
a new calibre, Ref. 916, with a
balance frequency of 28,800vph.
One of a new generation of
high-frequency automatic
movements introduced by the
manufacture from 1970, the
calibre 916 boasted a
considerable improvement on
the 18,000vph of its
predecessor, the calibre 825. To
promote this technological
enhancement, examples
destined for the U.S. market
carried the letters HPG (High
Precision Guarantee).
But the 28,800vph (4Hz) soon
seemed puny in the face of the
standard 32,768Hz of quartz
regulators, the ovoid design
became dated and the Polaris
faded from sight, not to be seen
again until the next century.
In 2007, Jaeger-LeCoultre
returned to the world beneath
the waves in fine flamboyant
style when it called a press
conference off the coast of
Hawaii to witness a model called
the Master Compressor Diving
GMT descend to a depth of
1,080 metres—secured to a
deep-diving robot—and return
to the surface. Then the
following year, to celebrate the
40th anniversary of the
legendary 1968 Polaris, the
Memovox I reappeared as a
limited edition.
Collectors were delighted.
Jaeger’s human encyclopaedia
and walking archive (it says
something more corporate on
his business card), Stéphane
Belmont, takes up the story.
“We made a steel limited
edition of the 1968 model
and one in platinum
inspired by the 1965
model,” says Belmont.It was to mark a spectacular
rebirth of the Polaris, which
would become more popular and
sought after than at any time in
its lively history.
“All of a sudden, collectors
who could not get hold of an
original were buying the
reissue,” Belmont explains. The
popularity of the reissue, in turn,
boosted the vintage market. “We
started to talk to collectors, and
they made us aware of the rising
interest in the watch.” Prices at
auction jumped: “For a watch
that you could get in 1999/2000
for maybe £1,500, people were
paying £30,000, £40,000,
£50,000. The re-edition soldAbove, clockwise from top left: 1968 Master Mariner;
1969 Shark Diving Chronograph; 1969 Shark Diving
Chronograph; 1959 Deep Sea. Below, from left: calibre 916;
Memovox Polaris II 1970AUTUMN 2019 VANITY FAIR ON TIMEvery quickly and was a huge
success,” he concludes.
The popularity of a 40-year-
old design was not lost on
management. At the time, there
were numerous families of
models—including two sports
series, the Master Compressor
and the AMVOX. Even within
these ranges, functions and
aesthetics varied broadly, with
the diving series comprising, in
effect, a range within a range. It
was decided to focus these
models into one coherent family
of watches that paid tribute
to a great classic.
Design teams got to work. It
would not be easy, and it would
not be quick but, in 2018—half a
century after the “ultimate”
Memovox made its debut—
Jaeger-LeCoultre launched an
entire collection called, of
course, Polaris.“All of a sudden,
collectors who
could not get
hold of an
original were
buying the
reissue”
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