Jaeger-LeCoultre unveils five Polaris models to honour the 50th anniversary of the original Memovox Polaris. With a variety of complications, Polaris ushers Jaeger-LeCoultre into the league of sports watches with a twist.
With a new sports watch collection, you would think Jaeger-LeCoultre has entered the league of conventional sports watchmakers. Not quite! At SIHH 2018, we witnessed a complete overthrow of expectations….
Enter… The Polaris collection…
Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris
Updated style
The inspiration for this range – Memovox Polaris – dates back to 1968. The new Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris collection takes the spirit of Memovox Polaris and makes it relevant for the contemporary man. The range includes a three-hand automatic, a chronograph and a chronograph world time along with the Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Date and the Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Memovox. The designs have a sporty edge, without being OTT. The vintage feel of the watches balances its sporty appeal, making each one of them fascinating to the modern man. The dimensions and geometry of these timepieces indicate an active lifestyle and an unrelenting taste for elegance.
While the watches have various complications to keep you hooked, it’s the architecture of these watches that will impress you at first sight. They display a Memovox Polaris-inspired center with a sunray finish. The cases are rightly proportioned for sporty watches with a combination of surfaces finishes. The large crowns, emblematic of the 1968 model, have been redesigned for better grip. In keeping with the interchangeable strap trend, LeCoultre offers alligator leather and calfskin straps along with metal bracelets.
Elegance in simplicity
Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Automatic features two crowns – for time setting and for the inner rotating bezel. The dual-crown layout is unique to this collection. The dial features three treatments – sunray, grained and opaline.
You can choose from the classic black or ocean blue options of the dial housed in a stainless steel body. Apart from the interchangeable straps, the watch also comes with a three-link bracelet.
Motor sporting action
Let’s raise a toast to the sportiest watch from this collection – the 42mm Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Chronograph. Its tachymeter scale allows you to determine your speed over a fixed distance. With pushers redesigned for a better grip, the thin bezel opens the dial for maximum readability. The chronograph sub dials can be read quickly, too. It features oversized triangular indices.
Say it with gold
The new Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Chronograph is the only current model available in rose gold. It comes with an anthracite dial and an oscillating weight in rose gold. The dial has sunrayed, grained and opaline finishes. The watch’s functions include chronograph and tachymeter scale.
The World on your wrist
A mighty complication at your beckoning! That’s what makes Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Chronograph WT a watch to reckon with. World Time function is most favoured by globe-trotters. The watch features two chronograph pushers. Its most remarkable feature is the additional crown at 10 o’clock to control the rotating city disc, which you can set to the city you are in. You can immediately see the time in 23 other cities around the world.
It’s generous 44mm proportions makes world time reading an easy task. Its case is titanium with a black or ocean blue dial.
Classic time
The Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Date is perhaps more akin to Memovox Polaris than the others.
The design elements it shares with the original includes Vanilla Super-LumiNova™, the triangle along with trapezoidal indices mixed with four Arabic numbers, a railway track for the minutes and a date at 3 o’clock. The glass box case of the watch shows the raised crystal. The case back features an engraving of a scuba diver. The watch has a double crown – one each for time and for the rotating inner bezel. It comes on a brand-new rubber strap with a Clous de Paris pattern. It’s also available on a new three-link bracelet.
Rebirth of an icon
The Memovox Polaris makes a comeback in a limited edition of 1,000 pieces. This 50th anniversary timepiece has an iconic three-crown design. The crowns are for setting the alarm, the inner rotating bezel and for time respectively. Controlled by the alarm crown, the central disc turns to line up the triangle with the desired alarm time. What’s more, the watch also has a striking mechanism with a gong, along with the central seconds and instant-jump date-change system. The new version of the Memovox Polaris comes with a rubber strap that perfectly matches its stainless steel body.
Form and function, aesthetics and readability, sporty look and vintage elegance… Jaeger-LeCoultre has packed the Polaris collection with some of the most sought-after features. Each watch in this range is designed to impress a man of action. So, which Polaris watch impressed you the most?