Jaeger-LeCoultre

Marv
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Back to the 50s and 60s

Each time I step back to look at the production of Jaeger-Lecoultre wristwatches, I am always impressed by the very large range of different and appealing products proposed by JLC. Not only in the recent catalogues - where the Duometre and the new MUT are on top of my wishlist - but also in the past.

When the brand Jaeger-Lecoultre was officially created in 1937, the first catalogue was already an impressive booklet with thousands of references, including the reverso, uniplan, duoplan, waterproof, day-date, chronographs and many clocks.

Later, in the 50s and 60s, Jaeger-Lecoultre continued to offer a very diversified and innovative range of products without any compromise on quality. I have decided to focus on that period in this post with a selection of my favourite watches released by JLC around 50 years ago.

This selection is composed of 2 series of watches.

The first series

This first series starts with one of the most classic watches ever produced by Jaeger-Lecoultre, and in my opinion the most emblematic JLC watch of the period: the Memovox reference E855, the first automatic watch with alarm and date. This beauty is a late version with straight hands.

The second watch looks like a very modest one, but deserves higher attention. The Geophysic, issued in 1958 during the International Geophysical Year, is a technical beast and was originally designed for scientists. Its movement is a kind of hidden treasure protected by an antimagnetic case as it is one of the very rare JLC movements that were awarded as chronometer.

The Geomatic can be seen as the successor of the Geophysic. It is also a chronometer, but with an automatic movement. This watch remains an elegant and perfect day-to-day watch.

The Futurematic is a fascinating watch with its very pure and symmetric design. The crown, only usable for time setting, is located at the back of the watch.

To conclude with this first series and to come full circle, here comes back the Memovox E855, but this time in an early version with its dauphine hands.

The second series

The second series is a trio of steel watches that have a strong presence on the wrist despite their relative small size.

The first one is an automatic watch that has a nice and strong design based on angular shapes with the dauphine hands and the triangular lugs. The day is displayed in white on back for even days and in black on white for odd days.

The Memovox below is an earlier model compared to the two E855 that I have presented above. The dark blue colour of the second hand, the alarm triangle and the indexes brings out the dial and its alarm disk. The slightly slanting lugs are also very nice.

Last but not least, the Powermatic comes directly from the early 50s. Its main distinctive attribute is the power reserve, which is displayed through a window at noon and the red colour indicates that the reserve comes to the end. I really like the way the power reserve is integrated. The window is a very elegant solution that preserves the balance of the dial.

At that time, Jaeger-Lecoultre used to highlight the 3 main pillars that were common to their whole range of watches: robustness, precision and elegance. I like to think that it is valid for this selection.

I hope you enjoyed the tour!

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