Paris Memovox Exhibition: The Automatic Memovoxes from the Sixties.

Dec 13, 2010,02:45 AM
 

To be more precise, JLC released the first Alarm automatic movement ever made ( all brands included ) since 1956.

This movement is referenced Cal 815, and was in production till 1966, while its Date " brother ", the Cal 825 was released 3 years after ( 1959 ) and produced till 1969, while the Cal 815 saw its production stopped in 1966.

The Cal 815:



The Cal 825:



Both of these calibres are 17 jewels bumper automatic movements, beating at 18 000 vibrations per hour, shock protected or not ( P or K prefixes ), and were produced at 17 000 pieces ( Cal 815 ) and 67 000 pieces ( Cal 825 ) with an autonomy of 45 hours, and 20 seconds for the Alarm.

Let's see the related watches in the detail.

- The Ref E 853:

This reference was in production from 1956 to 1963, and released to 11 856 pieces, in stainless steel and in solid gold.

The stainless steel:





The gold version:





Here, no date, all purity. The Great Class.

- The Reference E 855.

Certainly the most and better known reference on the different foras.

It is logical, as this watch was massively produced ( around 48 000 pieces, all metal and dials included ) fore approximatively 10 years.

What is less known is the incredible variety of E 855 made.

Yellow Gold, Rose Gold, silver dial, black dial, ebony indexes, large indexes, here is, summed in pictures the great richness of the E 855:

The most common E 855: Applied indexes, silver dial, Dauphine hands: ( 1960 )





On its Gay Freres stainless steel bracelet, made for JLC: ( 1961 )





In black, this watch gains a lot of strenght, without loosing elegance ( 1961 )





If you're a colored gold guy, you also have a nice choice between the white and the black dial.









But wait, this is not all... Some E 855 came with the so called Ebene indexes, like this one from 1968:





And others came with larger and shorter indexes, like this one from 1969:





Both the " Ebene " and the shorter and larger indexes share the same hour and minute hand, by the way, less elegant than the Dauphine, but this is not enough to not want them, in my opinion.

Of course, I will reserve a further post on a very special E 855 I saw, but we can already be admirative in front of such a diversity inside only one reference!

Best,

Nicolas.


More posts: CalibresMemovoxMemovox E 855

  login to reply

Comments: view entire thread

 

Again, thank you, Nicolas! :)

 
 By: blomman Mr Blue : December 13th, 2010-03:01
Love the back dial E 855 in SS! Another one to hunt…! The one with shorter ebony index looks also very nice. Argh… This kind of posts drives me crazy! Vlad, you are pushing me over the edge… Best, my friend Blomman

Be sure that I'm suffering a lot, too...

 
 By: amanico : December 13th, 2010-05:42
The Memo Ebene Indexes, short or long, is also in my wish list, as well as some others... After such an exhibition, it is easier to get how we can end with a collection of more than 40 Memovoxes, don't you think ? See you soon, my friend. Nicolas.

40?

 
 By: blomman Mr Blue : December 13th, 2010-13:17
Will that be enough?! I am far from that number, but if I could have all the memos I wish for… 40 won’t be enough… Greedy?! Yes… I (we?) need help, my friend – is there any AW (anonymous watchoholics) for guys like us? Best Blomman

I know that feeling.

 
 By: amanico : December 13th, 2010-13:58

Wait, Patrick this is far from being the last post about this exhibition.

 
 By: amanico : December 13th, 2010-07:19
I fear that your " hunting list " will become much longer... Best, Nicolas.

thanks for...

 
 By: sancerre : December 13th, 2010-06:54
making me suffer. You make it seem so accessible to add one of these lovely Memovoxes to my collection (alas, we all have different priorities). So, I applaud your contribution, and scold you for torturing us all. --Sancerre

My pleasure, Sancerre.

 
 By: amanico : December 13th, 2010-07:22

learning as the weeks go by...

 
 By: ocwatching : December 13th, 2010-08:01
love the E855 movement and very cool that its the first alarm complication... keep them coming... amazing that this is all one man's collection... great work Nicolas...looking forward to next Monday...

love the no date!

 
 By: playtime : December 13th, 2010-08:09

E 853... Nice choice! :)

 
 By: amanico : December 13th, 2010-08:20

as usual, outstanding Nicolas. simply stunning.

 
 By: et : December 13th, 2010-08:53
thank you so much for sharing this amazing bit of history. cheers, elliot

Excellent series Nicolas ! [nt]

 
 By: foullis : December 13th, 2010-11:37
No message body

Thanks a lot, Milan.

 
 By: amanico : December 13th, 2010-11:40

Nicolas, what is the wire looking piece....

 
 By: msprang : December 13th, 2010-16:56
on the calibre 815 located just above the center of the movement? If I am not describing it well enough, I will try to do better. I am just wondering what it's function is? Thank you for the amazing reports that you have done on this incredible Memovox co... 

I noticed it, indeed.

 
 By: amanico : December 13th, 2010-22:55
I asked and am waiting for an answer... Thanks for your nice words, Mike. Best, Nicolas.

Thank you Nicolas...

 
 By: msprang : December 15th, 2010-13:53

The good part is

 
 By: EdwardL : December 13th, 2010-18:33
There is more to look forward to. Excellent post and thank you my friend for keeping us hooked. Cheers Ed

My pleasure, Edward. [nt]

 
 By: amanico : December 13th, 2010-22:59

That's a great post...

 
 By: Goh : December 14th, 2010-05:23
love the black dial E 855, looks so handsome on the bracelet. Thanks for sharing. Goh

I was thinking about you when taking the picture of this one!

 
 By: amanico : December 14th, 2010-06:10
A bracelet for Goh! Best, Nicolas.

Nico, another temptation to me...

 
 By: FanFrancisco : December 15th, 2010-07:51
...currently i do not have any Cal. 814 and Cal. 815 in my Memo collection...will add them one day... but now i am quite afraid to do so after seeing you post because there are so many variants even for one reference E855!!! it will really be the endless ... 

No Cal 814, Stefan?

 
 By: amanico : December 15th, 2010-08:07
What is inside your Memo Parking? I kept a very special E 855 fro the, my friend, ,but yes, we can say that this Ref E 855 is vrry representative of the awesome diversity of the Memos, but they are not all, as they are not manual, they came in a big case,... 

ah thanks for reminding me...

 
 By: FanFrancisco : December 15th, 2010-08:52
... yes there is Cal 814 in my Memo Parking. in fact i just checked the record in my hard drive, i actually have another two Cal. 814, one in Ref3015 and another in Ref3159. sorry for confusing. in fact i do not have Cal.815 and Cal.825 in my current coll... 

Very interresting post

 
 By: zewok : December 15th, 2010-11:43
Thank you very much