The Low-Down

The Jaeger-LeCoultre Memovox stands in the exclusive company of iconic sports watches that continue to draw watch enthusiasts for their rich history and place in the annals of human endeavour. In particular, 1968’s Memovox Polaris dive watch not only stood out for its compressor case which was relatively large for its time, it also had a unique alarm function that afforded an added reminder to the diver when it came time to surface. As a robust and functional timepiece to accompany for all of life’s adventures, ranging from the mundane to the extreme, the Memovox Polaris was hard to beat.

Jaeger-LeCoultre has kept the memory of this iconic watch alive with its Polaris collection, with the release of the Polaris Date, Polaris Chronograph and Polaris Automatic in 2018, followed by the Polaris Mariner Date in 2020, and this year by the Polaris Perpetual Calendar. In effect, Jaeger-LeCoultre has a sports watch in the field for every need: from a simple, robust, distinctive three-hander in the Automatic, to the high complication Perpetual Calendar, every one of them with aesthetics and lineage traced back to the 1968 cult original.

It’s none too soon that after two years, Jaeger-LeCoultre is releasing a new Polaris Date, with an attractive gradient dial in deep green, crystal caseback and self-winding cal. 899AB movement that offers 70 hours of power reserve over the 38-hour running time of the 2018 model. Under varied lighting conditions, the lacquered dial throws off a range of green tones, from light olive to deep forest green, complemented by markers and hands painted with Super-LumiNova in vanilla, while bright orange for the quarter markers and tip of the seconds hand adds a dash of flavor that enlivens the dial. The 42mm stainless steel case with satin-finish and polished chamfers on the lugs is suitably refined and handsome, matched with textured green rubber strap.

IMHO

The 2018 Polaris Date is a perfectly desirable sports watch, with a distinctive dual crown format that evokes of the compressor case dive watches of the 1960s, and the inner rotating timing bezel significantly boosts its utility without the visual bulk of a conventional dive watch. This marriage of utility with refinement is much enhanced with the introduction of a gradient dial in this 2022 model, and in a sea of silver, black and blue, Jaeger-LeCoultre’s choice of green is both handsome, and refreshing. And for a slight $200-bump in price over the 2018 model (and minuscule bump in case height of 0.8mm), the 2022 Polaris Date offers the same movement used in the 2020 Polaris Mariner Date that pushes power reserve from 38 hours to 70 hours, with some savings for those who prefer rubber over the Mariner’s bracelet.

Tech Specs