Polaris Archives - Watch Journal

Jaeger-LeCoultre’s latest limited-edition packs vintage diving flair (and a hint of hand-painted artistry) into a contemporary package.

The business of retro design can be tricky. Remain too faithful to the original, and you risk looking regressive. (Or, worse still, lazy.) Lean too far in the opposite direction, and you’ll lose the old-school charms. There’s no universal recipe for success. Paying homage can be the quickest way to end up creatively bankrupt.

For an example of retro done right, cast an eye toward Vallée de Joux, and the folks at Jaeger-LeCoultre. Last year, they wanted to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Memovox Polaris, a landmark mid-century design and the first diving watch with an amplified underwater alarm. Instead of a single tribute, Jaeger-LeCoultre developed an all-new Polaris collection, offering everything from a three-hand automatic to a rose-gold chronograph and worldtimer. Each offered a unique riff on the 1960s Memovox aesthetic. The throwback vibes were strong, but the collection felt thoroughly modern. No small accomplishment.

Now we have the newest addition to the Polaris lineup, the Polaris Date Limited Edition, initially available only to North American customers. All the better for the brand’s U.S. clientele to secure their piece of the rock; produced in a series of only 800 pieces, the Polaris Date Limited Edition represents one of the more exclusive (and desirable) new Polaris models yet.

Photographs by Atom Moore, atommoore.com

Polaris Date by Jaeger-LeCoultre, $8,250; jaeger-lecoutre.com

Photographs by Alex Strohl

Iceland is defined by its lack of humanity. Instead of being edited by men, chopped down and drilled into and paved over, this place was shaped by nature. Rainfall and erosion, volcanic eruption and glacial collapse, life and death and the rightful order of things, all conspiring with the passing of time to shape the most beautiful natural landscape on the planet. We see something like that, and we want to understand.

FEATURED IMAGE AND ABOVE: Scenes from Deplar Farm, the luxe resort on Troll Peninsula. The property is so remote and expansive, some of its snowmobile routes and ski runs have never been run; guests who open them get naming rights.

So it’s only natural that we create devices to mark the hours, weeks, decades—to measure then and now and record the change. Few men contributed more to that endeavor than the horologist Antoine LeCoultre. During the 19th century, his name became synonymous with innovation and accuracy; later, it was spelled out across the dials of icons, like the Reverso, the Geophysic, and the Polaris Memovox.

Our man Strohl wearing his Polaris Memovox in the field. Limited to 1,000 pieces, it’s a rare and special thing, perfect for this kind of once-in-a-lifetime adventure,

The latter watch, a midcentury landmark, famously introduced an underwater alarm function for intrepid divers. This year, Jaeger-LeCoultre is releasing an updated version, instantly recognizable to anybody familiar with the original. Like its eponym, the new Polaris Memovox has the distinctive trapezoidal indices and vanilla-tinted lume hands, that sleek 42 mm case with its signature three-crown layout. But now the case is water-resistant to 200 meters. The hands are wider; the lume is brighter. The crowns are redesigned, tweaked ever so slightly, in the interest of improved ergonomics. Important changes, but small ones, shaped by the passing of time.

So when Alex Strohl made for Iceland, it’s only natural that he did so with a new Polaris Memovox on his wrist. The Spanish-born photographer took to the country’s scenic passes. He went freediving and explored on foot. He sailed across fjords and wheeled up mountains. And he photographed it all. Seeing it all through his lens, we can better understand the place—and, maybe, time itself—just a little better.

Tag: Polaris

Retro Done Right

Nordic Trek