Messages: 36485 Location: NYC
Registered: May 2005
A week with the Memovox Tribute to DSA "American"
Sat, 17 November 2012 20:35
In case you missed it, our good friend Anthony just landed his (heads up, marquee title approaching) Jaeger-LeCoultre Memovox Tribute to Deep Sea Alarm American Edition
After which I promised to add some comments of my own.
I had after all spent a week with the watch, with an eye on a full-scale review.
Then, the oddest thing happened. The more I wore the watch, the less I had to say about it. WHAT?!!!
Surely, there's a pamphlet's worth of commentary for the lead up in the 1950s Dive Watch floodgate that led us through Panerai, Blancpain, Rolex...right up to the 1959 release of the Memovox Deep Sea Alarm, the first automatic dive watch with alarm. The verbose could rightly produce a novella on the topic.
But the more I wore it....
There must be something you can tell them, I kept hearing myself say.
Much has already been written about the 2011 Tributes to these special pieces produced for a few short years starting in 1959. I didn't need to spotlight a 1mm case enlargement, or repeat the fine work already done.
Two models, an American and Euro Edition, both painstakingly faithful to their originals...
both powered by the exceptional 956 caliber found in the Master Memovox as well as the Navy Seals Alarm...
We all know Google is our friend, and the tech spec has been posted here and scattered throughout the Internet. What I wanted to do--and will with all forthcoming week on the wrist reviews, is to give you a sense of what it's like to have the watch in your life.
How it might show up day after day.
And the more I wore it...
Yeah, we know...the less you had to say
Look for yourselves. What can you say?
And my response...
As I wore this American edition, I compiled my thoughts. I played with the approach until I had it just right.
Yes! That's it, I've trapped the beast! The case, the hands, the heritage, the patina, the attention to detail. There is the deliberately vintage sound to the vibrating alarm. And the charm of the inverted dial print on the rotating alarm disc.
And then...silence.
As the zenmaster might say, the words rushed in, and just as quickly rushed off. Point by point, until it was just me and the watch. An empty mind. Maybe that is precisely the point.
I expected a watch I already knew. I had tried it on numerous times, and had cemented its appearance in my mind. Yet throughout the week, I was repeatedly surprised.
Change the angle, change the watch.
The color shifts, as does the personality of the watch itself.
Frankly, it has more looks than Madonna.
Is it vintage? Is it classic? Is it sporty?
Of course it is. All that, and more!
Yet a week later, I'm not sure it's possible to fully know it.
I sent in my Reverso for reconnaissance.
I got no closer.
And just maybe, that is precisely the point.
The American version isn't going to sell itself in the afterglow, not like the European version might, as you can see here
from the Internet
I wasn't overly impressed with the absence of luminous indices. Nor would I be influenced by them either. Lume effect isn't typically a selling point for me, but in this case it could be simply due to its faithfulness as a Tribute piece. JLC knows JLC...or in this case, LeCoultre.
From every angle, this piece is considered. It is a thorough, pure work of integrity.
And that is precisely the point.
The watch doesn't cross your screen like so many do, as a raging comet of desireability.
It doesn't land on your wrist with the bravado of a grail.
It just is...
A calming, steward of a watch that knows the path before you do.
Because it has already been there. Since 1959.
And it has returned in full confidence.
Hope you enjoyed the week with the Memovox Tribute to Deep Sea Alarm!
Howard - Moderator...Audemars Piguet & Jaeger-LeCoultre
- boa2