Messages: 280 Location: Montreal
Registered: October 2007
WARNING! Long post with lots of pictures...
Thu, 20 December 2012 16:52
Here is my report after a few days with the 'new to me' Amvox1
First of all, let me tell you a little bit about the chase. Although I have known JLC and have been a regular visitor on the forum for some time, I only joined the owner's club in early 2012 with a Reverso 976 that I absolutely love.
I guess it is the path that a lot of us followed into the brand...
The first watches in my collection were definitely on the sporty side (read big...) and JLC made me discover the elegant and classy spectrum of watches...some watch sizes actually start with a 3 :-) I have always admired JLC for the engineering that goes into the watches and for the past 6-7 years, I really like what is happening with the brand, it is like JLC is coming out of its shell and getting noticed more and more. Since the Swatch group announced it would limit the availability of ETA ébauches and movements outside the group, there is a big rush for brands to become manufactures. JLC has been just that all along, as the matter a fact, if any well known brand needed a good movement, they would often engage JLC to do it for them. I have tremendous respect for that.
As I was saying in the recent years, it feels like JLC has not only put the 'turbo' on movements with a series of well published technical achievements/marvels (Gyrotourbillon, Reverso à Tryptique, duomètre, Shpérotourbillon etc.) but has alsoput a lot of work in expanding the collection, making it very coherent while having distinct families.
Well so much about my testimonial to the brand and let's get on with the chase...
Let's get on thing out of the way: I do not own an Aston Martin! Hopefully if I play my cards right, it might happen someday :-). Although I love cars, I have never been too fond of joint branding with watches as they are typically just trendy and most of the time flashy. The Amvox1 is different, it is the exact opposite. First you have to look at the engraved back to find the association
so only watch aficionados will know (and I do not mind that) and also because it was the first model in a new line (back in 2005 I believe), it is IMHO the most versatile of the family because it has strong ties with both the Memovox and the Polaris. It is classy and sporty at the same time. The new Amvox are very cool but definitely on the sporty side. I did a lot of research on the web and could not find much written on it. It is almost like it was overlooked...and what I did find was mostly about the LE Titanium version. It intrigued me because, I personally found the SS version fascinating. The watch 'smiled' at me (that's when you know you are in trouble!) It was mix of old and new with strong ties to the Polaris (that I love) and something rare but that JLC is known for: an alarm complication.
The Amvox1, it has been out of production for a while (I tried researching it but could not find out exactly when so If you know, please post reply) so I had to look at the used market to get one but most of all, I could not try one on. That bugged me because one comment that kept coming back was how 'big' the case was. I actually read several posts of people loving the watch but they were letting it go because of case size. It is 15mm tall (alarms need big cases to resonate) , there is no denying that and at 42mm I thought it might look 'chunky' on the wrist. So my conclusion: it is not big at all...unless you compare it to teh MC ultrathin or RDM that is. It is much smaller than expected thanks to a smart design. First, there is not much flat area on the side of the case,
secondly because of the alarm function, the bottom part of the case and the case back slopes towards the wrist and thirdly, the top part of the case is all domed sapphire...and boy does it look good!
The result is a very comfortable watch to wear, relatively light and that fits nicely under shirt cuffs (most of them anyway!).
Now let's talk about the face. Everything is about circles as it mimics in style the tachometer of an Aston Martin. Polaris lovers will recognize the 3D construction inside the case: the matte black inner circle is used to indicate alarm time and sits pretty flat in the middle, It is surrounded by the minute scale to set the alarm. Most of the minute scale is on a SS ring, the bottom part just integrated in the hour layer of the dial that is sloping down towards the inner bezel, a really nice feature reminiscent of the 60's watch design. That hour ring and the inner bezel are all done in a polished black surface that contrasts really well with the rest of the dial. The inner rotating bezel slopes upwards and has polished SS indices that overhang the lower part of the dial.
This really accentuates the 3D effect and is a cool feature. With large hour numerals generously coated with Superluminova, legibility is never a problem day or night.
These are all details of a very well thought out design, JLC has even put the date on a slope so it matches the angle of the hour layer. Nice! The typeface of the numerals used are the same as the Polaris and actually give the watch its more modern interpretation. Because the bottom is all black, the numerals are laid out in a concentric way (pardon my English?) that accentuate the 'roundness' of the watch. The seconds hand has a red tip on an otherwise black and white scheme.
Inside ticks the caliber 918 that has the reputation of being very reliable self winding movement. I am told it looks beautiful but since it has a solid caseback I have to trust the pictures!
It has been running at +4 seconds this week on my wrist so within COSC standards. There are three crowns on this watch.
The top one is to set and wind the alarm. You pull it to set it, then push it back to wind it. This assures that your wake up time will not be altered...I have not found it difficult to make the alarm ring within 3-4 minutes of intended time. It is right on the money if you stick to 15 minutes increments. And it sounds wonderful. It is loud enough to wake you if you have it on the wrist (plus you really feel the vibration) and if you put it on the night table, it will definitely wake up anybody in the room!!
The middle crown is used to rotate the bidirectional inner bezel. I had read it was too loose but find that it will not move unintentionally. You do need to be careful when you wind the alarm or the watch though as you could definitely move it then.
The bottom crown is used to set the time: the good news is it has a stop second function so you can synchronize precisely to a signal, the bad news is it does not have the quick change date system. I got the watch on the 17th and the date on the watch was the 27th so I got to practice a lot:-). You do not need to go around the clock though, moving back and forth between 23:00 and 1:00 will do the trick. I do have to say I would prefer the quick date system but since the winding is buttery smooth, it is not unpleasant at all to have to play with it! The other little technicality is that since there is no brake on the hammer, even if the alarm is not wound, you will hear a 'ting' sound when you move the wrist swiftly for the 30 minutes following the alarm set time. You could call it disturbing...I call it personality ;-) The other thing you hear is the rotor. It is not as loud as the good old ETA7750 but you can definitely hear it.
We cannot stop progress...the 956 caliber that replaced the 918 (if I am not mistaking) has solved these problems since it has a quick change date system, a brake for the hammer and the rotor is on ceramic ball bearings. That movement is found on the tribute to Polaris LE models.
As far as the strap is concerned, it is made from matte black calf skin leather. The same leather I would find in my Aston Martin...if I had one! I often read that it was the weak part of the package, especially on the Ti version but it fits the subtle nature of this watch quite well. The leather is very supple and comfortable. The one critique I would have is that it goes from 22mm at the lugs quite abruptly to 18mm just before the single deployant buckle. It makes you wonder why the buckle was not 20mm and does not look particularly good from under the wrist.
The deployant on the other hand works well and is very well crafted. It will be tempting to add a croc strap to dress it up and a perforated leather one (like the more recent Amvox models) to dress it down. Since it is 22mm like my 976, I might have a little fun over the week-end and try swapping straps.
It is not easy to take good pictures of the watch because of the reflections on the sapphire. I don't know if it is because of the lack of AR coating or because of the domed crystal or just because of my lack of skills but I tried my best.
All in all, the SS version really does catch light very well and accentuates the indices and the silver ring. I love the size, its versatile nature, the 3D construction of the dial dial and the alarm function. I must say I am overall thrilled with the watch (in case you had not noticed...).
Thanks to all of you who answered questions on my first post and I can see from your comments that I am not the only one that thinks it really embraces the JLC spirit. Since I did not find a lot about it on the web, I thought I would do my share with this review.
Thanks for reading,
Pierre.
'Time is what we want most, but what we use worst'
William Penn
- cpete