Composed of 262 components, including 37 jewels, its balance beats at a brisk 28,800-vph frequency and its integrated chronograph function is controlled by a column wheel with a vertical clutch. The opaline finish on the flange contrasts with the grained finish on the dial’s outer minutes circle.Īt this point, perhaps you’re asking, “So just how long could I leave this watch idle, in theory, without needing to reset and re-wind it?” That brings us to the movement, Jaeger-LeCoultre’s self-winding manufacture Caliber 751, which is visible through a sapphire pane in the caseback that is fastened by four visible screws. The effect is handsome indeed, adding a sense of both refinement and depth to a dial that already benefits from that soothing “Ocean Blue” color and the two symmetrically oriented, snailed subdials at 3 o’clock and 9 o’clock. Many of these aesthetic elements are, of course, an extension of Jaeger-LeCoultre’s limited-edition “Tribute to Polaris” model from 2008, whose success undoubtedly helped inspire Jaeger-LeCoultre to build this new collection. Each dial consists of three concentric circles with contrasting finishes: sunray in the center, graining on the outer circle, with its vintage-inspired Arabic numerals, white hashmarks, and variously shaped indices, and opaline for the inner bezel flange - which is, again, stationary here rather than rotating, and inscribed with a very sporty, auto-racing-inspired tachymeter scale rather than a 60-minute alarm-setting scale. The new Polaris collection is also unified by several elements that call back to the 1968 underwater alarm watch that inspired it. The crown and chronograph pushers are designed for easy gripping. The pushers are pleasantly ergonomic - starting, stopping, and zeroing the stopwatch with a mildly forceful press of a fingertip - and the crown is topped off by a tiny “JL” logo in relief. At 42 mm in diameter and a svelte 11.9 mm thick, the stainless steel case features predominantly satin finishing, with subtle areas of polished finishing on the beveled flanks of the curving lugs on the thin, edged bezel and on the surfaces of the curved rectangular pushers and small, notched crown. Here is a rundown of what it offers.Īs far as the chassis goes, Jaeger-LeCoultre has opted to re-create the contours of this watch’s 1968 predecessor to a fair degree of historical accuracy, albeit in a more contemporary size, more luxurious style of finishing, and with the addition of several elements not present in the vintage piece. I had a chance to wear and review the steel-cased, blue-dialed version of the watch shortly after its U.S. Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Polaris Chronograph - one of the standout models from the recently launched Polaris collection, inspired by the classic Memovox Polaris divers’ alarm watch from 1968 - is emphatically among the latter. There are vintage-inspired watches that try really hard to ape the look of the historical model that they’re re-creating for a modern audience, and there are those that strive instead to channel that original model’s essence as a base with which to build new complications upon.