This US market LeCoultre is an early Memovox alarm watch, which was labelled Wrist alarm for the American customers.
HOW DO WE DATE THIS WATCH?
From the serial number on the movement we can accurately date this watch to being made in 1955.
CONDITION
The Memovox was launched in 1951 at the Basel watch fair and two patents had been applied for. One for for the two piece dial, and the other is less obvious but helps the key alarm function, and that is the lugs deliberately are short to raise the watch off the wrist just a little, and this improves how the alarm feels. This example was cased in the USA, as stated on the inside of the case back, and this was the norm to avoid paying high import duty for complete watches. Jaeger-LeCoultre watches in the US were just badged LeCoultre, and the US was the only market that had the words WRIST ALARM rather than Memovox on the dial. The case is 10K gold filled, save for the stainless steel case back. The dial is original but the inner disc does have a stain near 3. The blue alarm numbers are a nice touch. The hands have radium lume, and must be among the last to use radium – the dangers of radium were now well known, and it had pretty much been replaced by 1955. The calibre 814 manual wind movement is running very well, and the alarm is loud and proud – please see the video for a demonstration. The watch strap is a new ostrich leather item, and the acrylic crystal does have a small scratch between 12 and 1 that we will try and improve.
This watch will be supplied with our Certificate of Authenticity.
Please see the HD video for more detail. All photos and videos are part of the description and are of the actual watch unless mentioned. We do not photoshop any images, and the images are copyright of birthyearwatches.com and should not be used without permission.
SIZE
Width with crown 35.1 mm
Width without crown 35.1 mm
Between lugs 18 mm
Lug to lug length 39.7 mm
Case Thickness 10.2 mm
All sizes are approximate.
Included with this watch is a 6 month guarantee and free delivery to UK addresses. If you live outside the UK we can still deliver to most countries. Please see our Worldwide Shipping information, or Contact Us. Payment can be made by most credit or debit cards, bank transfer or PayPal.
