Jaeger-LeCoultre - Tribute to MEMOVOX Deep Sea

In 1959, Jaeger-LeCoultre introduced the first automatic diving watch equipped with an alarm: the Memovox Deep Sea. Three years earlier, in 1956, Captain Cousteau had unveiled the splendours of undersea life in his famous film "The Silent World", which caused an unprecedented craze for the new diving techniques that he had developed using air cylinders. The Memovox Deep Sea, water-resistant to 10 bar and with its alarm notifying divers of when to begin their re-ascent, was astonishingly popular.

Still riding the wave of success enjoyed by its diving watch range, Jaeger-LeCoultre sought to pay tribute this year to their original bond with the watery depths, and so the new Memovox Tribute to Deep Sea revisits the Memovox Deep Sea—the first automatic diving watch equipped with an alarm. With identical characteristics to the original model (with the exception of the case diameter, artfully increased from 39 to 40.5 mm), this new timepiece is sure to entice collectors.

Two limited series of 959 and 359 pieces respectively will be exhibited at the "Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie". The first version sports a black dial, while the second has a two-tone anthracite and black dial, originally developed for the US market and bearing the inscription “LeCoultre”, a historic allusion guaranteed to delight aficionados of the history of fine watchmaking.

  







































This unique timepiece will be presented during the "Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie" (SIHH) to take place from 17 to 21 January. Stay tuned!



www.jaeger-lecoultre.com 

Panerai - PAM300 Mare Nostrum

Maybe it’s because I just bought a Panerai or maybe it’s because I recently visited the Montblanc Manufacture in Villeret. This Weekly Watch Photo shows the Panerai PAM300 Mare Nostrum featuring a re-worked Minerva movement, originally produced in the Manufacture in Villeret.
Martin Wilmsen made the Weekly Watch Photo, which shows Panerai caliber OP XXV. This is the movement of the immense Panerai PAM300 Mare Nostrum, that measures 52 mm in diameter

Panerai OP XXV is a hand-wound mechanical movement, measuring 12¾ lignes (or 28¾ mm). The base movement is developed and produced by Minerva, now-a-days owned by Montblanc, and is a vintage caliber 13-20. It has 22 jewels, a monometallic Glucydur balance that vibrates with 18,000 v/h. The movement features an Incabloc anti-shock device, a swan’s neck regulator and has 55 hours of power reserve.
Panerai dismantled, refinished, and modified the vintage Minerva movement to meet its technical and quality standards. The movement looks absolutely gorgeous and seems to be finished manually, because we can see the beveled sides of teh levers and bridges. The bridges are also finished with Côtes de Genève decorations.
The original Mare Nostrum had an Angelus movement, however since it had a closed case-back the movement was not visible. A re-issue of the Mare Nostrum, released as Special Edition PAM300, was long awaited by by Panerai collectors and it was widely praised when it was presented at the SIHH 2010.
The PAM300 is made to the same specifications of the original Mare Nostrum, meaning the case shape and size (52 mm in diameter) are the same as the WWII original and even the dial looks very similar. Although it is probably a very desirable collector’s item, we don’t think many people will wear the watch due to its size. We also don’t know how the depth rating of only 30 meters, compares to the original Mare Nostrum that was designed for deck officers in the Italian Navy during WW-II.
 A big thanx to Martin Wilmsen for letting us use his photos again! These photos where also used in a post on his blog called Wristwatch Photo.