Closed | Important watches – Saturday 16 May 2015

Jaeger-Le Coultre launched its new model "Memovox", which means "The voice of memory", at Baselworld in 1951. The watch, with its mechanical alarm, got a lot of positive attention at the exhibition, but it would take until 1956 before the development of the movement was finished and a final product could be presented. The watch became a world sensation since it was the first self-winding wristwatch with an alarm function (Cal 815). The first edition was a simple watch without a date display, driven by a bumper automatic movement. Later on, in 1959, it was followed up with the new edition (Cal 825), now with a date display.

The Memovox quickly became a Jaeger-Le Coultre classic and the demand for it kept increasing during the whole 1960's. Jointly the classic models, the company now developed several new innovative models, among others two sought-after sport versions, Deep Sea Alarm and Polaris.

In 1969 a new movement was presented, Cal 916. One had now abandoned the bumper and, despite the alarm function, succeeded to fit in a rotor which rotated 360 degrees. During the 1970's many more versions of the Memovox was released, now with colourful dials and larger cases.

Together with the Atmos and the Reverso, Memovox has now become one of Jaeger-Le Coultre's most important and popular models.