LeCoultre Memovox Automatic Gold Filled, ca. 1965

Identity

LeCoultre Memovox Automatic, ca. 1965. Automatic movement for the time and manual for the alarm. Gold Filled case, 38 mm diameter, twin crowns — the upper one for the alarm, the lower one for the time. Patinated silver dial, LeCoultre signature at 12 o'clock, applied baton gold indexes, gold lance hands, red alarm-pointer triangle below 12, central alarm disc, date aperture at 3 o'clock, Automatic marking at 6 o'clock. Plexiglas crystal. Leather strap and unsigned pin buckle.

Horological context

The Memovox was launched by Jaeger-LeCoultre in 1950. Its name — from the Latin memor (memory) and vox (voice) — speaks to its function: a mechanical alarm wristwatch, a complication that until then had belonged to clocks and pocket watches. It quickly took its place among the great complications of the twentieth century, and from 1956 onwards received its first self-winding alarm movements, declined thereafter with or without date. Its architecture is unmistakable: two crowns stacked on the right side of the case, one for the time, the other for the alarm. Its sound has become its signature — a small internal hammer strikes the case, which acts as a resonance chamber, producing a soft metallic chime, clearly audible, often likened to the song of a cricket. Over the decades the line has taken many forms: the manual Memovox, the Automatic, the Réveil, the Parking with its parking-time disc, the World Time, and the Polaris divers'. Part of the manufacture's output was also destined for the American market: these pieces, technically identical to their Swiss counterparts, bore the LeCoultre signature alone on the dial.

Character

Version produced by Jaeger-LeCoultre for the American market, bearing the LeCoultre signature alone on the dial. Silver dial with cream patina, the centre takes on a honey tone characteristic of Gold Filled dials from this period.

Watch serviced. Patina and normal signs of wear. Delivered with a Contre-Temps box and the Contre-Temps 24-month warranty certificate.