1950s Jaeger-LeCoultre Memovox Alarm 3151 35mm
Ref: 3151
Specification
Lugs : 17mm
Condition : Pre-Owned
Box & Papers : None
Case Material : Stainless Steel
Warranty : 12-Months NON-Waterproof Warranty
Points of Mention
This watch is sold as "Watch Only" and, therefore, comes with no original JLC box or paperwork. It is paired with a well-suited and well-worn 17mm JLC leather strap. The watch is from Circa 1950s and is sold in worn, vintage condition. It is showing signs of age throughout but is overall in very fair condition with original hands and dial, and the alarm is working beautifully. The watch comes with our 12-Months NON-Waterproof Warranty.
For more photos see here - https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Cr1mCm80sRbQhiv83D1EBUtVc6a5xyIB?usp=drive_link
4K YouTube video, skip to 14:02 - https://youtu.be/aAQXUoTS5H8
The Watch
Here we have a beautifully appointed 1950s Jaeger-LeCoultre Memovox Alarm 3151. Introduced in 1950, it was originally called the “Wrist Alarm” but was later changed to “Memovox” for the 1950 Basel watch fair. The name in Latin means “Memor” (Remember) and “Vox” (Memory), a clever play on words, it was a direct competitor of the 1949 Vulcain Cricket Alarm, and it was famously given to Charlie Chaplin in 1953 to celebrate his arrival in Switzerland. A 35mm stainless steel round case sits comfortably on your wrist thanks to the attractive flared lugs, and the curved flanks lead to a lug-to-lug length of 41.5mm and a case thickness of 10mm. On the right side, we have a coin-edge crown at two o’clock to rotate the alarm disc and a coin-edged crown at four o'clock to adjust the time. A smooth bezel holds a domed crystal above a cream and silver domed dial. An outer minute track precisely executed surrounds the applied facet dagger indexes marking the hours. The inner rotating Alarm disc has a useful arrow showing where it is set, elegant Dauphine hands are complemented by a tapered second hand. On the reverse a snap-off case back, inside a manually wound JLC Cal. P489/1, 17 jewels, beating at a leisurely 18,000 beats per hour, the alarm hammer makes a distinctive buzzing sound. It comes paired with a suitable 17mm leather strap and pin buckle.
Personal Note
Watches like this fantastic 1950s Jaeger-LeCoultre Memovox, reference 3135, remind us of a bygone era where watches were truly used as tools for a purpose. The Memovox provided the wearer the ability to set an alarm, something we take for granted today but likely revolutionary at its time and we forget that almost all complications came about in this exact way. In this modern world, we have no real use for an alarm on our mechanical watch, but it sure is fun to use and I found myself setting and using the alarm for the most mundane of tasks, just don't forget you set it like I did as it'll give you a shock and a half as it's powerful and loud!
The Brand
Antoine LeCoultre founded LeCoultre in 1833 in the small village of Le Sentier, Switzerland. By 1866, LeCoultre’s workshop had grown from home-run manufacturers spread across Switzerland to installing modern steam-driven machines to power the tools of all watchmakers, moving them from their homes and bringing them together in one central unit. Now named LeCoultre & Cie, the company became the first manufacturer in the Vallée de Joux Switzerland. Antoine and his son Elie LeCoultre employed more than 500 watchmakers in-house. In 1903, Edmond Jaeger, a watchmaker in Paris who made watches for the French Navy, challenged Swiss manufacturers to produce an ultrathin movement. Jacques-David LeCoultre, Elie’s son, rose to the challenge and created the world’s thinnest pocket watch, which was equipped with the LeCoultre 146 calibre, measuring 1.38mm thick. Over the following years, Jaeger and LeCoultre kept in touch, building a solid friendship, and in 1937, Jaeger-LeCoultre was founded. In 2013, they celebrated their 180th Anniversary. They created iconic timepieces like the Reverso wristwatch and the brilliantly engineered Atmos clock. During the war years, the Mark VII pilot watches of the 1940s were so accurate the Royal Air Force used them as aerial navigation instruments; later, they created the first automatic watch to house a power-reserve indicator in 1948 that the US Army Air Corps used. Jaeger-LeCoultre has developed and revolutionised the watch industry like no other manufacturer. Since 2000, it has been a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Swiss luxury group Richemont. This group includes Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, IWC Schaffhausen, Panerai, Piaget, Vacheron Constantin, Montblanc, Dunhill, and Chloé.