Worldtempus - 3 September 2012
Robin Swithinbank
Time for a confession. Every now and again, I get asked to review a watch I really like. I mean REALLY like. As in, as much as my TV. Or one of my children. Before you take my word for it, you should read everything I say about Jaeger-LeCoultre's recently pitched Tribute to Deep Sea Chronograph remembering it's been penned through the microscope of lust – I just have to have one of these.
I was first introduced to it back in March over breakfast with the brand's charming U.K. PR representative, who had agreed to reacquaint me with the Deep Sea Vintage Chronograph launched at SIHH in January (which is now, like this version, listed on the brand's website as the Master Compressor Tribute to Deep Sea Chronograph), a watch I fell headlong for at the time.
Initially, I must confess to having been a little miffed when she unveiled a watch I'd not seen before, and I clearly did a shoddy job of covering it up. “Look, just wear it for a week, and see what you think,” she suggested. So I did. And a week later she had to prise it from my wrist.
Cutting-edge vintage
Ever since, I've been trying to work out why. It's not as if it's the only 1950s-inspired watch out there (imagine!), nor the only watch of its kind that can actually be worn and used underwater (it's been subjected to Jaeger-LeCoultre's 1000-hour test and conforms to the ISO 6425 standard, more of which later).
In the back of my mind, I also hear the voices of horologistas telling me they're tired of the vintage-inspired thing and that it's all but done – the view being either buy a vintage watch or buy something cutting-edge. I couldn't agree less.
There's a good reason for this. Vintage watches are wonderful – don't get me wrong – but if you'll pardon the expression, as everyday wear watches, they suck. I can think of two good friends who have stunning 1950s Omega Seamasters and both are constantly bemoaning the fact that their watches spend more time back in the shop than they do on their wrist. You don't buy a Ferrari Daytona and expect to drive it to work everyday. That would make you an idiot – with lots of cash.
Two worlds, one watch
With a watch like the Tribute to Deep Sea Chronograph, you get the best of both worlds: design that just doesn't seem to age and quality that benefits from half a century of research and development, industrialization, the birth of computers and no small of amount of trial and error. Ancient and modern at the same time, if you will.
Ancient first, then. Top-side up, the design cues come from two sources. In the 1930s, Jaeger-LeCoultre made a military chronograph instrument called the Chronoflight that had an operating indicator, which has now landed on the dial of the Deep Sea. It's white when off, red-and-white when running, and red when stopped – the theory being that these indications are easy to reference during a dive.
The hour markers are from the original Deep Sea Alarm, as is the script used for the word “Automatic” on the small seconds subdial. The push pieces are standard vintage fare, but none the worse for it, and the treated leather strap is inspired by the weave seen in early Deep Sea models.
Unlike the first of this year's Tribute chronographs, it has white lume rather than the faux-aged stuff (which has a place), and three dial counters rather than two, serving up small seconds and 30-minute and hour chronograph registers.
Seeing in the dark
So far, so retro. Far less skinny-tie-and-bourbon-in-the-office is that the Tribute to Deep Sea Chronograph complies with the ISO6425 standard. That guarantees all sorts of things you'd want in a divers' watch, including water-resistance to 100 meters, shock-resistance, visibility at 25 centimeters in the dark, anti-magnetism and clear indication that the watch is running.
Protected inside the case is Jaeger-LeCoultre's own Caliber 758, which was developed especially for this watch to provide the operating indicator. Incredible that the brand is still adding calibers to its collection – at any one point it has between 50 and 60 in production, fuelling 350-odd references. Staggering.
That's the rationale done with. Subjective observations revolve around thoughts that it's just a devilishly handsome watch, masculine to the core, and produced by one of the world's greatest watch brands. And I want one. Did I mention that?
Perhaps I should leave the final word to Zahra Kassim-Lakha, Jaeger-LeCoultre's U.K. Brand Director, who I spoke to after the watch was officially launched in May. She's even more biased than I am, of course, but she captured the nub of it with this, “It's a passe-partout watch, a lifestyle piece that brings together the reassurances of modern technology with 1950s and '60s design.” I couldn't agree more.
Price: £7,250/$10,800
