The New Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Geographic

Jaeger-LeCoultre is probably not the first brand that springs to mind when it comes to sports watches. Fair enough, the Reverso was initially designed for polo players, but by today’s standards, it is far closer to being a dress watch than a sports watch. To amend this situation, Jaeger-LeCoultre turned to its Memovox Polaris, an iconic dive watch of 1968 with an underwater alarm, and used it as inspiration for its sporty Polaris collection of 2018. Expanding the Polaris collection, Jaeger introduces a practical travel complication. Sporting the new contemporary ocean grey colour scheme with orange accents and the signature dial textures of this collection, the Polaris Geographic is equipped with a dual time function, a day/night indicator and a 24-city ring.

The new Polaris Geographic borrows a complication previously featured in the dressier Master collection. It also made a fleeing limited-edition stint inside the Polaris collection in 2018 with dual time functions, a 24-city ring and a rather busy dial known as the Geographic World Time.

Compared to the 2018 limited edition, the new Polaris Geographic is less cluttered, sportier and easier to consult. The 42mm case with a thickness of 11.54mm and 100m water-resistance is classic Polaris with a tempered dash of vintage features, taut lines, curved lugs, a thin bezel, two large crowns at 3 and 10 o’clock and a glass-box crystal protecting the dial. Alternating finishes highlight the architecture with its polished bezel and crowns and vertically brushed case middle and lugs with polished bevels.

Channelling the trend for gradient dials with granular matte finishings, the dial features a new ocean grey colour. Using 35 layers of hand-applied lacquer, the colour is graduated from light to dark. Another distinguishing feature is the use of three different textures to highlight different functions. The peripheral minutes/seconds track is crafted in black opaline, with an inverted and luminous orange triangle at noon. The wider chapter ring picked out in the new ocean grey colour, is grained and graduated with prominent trapezoidal indices and Arabic numerals treated with blue-emission Super-LumiNova. Decorated with a sunray-brushed finish, the central area of the dial has a power reserve indicator with its orange depletion area, a 12-hour second time zone intersected by a smaller day/night indicator with an orange-tipped hand.

An aperture on the peripheral opaline track reveals the names of 24 cities representing the 24 time zones, indicated by a second inverted triangle at 6 o’clock. The crown at 10 o’clock activates the city selector, allowing you to set the second time zone according to location. Once the city has been selected, the hour hand of the second time zone jumps accordingly. Furthermore, cities observing daylight savings are clearly marked, and the stop-seconds feature means that the second time zone can be precision-set.

The openworked hour and minute hands also have Super-LumiNova tips (green emission), as does the rectangular counterweight on the central seconds hand with its orange tip. Although date windows have their detractors, it is slightly odd that there is no date complication in the context of a GMT watch – most other Geographic models in JLC’s recent history featured the date in a sub-dial at 2 o’clock, except this sleek Sector dial watch.

Jaeger-LeCoultre’s in-house calibre 939, visible through the sapphire caseback, is manufactured, assembled and decorated in the brand’s manufacture in Le Sentier. This automatic base movement, which powers the Geographic module on top, has 295 components, beats at 28,800vph and delivers a 70-hour power reserve.

Versatility also enters the equation with the two interchangeable straps and folding buckles. provided with the watch; one in textured black rubber and another in blue-grey canvas. The Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Geographic joins the regular collection. It is priced at EUR 17,400 or CHF 15,400. For more information, please consult jaeger-lecoultre.com.