Watch In Focus – Jaeger-LeCoultre AMVOX

Posted on by

The AMVOX may be one of the younger members of the Jaeger-LeCoultre family, but its history goes back much further than that. The relationship between luxury car maker Aston Martin and Jaeger-LeCoultre dates right back to the 1920s when Edmond Jaeger, still seventeen years off from joining forces with his friend Jacques-David LeCoultre, was making speedometers for Aston Martin cars.

Fast-forward to 2005, and Jaeger-LeCoultre and Aston Martin join forces once again to release the first of the AMVOX collection, the AMVOX I. The AMVOX I’s design had a history of its own, as the compressor case and three crowns mimicked a very famous watch from Jaeger-LeCoultre’s past—the Polaris. Both watches featured a speciality of Jaeger-LeCoultre’s, the mechanical alarm.

For the AMVOX II, Jaeger-LeCoultre turned up the innovation a notch. This time, the watch sported not an alarm, but a chronograph instead. This doesn’t sound particularly innovative until the method used to control it is revealed: using the combination of a rocking two-part case and an incredibly technical lever system, Jaeger-LeCoultre managed to make a chronograph that can be started and stopped by pushing the top of the crystal and reset again by pushing the bottom. The lock on the side of the case also allows the user to prohibit accidental engagement of the chronograph.

A small sliver of cutaway at the bottom of the dial reveals the inner workings of the chronograph mechanism, anodised red to stand proud of the base plate. The dial remains similar to that of the AMVOX I, with the addition of red accents to compliment the racing pedigree of Aston Martin, as well as having rotating chronograph sub dials appearing through two small windows so as not to clutter the clean, classy dial.

For AMVOX number three, Jaeger-LeCoultre used another technology often seen in Aston Martin racing cars – ceramic. The GMT tourbillon movement is shrouded in a black ceramic case, with the platinum or pink gold tourbillon bridge on show through the dial. This series was limited to just three hundred pieces.

Very wisely, Jaeger-LeCoultre skipped AMVOX number four, as four is the number of death in many Asian countries. Jumping straight to AMVOX V, Jaeger-LeCoultre pushed the boundaries as far as they ever had before in the AMVOX line for the World Chronograph. This combined the ceramic case of the AMVOX III, the chronograph of the AMVOX II (this time controlled with pushers) and added a world time complication indicated by the chapter ring around the edge of the dial.

The most impressive of the Jaeger-LeCoultre AMVOX range is only available to you if you own an Aston Martin car. Using the start/stop mechanism from the AMVOX II chronograph, the watch incorporates a transponder that lets the user lock and unlock their car with the watch itself. All of the AMVOX collection mirrors the Aston Martin spirit to create new and exciting products that engage their users in passionate and exhilarating ways. I wonder what the next AMVOX will be like?

KEY FACTS

  • The AMVOX II features a chronograph that is controlled by pressing the top and bottom of the crystal, and also has a sliding lock to prevent accidental use .
  • Edmond Jaeger used to make speedometers for Aston Martin (upon which the dial design of the AMVOX is based) in the 1920’s before he teamed up with Jacques-David LeCoultre.
  • The AMVOX II Chronograph Racing celebrated the 2009 win at the legendary Le Mans 24 hour race for Aston Martin Racing, fifty years after their first win at that event.

[Note: This is an updated post of a Guest Article published earlier on our website by Gary Robery from Watchfinder.co.uk]