Over the last few years, the popularity of vintage watches has had some ups and downs, to say the least. It was only about five or six years ago that vintage was all anyone in our community seemed to be talking about. Rare references from Rolex and Patek were setting auction records, and enthusiasts who got into the hobby before the vintage boom suddenly found themselves with collections of real and surprising value on their hands. Things have calmed down a bit recently, and while I certainly wouldn’t say vintage is over by any means, it’s become a tougher nut to crack. Consumers are, correctly, more concerned with authenticity and originality than they ever have been, which has changed the landscape considerably. Among other things, it’s opened the door for brands to get into the vintage game, making rare references from their back catalogs available to the public with the promise of proper and careful restorations, ensuring the value and history of these watches haven’t been neglected by an inexperienced watchmaker or service center. Jaeger-LeCoultre is perhaps the highest profile brand to enter this market, and they’ve just unveiled their second capsule collection in their ongoing series, The Collectibles. 

A pair of Memovoxes from The Collectibles collection

Last week, at the Jaeger-LeCoultre boutique in Beverly Hills, collectors gathered for the big unveiling of the new eleven piece collection. Spanning periods of the brand’s history from the 1920s to the 1970s, there’s real variety in this new collection, with watches that will be familiar to even the most casual JLC fans, as well as pieces that require a bit of an explanation and speak to the brand’s breadth of watchmaking techniques and styles. 

Right at the outset, it’s worth discussing the provenance of these watches, as it’s a topic that has been in the news lately and should always be of concern to vintage collectors. According to Jaeger-LeCoultre, every piece is vetted by a team of historical experts and serviced by JLC’s specialty, in-house restoration workshop. The team that works on these watches consists of 10 individuals with access to Jaeger-LeCoultre’s vast archives, which contain critical information on every watch, and every caliber, that ever left the manufacture. Jaeger-LeCoultre also has access to authentic (and correct) replacement parts, which are deployed during servicing, and if there are no replacement parts available, new parts can be fabricated via the original stamps and machinery that were used to produce the original components decades earlier. Every watch in The Collectibles collection is also sold with an extract from the Jaeger-LeCoultre archives, along with the original box and papers, if available. 

An early Futurematic, part of this year’s The Collectibles capture collection

Having the chance to see these watches in person last week at their big unveiling was a treat, and confirms the excellent work that the restoration team was able to accomplish. Too often in the world of vintage watches, “restoration” is akin to stripping something old of all its character, replacing old dials, adding new paint, and polishing out the integrity and beauty of the original case lines and finishing. That’s not the case here. The watches I saw in Los Angeles were unmistakably vintage in the best way possible, showing their age gracefully but also clearly ready for their moment to shine as examples of the best of what Jaeger-LeCoultre had to offer during what many consider to be the Golden Age of watchmaking. 

The “Snowdrop”

For me, the highlights of the evening were the watches that showed a side of Jaeger-LeCoultre that we don’t see often enough in the modern collection, and that’s the sportier, forward thinking version of the brand from the 1960s and 70s. Specifically, three Memovox references from the 70s stole the show in my opinion: a Memovox Polaris II with bright red accents, a Memovox Snowdrop with a black dial and a distinctive lugless circular case, and a Memovox Speedbeat GT with a blue dial in a dramatic and curvy oval shaped case. The Speedbeat GT is a particularly rare bird, having been produced for just one year in 1972 and utilizing a high frequency movement, Caliber 916. The “GT” in the name refers to both the high frequency movement as well as “Grand Taille,” a reference to the oversized case that is big by modern standards, and would have been downright enormous in 1972. 

A rare Memovox Polaris II with red dial accents

The Memovox Polaris II is also a special watch, dating from 1970 in a rare configuration here with a deep red bezel and hour track. Another oversized case and featuring the same caliber as the GT, this Memovox reference is said to be a dividing line in JLC’s aesthetic for the Memovox line, and represents the start of a more experimental phase where the brand leaned into a 70s aesthetic that was developing at the time. If the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Jaeger-LeCoultre is a classically styled dress watch, the Memovox references on display in this iteration of The Collectibles are a good reminder that there is a lot more to the brand. 

That said, this capsule collection has plenty to offer if Reversos and vintage complications are more your speed. A black dialed center seconds Reverso and what could be thought of as a matching (and impossibly chic) Duoplan garnered a ton of attention, as did a Futurematic E501, a watch that was truly ahead of its time in 1951 and the first wristwatch ever without a winding crown. The undeniable crowd favorite though was an early Memovox Automatic Calendar with a blue lacquer dial that you could be tricked into thinking was stone given the texture. This is a particularly great example of Jaeger-LeCoultre’s restorative efforts: so much could have gone wrong, and in the wrong hands the character of this dial might have been completely destroyed. Thanks to this initiative from JLC, it exists today as a reference point for collectors. 

The entire Collectibles capsule collection can be seen on Jaeger-LeCoultre’s website.