JAEGER-LeCOULTRE Polaris PERPETUAL CALENDAR [once in a lifetime date adjustment]

Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Polaris sport diver receives one of horology’s most complex, venerated yet ultimately handy complications, a perpetual calendar; a complication with the power to bend time and space. Err, perhaps not quite but for those of us not planning on living beyond the year 2100 (I suspect that’s most of us); well, we’ll only ever need to readjust the date on our Polaris, just the once in our lifetimes! A perpetual calendar isn’t the first complication that comes to mind when looking to equip a diver's watch with a suitable movement but this is the Jaeger-LeCoultre manufacture illustrating to us their undeniable, legendary watchmaking prowess by installing their latest and greatest caliber into a Polaris sports diver. This newly developed, in-house movement, the JLC Caliber 868AA provides a display of the moon phases in dual hemispheres, as well as an extended power-reserve of 70 hours, in addition to the perpetual calendar complication. Taking its design cues from the Polaris MARINER Memovox the watch comes with a with a deep gradient-blue lacquer dial as well an inner rotating diver’s bezel, a signature of the Polaris line. These serve as a reminder that despite its convoluted mechanical inner-workings, this is very much a seafaring model in its bones. The historic Polaris name was reintroduced by Jaeger-LeCoultre in 2018 with an entirely new line of watches that drew upon the Manufacture’s venerable dive watch heritage while evoking the spirit of the celebrated 1968 Memovox Polaris for a modern sports watch. A perpetual calendar is said to be among the most challenging complications to master; a miniature clockwork computer, it must automatically adjust for months of different lengths and even for leap years. Unlike a simple date display, which needs to be adjusted at the end of every month that doesn’t have 31 days, a perpetual calendar will not need any manual correction until 2100 and, after that, only for the centenary years that are not leap years.

With an emphasis on balance and legibility, the calendar indications are displayed in three sub-dials. The date, month and day indicators are at 9, 12 and 3 o’clock respectively, with the year displayed within the month indicator. Reminding us that a calendar’s origins started with astronomical phenomena, the moon phases are displayed at 6 o’clock – with a retrograde display for the Southern Hemisphere framing a classical display for its Northern counterpart. The 42mm cases, in steel or pink gold, feature the key Polaris design codes: taut lines, fine bezels, glass-box crystals, and an eye-catching mix of brushed and polished surfaces. 

 

A transparent sapphire crystal case-back and an open-worked pink gold winding rotor reveal the fine decorative finishes on the movement. The Polaris Perpetual Calendar is easy to operate and adjust. The top crown rotates the inner bezel – both features being Polaris signatures – while the lower crown is for setting the time and winding the watch. Calendar settings are adjusted via a single pusher. Thanks to a newly developed interchangeable strap system, which is operated by simply pressing on the pushers integrated into the attachment point between the lugs, the Polaris Perpetual Calendar is adaptable for every adventure. The steel model is offered with both a three-link steel bracelet and textured rubber strap, while the elegance of the pink gold model is complemented by a blue rubber strap and, for a more formal look, an alligator strap with a folding buckle. Adding to the options for personalization is a collection of calfskin straps in a variety of colors. Thoughts? Absolutely stunning to look at with an incredible complication; however it is at odds with the watch’s intended purpose; 

 

it is no longer any sort of diver’s watch but that’s not to say that it isn’t good or indeed desirable but only that it has evolved, transcending beyond simply being something for calculating dive-time. Purists (not me) already struggle with the existence of diving chronographs but divers with perpetual calendars; these will only be relevant when the polar ice caps as well as the World’s glacial ice has melted and global sea levels have risen to a point where we find ourselves plunged into some sort of dystopian water world where humanities’ survival rests in its ability to create ever complex diver’s watches, the touchstones on which we will all be measured or something like that. 

 

Or just get yourself a nice no date diver and you'll never ever, ever, need to worry about date adjustments. 

 

Btw IWC also created such a watch, the Aquatimer Perpetual Calendar Digital Date Month 50th ANNIVERSARY Edition which I think looks a little more fit for purpose than this does but what do you think?