Hello Vintage Jaeger-LeCoultre Lovers,
I am back after a superb but heartbreaking couple of days in Paris…
Paris – the city of light, the city of love.
And indeed I fell in love…
Even if no girl involved, I lost my heart to all the beautiful watches I was shown!
A mind numbing experience!
But I think I have figured out where Vlad hides, I have found his lair!
Notre Dame Cathedral
Just surprised not to see his face on any of the Gargoyles…
There has always been a strong connection between France/Paris and Jaeger-LeCoultre.
You can see traces of this in their old ads…
Jaeger-LeCoultre French ad, 1949.
Blomman translation, English photo, 2011.
OK, since Nicolas has “outed” my Ref 3161 Memovox Parking in Gold…
Here she is:
A small beauty I been hiding under my sleeve for some time now…
As a part of the Jubilé Collection I find this small manual memovox very interesting.
And even today still very current in style!
Today, over 50 years later the symbol for parking is the same and even use the same colour.
The Memovox Parking looks very much the same as any other memovox except for the Parking-P?
In general, yes – but IMO, in detail, no.
To start with, the proportions between the dial and the alarm disk are not the same as on most memos.
The alarm disk is much larger then usual and the indexes are shorter and wider.
This makes the Parking dial look bigger and cleaner.
The 12/3/6/9 configuration with lack of JLC logo and date makes the dial much more harmonised, IMO.
As Nicolas mentioned earlier, the detail of the 3 versus 4 bars on the alarm marks.
In documents I noticed two different versions:
- 3 bars and single luminous dot at 12
Jaeger-LeCoultre French catalogue, 1958.
- 4 bars with double dots at 12.
Jaeger-LeCoultre French catalogue, 1960.
My SS version lacks the two dots, so here is a borrowed photo.
See the one to the left.
Pic credit, Nicolas.
AFAIK, this is the only vintage memovox with three bars instead of four.
I wonder why? Do anyone know another vintage memo with 3 bars?
3 bars good for alarm, 1 bar=75 seconds (alarm=15 minutes).
4 bars good for time reading, 1 bar=1 minute (alarm=12,5 minutes).
As the watch lacks minute indications it’s very strange with the 3 bars configuration.
Another version is the one that Stefan has on his Gubelin Parking.
4 bars with one dot at 12.
Pic credit, Stefan.
Note that between 11 and 12 – and between 12 and 1 there is only 3 bars.
IMO, the Parking is a very fun watch with a lot of charm!
What a crazy idée, a watch specially made for remember when your parking hours will expire..!
You better put some more coins in the meter before it’s too late!
Jaeger-LeCoultre ad, 1958.
Note the bottom right: Known in the U.S. as LeCoultre.
And as always these modest JLC slogans – “ALWAYS ONE STEP AHEAD IN STYLING AND ENGINEERING” !
As we know JLC did not sign their crowns at this point.
The Parking has no signed crowns, neither has the Geophysic.
But just a couple of years later they started to sign the crowns, for example on the Geomatic.
But how was it with the buckle?
The Gold Ref 3161 had the original strap when I found her.
The buckle is unsigned but I believe it to be the original one.
Does anyone know when JLC started to sign their buckles?
Hope you will not get any parking tickets this summer!
Thank you for reading Part #5 of this Vintage Ads Series.
Hope you enjoyed!
Best
Blomman
Vintage Ads: The Series – Intro!
Vintage Ads: The Series – Part #1 Futurematic
Vintage Ads: The Series – Part #2 Memovox Pocket Alarms
Vintage Ads: The Series – Part #3 Electronic
Vintage Ads: The Series – Part #4 The Planet-Sphere
This message has been edited by blomman on 2011-07-11 15:36:07