Jaeger-LeCoultre Deep Sea Alarm: A Deep Dive into its Enduring Elegance

Let's think about it:

Among all the Vintage Diving JLCs, which is the most elegant?

2 of them are in competition: The Deep Sea Alarm, and the Polaris, if we refer to the criteria of elegance, IMO.

The Polaris is a beautiful watch, indeed, the huge domed plexy is coherent with the case which is also very attractive, and the dial has a strong and appealing look.



But, to me, the Deep Sea Alarm is a step above, in terms of elegance.

First of all, the DSA is smaller and thinner, while the Polaris can be seen as a " Bad Boy " watch.

Look at these very nice proportions:





The Deep Sea Alarm has a natural sweetness or coolness in its lines and curves.





The volumes are homogeneous, as well as the details.

Here, we wouldn't like to have big crowns, like on the Polaris.

The flatter, the better, IMO.

The lugs are much longer and thinner, too, almostt sensual.

Have a look at the bevels of the lugs:



You will also notice that the watch is finished with care, as its case is polished on the top, and brushed at the center.

On this next picture, you'll be able to admire the superb profile of the Deep Sea Alarm, which looks a bit like an UFO, with the bezel which overcomes from the case.



The strange thing is that, like for the Polaris, whose Compressor Case was shared with some other " Legends " such as the Longines, the Droz, the Universal Genève Polerouter Sub, and many others, the Deep Sea Alarm seems to share the same case with the ...
Omega Seamaster 300, ref CK 2913 or 14 755.

Here a comparison picture of these 2 beauties, if any convinction was needed ...



The dial is another source of pleasure.

I'm in love with these long and thin luminous indexes, which give rythm, dynamic and contrast to the black ( or sometimes brown ) outer dial.

The thin skeleton and luminous hands match with the indexes.



Let's " dive into the dial:

Brut and almost " grained " matt black alarm disk.



The outer dial, here brown, but most often black, bearing the luminous indexes:



a view on the whole dial, now:



Again, the aesthetic of this dial is very close to the Omega Seamaster 300 one:



Amazing, don't you think?

Apart of its aesthetical appeal, I also love a lot its functionality.

Let's be clear, it is not a perfect diving watch, as the bezel is not designed as a diving bezel ( no minute indexes, but strangely hour indexes, here ), and it is not turning, which is even stranger on a diving watch!

But, as I said in my in depth review, the DSA was the first JLC step in the world of Diving watches, but this quirk is part of History, and also makes the charm of this watch.

Here's a notice I found ( Thanks to Karmin ) on the Deep Sea Alarm, explaining how to use it:

" Lecoultre Deep Sea Automatic Alarm watch: The World's only underwater automatic alarm watch.

This LeCoultre Deep Sea Automatic Alarm watch guards the Time on which a skin - diver's life may depend.

The duration of a dive is limited by the capacity of the oxygen tank, the diver must know exactly how long he has been underwater and how much time remains for the ascent. A too rapid rise can produce the bends.

Use your LeCoultre Deep Sea .... to time your dives and ascents.It has been tested to over 500 feet, a depth which can be reached by a professional deep diving suit.

The LeCoultre Deep Sea ... operates automatically and sets off a vibrating alarm which can be felt on the wirst and heard underwater.

TO WIND MOVEMENT: This watch winds automatically when worn on the wirst. When you first use it ( or when it runs down after being idle ) give the winding stem a few turns and set the time.

TO SET TIME: Pull out the winding stem at the 4 o'clock mark. Rotate the hands clockwise to the correct time. Push stem in.

TO WIND ALARM: The winding and setting stem for the alarm is at the 2 o'clock mark. Rewind each time it is used.

TO SET ALARM: ...Pull out stem and turn so that the inner face moves counter - clockwise ( to the left ). Turn stem until the moving radium triangular pointer indicates the time you want the alarm to sound.Then push stem in.

TO TURN ALARM OFF: The alarm will ring when alarm stem is in.It will not ring when alarm stem is out, as for setting. To stop alarm, pull stem out.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Estimate total dive time, including descent and ascent.Total dive time is determined by the Depth of the dive and amount of oxygen you have.

2.Substract from the total dive time the ascent time, the number of minutes you need to surface.

3. Set the moving triengular radium pointer to the time you must commence your ascent to the surface. Use the fine line markers on the dial's inner ring for greater accuracy. Each fine line marker in the inner ring represents 12 minutes...

Caution: Please do not remove the crystal of this watch under any cirumstances. The crystal must remain intact for the case to be watertight.It is most important that this watch be entrusted for service only to your authorized Vacheron Constantin - LeCoultre Jeweler. "

Actually, this is a Vintage watch, and I don't see myself using it for any Diving session.

Therefore, the Alarm is, in my opinion, one of the friendliest complication.

To me, again, the Deep Sea Alarm is a perfect compromise between the rugged " bad boy " Polaris and the Classic and dressy Memovox.

And if you're after a more " macho " Deep Sea Alarm, the US version is for you!





Looking forward to read your comments and thoughts.

Best,

Nicolas

This message has been edited by amanico on 2011-01-02 08:17:38 This message has been edited by amanico on 2011-01-05 11:28:49