Jaeger-LeCoultre Deep Sea Alarm Europe E 857

I won't make once again a review on the Deep Sea Alarm, as you can already read it here:

jlc.watchprosite.com

I will mainly focuse on the European version of this watch ( Ref E 857 ), now that I was able to add it in my collection.

This is indeed a very rare bird, as on the 1061 pieces made from 1959 to 1961, only 150 / 200 Deep Sea Alarm Europe were made, and I don't now how many are still alive, these days.

What is surprising is that the same watch can get such a different personality, depending on the version:



While on the american model, the indexes are of the same lenght, the 5 minutes indexes being thicker than the others, on the European version, the long, thin triangle shaped 5 minutes indexes are luminous ( which is strangely not the case on the US ),

On the european version, there is no writing on the alarm disk, which gives a cleaner, more elegant look to the watch, while the US is more " macho ", obviously.

On both versions, I noticed that the non moving part of the dial may somtimes show a very nice chocolate brown patina, which is the case on my European D.S.A.

As you can see on the pic above, these 2 models have different hands, spade shaped on the US, while the European has a pair of pointed skeleton, which is not characteristic, because each of these models can receive spade or pointed skeleton hands.

Here a few macros of the European D.S.A dial, to enhance the borwn chocolate patina, and the nice look of the alarm disk:











The case back on the 2 versions has the same nice engraving: A Diver in action...





... Which houses the first Automatic Alarm movement in the world: The Cal 815, signed Jaeger Lecoultre on the European, and Lecoultre on the American:



The story says that the Deep Sea Alarm was born from Mr Lowe's will, who was the Lecoultre Inc. President in New York.

But the funny thing is that the Deep Sea Alarm didn't have glowing indexes ( except on the European version ), nor a turning bezel ( both versions )... Which is a bit curious for a diving watch.

But it was the very first JLC Diving watch, and the first step from La Grande Maison in the Diving world.

These flaws have been corrected one year after the end of the life of the Deep Sea Alarm, when JLC worked on a watch which will become a Cult Watch: The Polaris, but this is another story...

50 Years after its birth, what we can say about the Deep Sea Alarm is that even if it has big flaws for a Diving watch, it is a superb watch, very elegant, enjoying a timeless design:







Its elegance is not only due to its dial, but also to its perfect volumes, not too big, nor too thick, even nowadays, with a 39 mm diameter case.





All these impressions are confirmed once the watch on the wrist, indeed:



Curiously, it has more presnece on the wrist than a Rolex Sub, even a modern one with a diameter of 40 mm.

These D.S.A has always lived in the shadow of the Polaris, and are of course much less known, but they are not less elegant and appealing!

Hope you will enjoy this reading.

Best to all.

Nicolas

This message has been edited by amanico on 2009-07-11 06:13:11 This message has been edited by amanico on 2009-07-15 03:15:54