Don't get me wrong, I am not discovering the Jaeger Lecoultre Amvox 2 DBS, I am rediscovering it, thanks to a friend who bought it some months ago and who had the good idea to bring it with him.
No, the main purpose of this article is to re evaluate it, 14 years after its release.
Indeed, when I first saw the Amvox 2 DBS in 2007, at the SIHH, my first feeling was not really positive, which leads me to a point: When you are a moderator, you have to fight against subjectivity, and let your biased feelings " in the cloakroom " as we say in french, which means " disregard ", which is not easy as you are also passionate about watches...
Why did I have biased feelings? Why was I biased?
The reason is quite logical: Jaeger Lecoultre introduced the Amvox II in 2006 in the catalog, as a limited edition of 750 pieces in titanium, 500 pieces in black titanium, and 200 pieces in platinum, which makes a total of 1450 watches.
The Titanium Amvox II:
The Black Concept:
The Platinum:
From a collector's point of view, you could expect some respect from the brand to their loyal customers who bought one or several of the Amvox II " first generation " thinking that it was a " one shot " watch. At the limit, we could expect something totally different: The use of a pivoting case for another complication, such as a GMT, for example, OR... The combination of a pivoting case vertically and horizontally, for the chronograph and another complication. THAT would have made sense and wouldn't have been just another iteration of basically the same watch.
The Amvox 2 DBS was the first step to other Amvox 2s, the Amvox 2 Racing, in 2009, the DBS in steel in 2010, and the Amvox 7 in 2012, which is an Amvox 2 with a different dial design and a radial power reserve... And that's why I was so cold when I saw it. It broke the relative exclusivity of the concept and it was guilty of / for that.
14 years after, and after having been the witness of all these evolutions, it is time to judge it again, and to make abstraction of this context to just focus on the watch.
The specificity of the Amvox II DBS is, first of all, that it was released in rose gold, in a limited edition of 300 pieces. It was the only one in rose gold ( if you exclude the Transponder ). Then, it was the first to offer a semi open dial ( the second being the DBS from 2010 ). Note that the titanium was a Limited Edition of 999 pieces. So, 1299 more pieces, added to the 1450 pieces of the first edition...
The elusive rose gold version:
Other than that, you have the same case dimensions ( 44 mm diameter / 15, 1 mm high ), the same hands, the same movement, the Cal 751, beating at the pace of 28, 800 vibrations per hour, offering an excellent power reserve of 65 hours, and, of course, the same concept, using the pivoting case for the chronograph functions.
The Amvox II DBS is a true Amvox II, it respects the original idea. It just expresses it in a different way, or better said, with a different style with its transparent center part of the dial which allows you to see part of the ruthenium decorated movement.
Does it have more " cool factor " than the first one? No, I don't think so. Is it nicer? I don't think, either. It is different, maybe a tad refined, less cool, and probably less powerful / brutal than the former version.
Was I too severe when judging it in 2007? Yes, probably, but now you know why.
Truth to be told, and to give you an exact idea of my feelings, if the first Amvox II would have not existed, then I would have probably gone for it. Per se, it is a very good watch, original, eye-catching and interesting.
Best,
Nicolas