Okay, so I’ve been messing around with watches again. This time, it’s the Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris, specifically trying to get that World Time Chronograph look. You know, the classic style? Yeah, that’s the one I was going for.
First off, I spent a good chunk of time just staring at pictures of the vintage Polaris models from the 60s. Man, those things are gorgeous! They’re super hard to find and crazy expensive, so obviously, I wasn’t about to snag a real one. But I wanted to see what made them tick, what made them so special.
Then I started digging into the newer Polaris models. JLC has brought the name back in recent years, and they’ve got a few different versions. I played around with both the basic Automatic and the Chronograph at a shop. Both are pretty slick, but they didn’t quite have that world time vibe I was after.
The World Time Hunt
So, I focused on figuring out how the world time function works. Basically, it’s a dial that shows you the time in 24 different time zones. It’s different from a GMT, which just has an extra hand pointing to a 24-hour scale.
I found out that JLC released a Polaris model a while back that separated out the world time thing into its own watch. It was a little smaller than some of the other ones, which I actually liked. This was getting closer to what I had in mind.
There is also a Chronograph model, I checked it out at a local JLC store. It’s priced at $14,700, which is way out of my budget for this little experiment, but it looked pretty sweet. It’s steel with a leather strap, a real sporty look.
Putting It All Together
My main concern was that some folks online were saying the new Polaris models are a bit too thick. I get that, but I figured I could live with it for this project. After all, I’m not actually buying a real JLC here, just trying to capture the spirit of the watch.
So after all that research and playing around, I’m still working on the execution part. It is more about learning the details. I am not going to say I’ve completely nailed the look yet, but I’m definitely getting there. It’s been a fun ride, and I’ve learned a ton about the Polaris and world time watches in general. It’s pretty cool to see how these things work and how they’ve changed over the years.
- Step 1: Studied vintage Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris watches from the 1960s.
- Step 2: Explored the modern Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Automatic and Chronograph models.
- Step 3: Researched how world time function works and how it differs from GMT.
- Step 4: Focused on the Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris model that has a separate world time function.
- Step 5: Checked out the Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Chronograph model in a local store.
- Step 6: Considering the thickness issue mentioned by some people online.
- Step 7: Currently working on the execution part to imitate the look and feel.
It’s been a blast, and I’m pretty happy with how it’s turning out. Maybe I’ll share some pictures once I’ve got it looking just right. Stay tuned!
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