The Jaeger-LeCoultre Deep Sea Auto Chronograph

This is the Jaeger-LeCoultre Deep Sea Auto Chronograph which continues the brand’s retrospective into their rich historical portfolio.

Perhaps there should be a new category of Dive watches, which are perfectly capable of safely timing a dive but do so quietly.  Without jagged edges, with bezels which conform and remain in proportion with the dial instead of squabbling for domination and which are slightly understated.  So far this year there have been a few such pieces – Maurice Lacroix nailed it with their  Pontos Diving Chronograph – clean dial and sleek lines, and Stepan Saepaneva’s Korona K0 Stepan Sarpaneva’s Korona K0 is one of the most undiver-like divers watches – ever.  If there were such a category, then this is where JLC’s Deep Sea Auto Chronograph would be placed.  It is a bona fide Divers watch, but it keeps its life-saving features firmly under wraps and remains unruffled, nostalgic and refined.

The piece is made from stainless steel, measuring 42mm across.  On the matt black dial are counters for hours, minutes and small seconds.  Just below the brand’s logo is a chronograph operating indicator, which uses two discs, one red and one white.  White means that the chronograph is ready to operate, when the chronograph has been started red and white are shown and when timing has stopped the red disc is displayed, it’s a quirky but useful addition which provides at-a-glance reassurance if the piece is being used for time-elapsed dive functions.   Inside is the handcrafted Jaeger-LeCoultre Calibre 758 with 65 hours of power reserve.