Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Extreme watches

Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Extreme brings together the brand's big sports watches: the Master Compressor chronographs and divers, the Deep Sea chronographs and the experimental Master Compressor Extreme LAB 2. The Master Compressor line took its inspiration from the Memovox Polaris of 1965, whose patented triple caseback was designed to carry sound under water.

The Deep Sea chronographs look further back, to the Memovox Deep Sea of 1959, whose alarm reminded divers when to begin their ascent. They run on the automatic calibre 758, a column-wheel chronograph with a 65-hour reserve that falls to 36 hours with the chronograph running. A small window of red and white discs shows whether the chronograph is running, stopped or reset, an idea taken from the Chronoflight aircraft instrument of 1930. The 2068570 is the 42 mm steel version. The Cermet models (208A570, and the 208A57J sold through Jaeger-LeCoultre boutiques) put the same movement in a case of cermet, part ceramic and part metal, and titanium; the boutique Vintage uses orange lume to recall the discoloured lume of old dive watches.

The Master Compressor chronographs are 41.5 mm in steel or pink gold, on a strap or a matching bracelet, with black or grey dials, plus a 46 mm ceramic model whose black-dial version is limited to 500 pieces. The Master Compressor Diver Chronograph is a 44 mm titanium watch on rubber or bracelet; the 186T170 and 186T670 are limited to 1,500 pieces. The Dualmatic and Geographic are 41.5 mm steel models.

The Extreme LAB 2, shown at SIHH 2010, is the outlier: a 46.8 mm case 16.5 mm thick with a black ceramic bezel, made in red gold and titanium versions. Its automatic calibre 780 (781 in the titanium version) counts chronograph minutes on a jumping digital display at 12 o'clock, with the seconds on a central hand, and adds a second time zone set in one-hour steps and a semicircular power reserve indicator showing 60 hours from one barrel.