Master Compressor Diving Navy SEALs
Timepieces designed by professionals, for professionals
The Watch Quote™ - February 8th, 2009
La montre Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Compressor Diving Chronograph GMT Navy SEALs
With its super-rugged grade 5 titanium case, unidirectional bezel and ability to remain watertight to 1000 metres, Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Master Compressor Diving line meets the most stringent requirements for a diving watch. So it is natural that professional divers – those for whom each dive involves performing challenging feats and surpassing limits – choose these timepieces. Jaeger-LeCoultre is constantly conferring with experts, such as snorkelling record holder Patrick Musimu, about the relevance of its latest innovations. It has signed a partnership with the United States Navy SEALs, the Navy’s elite unit of combat swimmers. To mark this agreement dedicated to challenging achievements, the Master Compressor Diving line is adding three limited series having a shot-peened ceramic bezel and engraved with the Navy SEALs emblem. The eagle brandishing a trident in its talons is a symbol of excellence for these extraordinary timepieces, the Master Compressor Diving Alarm Navy SEALs, the Master Compressor Diving Chronograph GMT Navy SEALs and the iconic Master Compressor Diving Pro Geographic Navy SEALs.
Like their namesakes, some of the best soldiers in the world, the high-tech Navy SEALs pieces combine uncommon performance and endurance. All SEAL equipment is subjected to very strict quality testing. Designed with the same goal of outstanding performance and exceptional sturdiness in mind, the ultrasophisticated Master Compressor Diving Navy SEALs line is made to be water-tight at record depths and incorporates new technical advances that make the watches both safer and even more of a pleasure to use – even in the most extreme environments.
Since 2007, Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Master Compressor Diving collection has been the nec plus ultra of diving watches. This collection, a technical answer to the stringent NIHS 92-11 criteria (ISO 6425) established by the Swiss watchmaking industry, does not simply meet the requirements of shock resistance, watertightness to 100 metres minimum, and safety thanks to a unidirectional rotating bezel; it elevates its exceptional performance to the level of a new standard. Indeed, the three Master Compressor Diving models exceed the required standards in all respects. The high-tech, super-rugged sapphire-blasted unidirectional ceramic bezel is protected against misuse to guarantee perfect safety; stamped oversized hour-markers and numbers and the use of superluminova provide excellent legibility even in the darkest places; and the shape of the case, which is designed to resist the high pressure at great depths, ensures perfect watertightness to depths of 300 to 1000 metres depending on the version.
Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Master Compressor Diving, among the most successful professional technical instruments, obviously could not long remain unknown to the United States Navy SEALs, who are always on the lookout for advanced items to supplement their equipment. So the birth of an association – dedicated to excellence and achievement – with this elite unit was almost a foregone conclusion.
The saga of Jaeger-LeCoultre’s diving watches
Jaeger-LeCoultre Memovox Deep Sea Master Mariner watch detail
Jaeger-LeCoultre has already been a pioneer in diver safety for a half-century now. In 1959, the Manufacture introduced its Memovox Deep Sea, the first diving watch in history to include an alarm function to acoustically signal that it was time to return to the surface. This innovation made Jaeger-LeCoultre’s self-winding 815 calibre with alarm function one of the most iconic calibres of its day. In 1965, this principle was further perfected, giving rise to the legendary Memovox Polaris. The superposed layers of the Polaris’ triple case back acted as a resonance chamber to optimally amplify the sound and keep it from being muffled by the diver’s suit. Subsequent additions to the impressive list of diving watches signed by Jaeger-LeCoultre included the Master Marina Barracuda in 1968, the Memovox Diving Chronograph in 1969, the Memovox Polaris II in 1970, and the Master Mariner Deep Sea in 1972.
TheJaeger-LeCoultre Memovox Deep Sea Master Mariner watch
These first creations already had two significant characteristics so revolutionary that they then became one of the minimum technical requirements for diving watches made by the Manufacture. The first was excellent legibility, which was ensured by the watch’s imposing diameter and later supplemented by oversized luminescent numbers. The second was an excellent seal, provided by the patented Piquerez Compressor system, the forerunner of the compression crowns and keys that equip today’s models.
Extraordinary strength of character
The new Navy SEALs collection gives divers a choice between three additional functions, each meeting their needs in its own way: a depth gauge with world time, an alarm, or a chronograph associated with a second time-zone display. All of the models have two wristbands: one in leather with a vintage design, in titanium, in rubber-moulded or articulated rubber versions; and the other in black Cordura, a super-rugged material perfectly suited to diving. Reliability and safety brook no compromise.
