| Author | Message | ||
     sallyann strutton New member Username: Bogus Post Number: 1 Registered: 07-2005 Rating: N/A |
this watch has the model no. 1213345 if any one knows the dates or value of this watch would be most grateful  | ||
| GregB Unregistered guest Rating: N/A |
Sallyann, Your watch is called a "Memodate Pocket Alarm with Date". It was likely produced sometime during the 1960s and is powered by a caliber 911 17-jewel manual wind alarm movement. The crown over the 11 o'clock marker winds the alarm and sets the alarm time. The crown over the 1 o'clock marker sets the time and winds the watch. The case on your watch is gold-plated. Yours looks to be a swiss-cased model. To avoid steep import duties for U.S.-bound finished/complete watches, Jaeger-LeCoultre, sent raw movements to the U.S. to be cased and timed locally. These swiss-cased models were signed simply "LeCoultre" on the dial and case. Watches that were not bound for the U.S. market were cased and timed at the factory in Switzerland. These watches (like yours) were signed "Jaeger-LeCoultre" on the dial and case. I've posted a picture of a LeCoultre Memodate ad from 1966 below which shows the Memodate selling for $115 40 years ago. Today, they sell for around $400-600 on the auction sites. They're undervalued in the market, compared to their wristwatch counterparts. Your watch would probably go for the high end of that range due to its fine condition. Greg  | ||
| Zaf Moderator Username: Zaf Post Number: 1234 Registered: 05-2003 Rating: N/A |
Hi Greg, great post. One minor point, the Swiss made cases for "Jaeger-LeCoultre" watches are signed "LeCoultre Co Swiss" in general or remain unsigned. They are not signed "Jaeger-LeCoultre". I'm not sure why they continued to sign the Swiss cases with "LeCoultre" as opposed to triple signing the watch Jaeger-LeCoultre. For the Euro market, steel cases have a serial number of the back (or inside the case back), 18k gold cases have a serial number and a "A", chrome plated top and solid 14k cases have a serial number and a "B". Best, Zaf |