I saw this one on eBay last week and said, “I have to make this mine!”



A few days later, it was. OK, so it has a few issues. The crowns are not correct and should be replaced anyway. If you know someone with a couple of JLC Ref. E856 crowns, drop me a PM, please.

These watches were produced by Jaeger-LeCoultre for Gübelin from about 1958 to 1965 or so. The idea of the markings on the inner dial is to remind the wearer when they need to put more money in their parking meter.

The movement is the standard Memovox cal. 814. Since the back on my watch is extremely tight, I will show the movement from another Ipso Vox:



Note that it is marked as adjusted, a feature not shared with either the Jaeger-LeCoultre or the US LeCoultre versions of this reference.

I oknow of only two other example of this case and dial combination, both owned by collectors from the PuristS forum.

http://www.watchprosite.com/page-wf.forumpost/fi-2/ti-632161/dv-true/wf.responses.open_bLoB_s-0/

To quote Clavi, one of the top JLC gurus:

Here’s a period JLC advertisement:





You can see that the dials and lugs are the same as my example. At one time there was a small hoard of Parking center dials sold on eBay. Many of these made their way into other JLC Memovox cases, some correct, some not.

However, the presence of the Gübelin logo on my dial marks it as original.



After getting it home, it was time to give this watch a cosmetic clean up and crystal polish. When I trashed the ugly green leather band provided by the seller, I found a surprise—fixed spring bars! That’s going to limit my choices of watch bands.

Here’s the result.



The dirt (some would call it patina, but I’m just being honest) on the dial is less noticeable than it seems from the above photo. Don’t think i’ll do anything about it, too much of a risk for the printing that’s left.



The case serial number of 760K is right in the range of other known pieces, but this one is the only one with the number on the outside of the case.

This will make it to the watchmaker eventually, but for now, I’ll get a open-end band and wear it for a bit.

Thanks for sticking with me this long.
gatorcpa

 

What do you mean by "suicide bars"?

I think I can spin the tubes.
gatorcpa

 

Nice grab Evan.......

Looking forward to seeing it in person.

Best
Bill

 

As it turns out, @JimInOz was 100% correct.

I took a pair of shears and very carefully cut off the bars. Replaced them with standard flanged 18mm springbars and a vintage alligator strap and we’re good to go.

Watch is running fast, so it’s due for a service.

For now, I’ll wear it a couple of more days and then let it rest.
gatorcpa

 

Running behind? You mean what happens when Congress changes the law eight days before the end of the year and IRS doesn’t know which end is up?

The watch does’t look any different, since the band that was on it had black leather inserts.

There will be more pictures later.
gatorcpa

 

OK, so this is a blatant bump.

I finally was able to get inside the watch. Found some interesting information.

First, the inside of the caseback:



No LeCoultre here, but it does have a case serial number on the outside and the metal post necessary for the operation of the alarm feature.

However, on the movement, where I expected to see a Gübelin signature, what do we find?



A standard Jaeger-LeCoultre signature instead.

The movement serial number is 1.3M, which makes this watch a little bit older than the two others I’ve seen.

Not sure what to make of all of this.
gatorcpa