.Jaeger-LeCoultre . Aston

 

Sometimes it seems that the relationship between Swiss watches and the British luxury automotive industry dates back almost to the invention of the internal combustion engine. For example, the tie-up between Jaeger-LeCoultre and Aston Martin happened in the Twenties. Unlike today, however, this had nothing to do with marketing. Rather, the economic chaos of WWI had forced so many watchmakers to diversify from their core business. This is why Jacques-David LeCoultre and his partners at Jaeger opened the Ed Jaeger London Ltd workshop that by 1925 had come to specialise in dashboard instruments - including, from the Thirties onwards, Aston Martin's.

Soon, it was the go-to supplier to all the grandest car firms, though the whole business was finished by the end of WWII. The watch brand's relationship with Aston Martin, however, was rekindled in 2004 when Jaeger-LeCoultre launched the AMVOX line. The AM stands, naturally, for Aston Martin, while the VOX refers to Memovox, the model launched by JLC in the late Fifties that was the world's first automatic watch with a mechanical alarm function built into the movement - a useful attribute also found on the original AMVOX.

In addition, early models included chronographs,tourbillions and even a miniature transmitter to unlock the door of your Aston Martin DBS by pressing the watch glass - a difficult trick to pull off, as it required both mechanical and electronic parts. Another quirk of the range can be seen on the AMVOX5 World Chronograph, where Gaydon - the town in Warwickshire where Aston Martin is based - replaces London in the time zones.

The latest member of this automotive family is the AMVOX7 Chronograph, which boasts a new case shape in titanium, and apertures on the inner bezel displaying the amount of power remaining. The Jaeger-LeCoultre automatic Calibre 756 has a 65-hour power reserve - so you can safely leave it in the glove compartment of your Aston during the Le Mans 24 Hours race, in which Aston Martin came third in the GTE Pro category in 2012. If you can bear to take it off, that is...

AMVOX7 Chronograph by Jaeger-LeCoultre,£17,400. jaeger-lecoultre.com