Watches with a mechanical alarm: an abridged chronology

In the early twentieth century, wristwatches became enormously popular among the general public, especially among men, as women had already been wearing them for decades. Analogue wristwatches gradually acquired ever more elaborate complications: divers' watches, date displays, chronographs, power reserve indicators, automatic calibers…

Pero en la década de los años 40, se empezaron a comercializar y a popularizar diferentes relojes con alarma mecánica. Desde Jaeger-LeCoultre (hereafter JLC), to Seiko, and including models that are highly sought after today, such as the Vulcain Cricket. 

Although it was Eterna that pioneered this in 1914, its prototype was not a success, because the limited space inside the case meant a very small spring had to be used. It barely rang for around 7 seconds and the vibrations of its mechanism, in such a confined space, noticeably affected the watch's accuracy.

In '47, Vulcain – after several years of research – managed to develop an alarm consistent enough to sound for up to 25 seconds, with a mechanism that was simple for any user to operate.

The first model Cricket featured two barrels: one to drive the timekeeping functions and another for the alarm functions. It also allowed the alarm to be set for the following 24 hours – something Eterna had not managed to achieve either. Its name Cricket (cricket) came precisely from the sound they made.

In the American market, these watches became so popular that they ended up being known colloquially as “the presidents' watches”, becoming a customary gift for the occupants of the White House. Truman, Eisenhower, even Bush and Obama owned watches of this kind. And the fact is that the Vulcain Cricket is historically the “most emblematic watch of American presidents”.

In 1951, Jaeger-LeCoultre launches its Memovox –partly in response to the prominence the Vulcain Cricket was gaining–. Various calibers from this firm would follow one after another (the caliber 489, then the 489/1, then the 814), until reaching the one that would give the watch one of its most characteristic features: the caliber 601. Giving this piece its fourth hand for setting the alarm.

It is worth noting that this complication would not be exclusive to JLC, since the firm sold its calibers to other watchmaking houses, such as IWC and its GTS Alarm, or Favre Leuba –hermanada con JLC en la década de los 70–.

Another, later model, but perhaps one of the most iconic, is the Japanese one, the Seiko Bell-Matic. First launched in 1966, its engineering did not differ from that of its counterparts, operating by means of two independent barrels that supplied this watch with energy. One for its alarm and another for its power supply. 

Each manufacturer did, however, have to work out how to wind those two separate barrels. In the case of Seiko, they opted to use an automatic mechanism, thereby allowing the crown to wind the mechanical alarm only.