JLC Polaris Mariner - Brilliant Watch, shame about the issues...
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 ก.ย. 2024
- I bought this Jaeger Le Coultre Mariner Date in January and loved it for a few months, but there was one big issue that I decided that I couldn't live with (the lack of lume on the minute hand). While service from AD and Boutique was stellar, the back-end Richemont Service Centre really let the show down and I ended up taking a refund.
Note that the adverts really made a big thing of the orange lume and all new (or replacement minute hands on first series watches) will have a yellow lume instead. Would have been great if they could have solved the issue and retained the original colourway, but unfortunately not to be...
#jlc #mariner #polaris #submariner alternatives #jaeger #jaeger le coultre #ap #rolex #watch
Instagram: @bandandbezel
You have the watch a few months?,then realise your not happy with the lume?lume on the seconds hand"really important for diving",but you won't go in the swimming pool with it,?aahh mate,come on.
You know you have issues with watches, when the colour of the Lume on the second hand results in you returning the watch...
I tried on a Polaris and I was disappointed with the looseness of the bezel. it moved to easy and the dive decompression chapter ring is connected to the bezel and crystal. So if you touched or rubbed the crystal the ring moved. The lack of screw down crown also was a disappointment. I think the Longines Legend Diver is a superior super compressor.
Interesting. I tried one just recently and didn't notice that. Isn't the crystal fixed to the case? (or at least nothing should be moving in that aspect). I did notice the crown that adjusts the inner bezel was somewhat easy to manipulate (too easy?) and seems like if anything is in contact with the crown it could potentially turn the bezel. Which isn't good if this is actually used for a diver.
Oh, also I should add I was looking at the Polaris Date (not the Mariner).
You have an amazing collection. There is a nice balance there with the five piece set up that you had going on. Too bad about the lume, because a JLC would have been a perfect fit.
The Moser is really the crown jewel here.
I think the problem comes from the orange color: I've just bought a Zenith Defy El Primero 21 Land Rover which has orange lume and I simply cannot see anything in the dark just after few minutes. It's not a big issue for me as the watch is not meant to be a diver. I think your watch would have faced the same problem after service at the Richemont center.
To me, the surprising blunder is not the service center ignoring the customer's instructions (I think that's normal, unfortunately), it's that JLC ever thought red lume was a good idea. It's crazy that nobody involved in the design knew red lume doesn't work in the first place. A lot of us amateur watch enthusiasts know that. It's even crazier that the vendor who made the lume didn't warn them. And, after that oversight, how did nobody notice in testing that the minute hand fades too quickly? SMH 😒
If all that wasn't bad enough, their ultimate solution was to change the lume to yellow?! Yellow doesn't glow much longer than red. Only blue and green really work. I get that they have to use a contrasting color because the minute hand's lume is too close in size and shape to the hour hand (another design blunder), but why not make it green? It glows brighter than blue and it's contrasting enough to distinguish it.
I had the same issue and talked to a JLC rep from Switzerland. I agree that it's hard to comprehend how this blunder could have gone undetected. Especially as every watch expert should know that orange lume does not last long. But JLC themselves were taken by surprise, because they had the watch ISO certified as a dive watch, and apparently, the lume issue was not even there detected. I don't think the ISO specifies how LONG the lume has to last - but it is obvious that if it's invisible after 5 minutes, the time cannot be read in darkness, which is a criterion. - I now have NIGHTMARES of Benedict Cumberbatch dying in a dive accident, because he could not read the time on his Polaris Mariner … ;-)
So sorry you went through this. I heard about the orange lume problem and how they are changing it to yellow. Otherwise a lovely watch.
Don’t think they are making them in orange anymore. Certainly does not look like that now (2/2022) in JLC’s website. If that’s the case the orange, defective as it might have been, is now a low run and a rare watch. You may have given away a future valuable unicorn…
Excellent honest review - I don’t think it’s a huge problem for me but I can see why you’d find that extremely annoying!
Oh, also you have a wonderful collection of watches there. How’s the Willard? Good for the money?
Great video! The feedback on the service centre is good information as the standard no date Polaris is on the short list for my next watch.
It's 300 meter, 1000 with control. It's a diving watch. Don't know how they do it without a screw down but they warrant that it does.
I bought this watch a few months ago and encountered the same issue as well - lacking of lume on the minute hand. The service center offered me the alternative solution which was to change the minute hand to yellow one instead. However, the reason why I bought this watch was because the color of the minute hand shown from the commercial was orange so I said the solution wasn't acceptable. Anyway, I got the full refund in the end. It's sad to say that JCL has made an excellent job for this new watch but failed in the quality control.
Exactly same issue for me too. There are still adverts with the orange lume on display in some ADs, which feels a bit misleading. I hope that all concerned when selling the new version make clear that the minute hand has YELLOW lume, otherwise there may be more unhappy people...
@@bandandbezel3997 Yes, indeed. However, JCL has posted the new picture on website and IG. The new color of minute hand in the dark is kind of mixture of Green and Yellow.
I’ve just bought the memovox version and it’s the exact same issue. The minute hand has no lume! I’ve paid over 18000 usd for this and surely JLC Richemomt should not be having these quality control issues?
If JLC sort out their issues and make this watch in 40mm, what a watch it would be!
JGLC have an eight year warranty. I wouldn’t have a problem sending it back under warranty,and they don’t change anything else.
What you have experienced is definitely not good.
I still love the watch. It is going for £9200 in the uk. I love the blue dial and will take the risk. Do you think I can get an discount on it? I am even willing to pay the MSRP from the AD I love it so much.
This will be my first watch outside of my 13 ROLEX, 5 AP and 1 CARTIER blue dial tank. All are from my AD.so I am obviously quite apprehensive. Oh and I was told there is a wait for several months which I am also willing to do.
In addition to the lume issue the bracelet not using screws was also the reason I did not purchase the Memovox.
That ticks me off as well.
It’s flawed to me because there are no screw down crowns which you can’t be rough with in around the water. No water sports no diving off a diving board, and always the risk of destroying your diver around water. Defeats the whole purpose of a diver for me
It's my understanding that Rolex service centers also often ignore customer instructions on returned watches.
My experience is: Rolex just do what they were going to do. They refuse to not polish a watch. Happened to me twice on two different watches. True story. Also if they don't see an issue, you are imagining it. Do research and go independent, even if that implies travel or pricey postage. It pays off to have someone who listens to you and your wishes working on your watches. A Rolex is NOT A Patek (they wish), and any good watchmaker can service them. Sourcing original parts nowadays is really not as challenging as 10-15 years ago. Thank you, intrernet.
@@Bob.martens Absolutely- Rolex is not a PATEK ☺️
What a problem...I guess this exact red lume version will be collectible with time)
BTW you cannot read elapsed time (15 min track) in the dark anyway - what's the issue, if the minute hand is invisible?)
interesting, in Austria the minute hand is delivered with a green lume.
Beautiful watch but way too big for your wrist.
Friendly reminder to viewers…If you are here to hear the answer, skip the first 3.5 minutes…
Well that's jlc off the list now
Meanwhile they change the minute hand. It shines yellow and the whole night through.
Hope you can review your Moser.
Certainly will do so at some stage.
taking a refund? you mean you can return the watch back after purchase it?
is this issue fixed now? on the website all the lume is green now... did anyone buy one recently?
I’ve just bought the memovox version. My watch has exactly the same issue that the minute hand is not visible in the dark. Are these watches just bad batches?
If you look at the JLC website, the Memovox and Mariner versions now have yellow lume on the minute hand instead of the orange.
I guess your options are: to keep as is (and hope rarity makes it more valuable); send back to manufacture to get the orange hand replaced with the yellow lume one; or to request refund as faulty. I went for the latter option as I was sold on the orange lume (matching the rest of the orange in the watch).
Good luck!
This isn’t a defect - it’s orange lume. If you try to buy any sort of “glow in the dark” things outside of horology, you’ll find green and blue as your options. Green is usually twice as bright as blue. Because of the nature of the photoluminescence, different colors affect their ability to absorb and re-emit light, and orange/red has always been the worst. Also, the human eye is most sensitive to light in the green range, so in darkness green will seem brighter. Like I said, this isn’t a quality control issue - it’s a dumb aesthetic choice that compromises the functionality of the watch. I see the yellow hand as correcting that mistake, and I’m all for it.
@@bandandbezel3997 Thanks for your reply. I bought the watch from an AD in Knightsbridge, London (you can guess who it is) brand new and as soon as I took it home I realised the lume was faulty. I took it back a few days later and handed the watch back for replacement/repair, the AD refused to take the watch back as the watch had a tiny scratch on the strap by then so it had to go back to Richemont. This is where the issues started. I sent it back to the AD and they sent it back to JLC/Richemont but when I got the watch back like two months later the minute hand has been replaced with a green/blue lume (same colour lume as the rest of the watch!). This is not what I was sold nor what I wanted. The point I am trying to make is that I wanted it in Orange as the adverts showed the watch when I bought it (and I also told the AD that too when handing it in for "repair" but he said they have no control over the colour, but would put the request in which tbh I dont think they ever did).... Regardless nowI have the watch, its beautiful but I still have this nagging feeling inside as to how I was treated by the AD/Richemont, I didn't really care that the orange lume is not as effective a lume as Blue or Green, my point is thats its been mis sold to me as I was led to believe it was orange, and I bought it as Orange and now when its been returned back to me, its not even yellow its blue/green! I spoke to the AD they offered to invite me to JLC but then never heard from them again.
@@andrewnibbi I agree it probably does compromise the functionality of the watch but to be frank, I dont dive and I paid the money for the aesthetics not the functionality alone. Anyway my point is its not even come back to me "repaired" as yellow, instead its the same grren/blue lume as the rest of the watch! I'm not happy about it.
Cartier is in same group aswell
JLC employs very low grade people for their boutiques. My experience with their branch manager in Hong Kong is very negative. Having paid by one credit card, I wanted to use another card as my wife wanted to pay. My request was met with open hostility and arrogance.
Which boutique in Hong Kong did you visit? My recent experience at the Harbour City boutique was quite delightful!
They were charming up until the time I asked for a slight accommodation.
@@palaublue There are several boutiques here in Hong Kong. Tell us which one you went to so we can avoid that particular boutique :D
You're not taking that watch diving
it's a DIVE watch... if you can't out it in the pool then what's the point?
What size wrist?
Yeah they make dive watches that you have to nervous with around water. All because they refuse to make something bad easy and cheap as a second screw down crown… what kind of stupid logic is that?
Nice watch
It’s too big for your wrist anyway. Yellow looks horrible.
Not sure it is 300M btw
This version and the Memovox are. The earlier versions aren't. www.jaeger-lecoultre.com/sg/en/watches/jaeger-lecoultre-plrs/jaeger-lecoultre-plrs-date/9068180.html
Just buy a sub
Why would they keep a push / pull crown on a diver watch… JLC sucks over all. Their lume is the worst and has been since the JLC deep sea Chrono… it’s crap!