Navy Seal "ALDAO"

First, before you start reading this post I need to inform you of my bias in the matter. I confess that I am one of the "fortunate" few that will have one of these NSA on December 10th and you could even say that I share a friendship with that jeweler. Now that the cards are on the table you can take the next paragraphs as you like.

There has been quite a stir with this Special Edition "Navy Seal Alarm" at the forums lately. The piece is essentially the same as the original one except for one "small" modification. The inscription on the glass instead of on the alarm wheel. Unlike most might think, this is no small difference, in fact this was how the NSA was initially planed. The regular NSA will be made 1,500 times and 30 out of these will be made with the printing on the glass. Understandably some Jaeger Fans feel left out, yet with little reason if you ask me. I fear that if I should post this on any of the forums I might cause more harm than good I have decide to post most of the facts regarding this matter here. Even at the expense of seeming that I am trying to sell watches from a jeweler. Here is the story;

June 4th, a group of Spanish collectors have been invited by the jeweler "ALDAO" to be presented with the new "Navy Seal" collection during dinner. During casual conversation at dinner it was revealed to one of these collectors that in fact, unlike the prototype, the official production version will have the "Jaeger leCoultre" as well as the "300 meters waterproof" printed on the dial. This was certainly a step back, in fact many liked the NSA because of the printing on the glass rather than on the dial. During this revelation, the gentleman in that conversation asked if it could be ordered with the "original" printed glass. At that moment, a second gentleman asked if he too could have this done to his NSA. Shortly thereafter, and needles to say, all the others where quick to get wind of this petition and asked for the same option. As a gesture to these very good customers Jaeger kindly offered 10 Navy Seal Alarms to be discretely and exclusively sold through that jeweler. Obviously they where sold on the spot....Two months later there is word that the 10 will be no longer, instead they now will be 30. The reason being that some members of a well known international forum found out about this small series and felt left out. Understandably, they also asked to have the chance to acquire this piece. So in order not to leave anybody out of this series Jaeger decided to raise that quantities to 30 while keeping their word that ALDAO would keep the exclusive right to these pieces.


For some reason, those that vigorously voiced their desire to have the chance to get this piece have not been sharing this information with all the people they where supposed to (cheeky, cheeky...) and rightfully so some now feel left out. Here I not only include fellow watch addicts but also a certain point of sale that pressed insistently to have some of these 30 NSA. Interestingly, since he is not getting any he has simply decided not to share existence of this piece with any of his customers. Instead of sending these customers and give them the chance to own this particular piece there is just no mention of this anywhere. I am not mentioning names since without proof this is merely "here-say" yet who is involved knows what I am talking about. ;-) I have the feeling that some people have not ben completely honest here.

Now back to the watch; I mentioned in a post back in February that I do think that the printing on the inside of the glass simply completes the watch in a very special way. I hope that it's understandable to anybody that if given the opportunity to have the watch as I saw it (and fell in love with) I would naturally go for it without hesitation. There have been some people voicing their concern regarding the anti-glare coating, or rather lack-off, on the inside of the glass due to the printing. It is true that for some reason you can not have both. Yet, I had both versions in my hand... the one with the printed glass wins hands down, despite the fact that it is not coated. Because the dial has a mat-black finish the lack of anti-glare on the inside is really no factor at all. Actually the only time I have missed a coating such as this on the inside of a glass was on the AMVOX1 LE in Titanium. The grey shiny surface was sometimes a problem but only when walking outside or if you had halogen lamps right above your head. Other than that it was just fine.


Now to the sales pitch; The watch will be delivered to all those that bought the watch at a dinner after a whole-day event hosted by ALDAO and Jaeger leCoultre in Madrid on December 10th. The event in it self is a mystery but according to the people organizing it it will be well worth the afternoon and following dinner. The price is the same as the regular Navy Seal Alarm. I am not certain if the are many left but here is the way (if you are interested) to get in touch with them and if possible still get your hands on one;

ALDAO Joyeros

c/ Gran Via 15
Tel; + 34 91-521-6925 (ask for Jorge)
eMail: aldaojoyeria @ gmail.com

Web: www.aldaojoyeros.com

Good luck to all, may the hunt last for ever!

Jaeger leCoultre...