The Universal Genève Polerouter
Universal Genève Polerouter Estrella De Luxe featuring a ‘microtor’ / Credit: AnalogShift
Somewhat of the black sheep in the family given its struggles in the last 30 years. After a failed relaunch in 2001, Universal Genève was left to gather dust on the shelf, and today finds itself in need of a makeover. Nonetheless, its vintage watches continue to do very well, as Universal Genève produced many unique timepieces throughout its lifetime. One of those pieces, another Explorer competitor – the Polerouter, has an iconic design, and may surprise some to know that it was one of Gerald Genta’s earlier creations; before his time at Audemars Piguet or Patek Philippe.
In 1952, Scandinavian Airlines Systems (SAS) was the first to fly a trans-artic route with a commercial aircraft. Their artic Copenhagen-Los Angeles course cut the flight time by 14 hours and was praised as the first new commercial route in modern history. One of the main challenges in developing the new route creating a navigation system that could combat the strength of the magnetic fields in the Artic. That was why SAS chose Universal Genève as their official watch supplier, since Universal Genève had already developed strong anti-magnetic watches. Thus, in honour of the first Copenhagen-Los Angeles flight, Unviersal Genève commissioned 23-year old Gerald Genta to design a new watch. The resulting ‘Polarouter’, as it was first called, was originally given to the SAS crew when they landed in Los Angeles and hosted the SAS logo on the dial. The watch was officially released in 1954, its original design featuring the dateless dial and textured index ring that are still recognizable today.
Universal Genève went on to release many notable interations of the Polerouter, among them: the elusive EPSA-made Polerouter Sub Super Compressor, the Polerouter Jet, and the Polerouter Date.