Audemars Piguet and Swatch are among luxury brands contributing to a renewed interest in high-end mechanical timekeepers beyond wristwatches, a trend exemplified by the recently unveiled Memovox Travel Clock. This collaborative creation between Australian industrial designer Marc Newson and Swiss watchmaker Jaeger-LeCoultre debuted at the Milan Design Fair in April and is priced at $32,400.

The Memovox Travel Clock is a modern reinterpretation of Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Memovox alarm watches from the 1950s and 1960s, notable for their signature triangular alarm pointer. Unlike Newson’s prior work with the brand’s Atmos clocks—which use an innovative gas expansion-powered winding mechanism—this new piece incorporates a more traditional approach, running on the hand-wound Calibre 256 movement developed by Jaeger-LeCoultre over five years specifically for the project. The clock features a chiming alarm, which Newson described as “sweet and calming,” and boasts a 12-day power reserve. An energy indicator is integrated into the dial, with numerals that shift in color from orange to blue as the reserve depletes.

Measuring 69 millimeters wide by 18 millimeters deep, the titanium clock is compact, not much larger than a typical wristwatch. It includes a folding stand integrated into the case back and comes with a travel pouch and a custom display stand produced by Italian leather specialists Schedoni. A distinctive design element is the peripheral crown—a rotating ring set around the clock’s outer edge—that functions for winding and setting the time and alarm, controlled via a rocker switch on the case back. Newson emphasized the tactile experience of using the crown, seeking to create a product that users would find enjoyable and intimate, offering a sense of domestic familiarity while on the move.

“My goal was to inject some romance into the tedium of travel,” Newson said, highlighting how modern travel often lacks glamour and how this analog timepiece might improve the user’s mood compared to digital alarms.

Newson, who has a history of collaborations with Jaeger-LeCoultre dating back to 2008 and also worked on products including the Apple Watch and the Ferrari Luce electric vehicle, noted that the pebble-shaped clock bears subtle connections to his earlier designs, such as those under his Ikepod brand. However, he maintained that these similarities are natural extensions of his design “vocabulary” rather than intentional references.

Watch critic Kristian Haagen, author of several books on horology, praised the clock for fulfilling a niche in mechanical watchmaking. He described it as “a playful object, like a very expensive fidget spinner” and suggested it could find a place on desks as a functional yet stylish accessory for timing meetings or marking moments throughout the day.