4 sporty watches that make perfect gifts for active people

JAEGER-LECOULTRE POLARIS MARINER MEMOVOX

There are plenty of mechanical diving watches out there, but mechanical dive watches with an alarm – now, that’s a pretty specific niche. One of the best-known models is Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Memovox Polaris from 1968, a purpose- built dive watch with the brand’s Memovox alarm that alerted divers when it was time to return to the surface. Building on its heritage in both dive watches and chiming timepieces, the brand has released two new additions to its sporty-elegant Polaris collection.

There’s the Polaris Mariner Memovox with the signature mechanical alarm and the Polaris Mariner Date. Both are housed in 42mm steel cases and water-resistant to 300m. We are fans of the distinctive aesthetic of the Polaris family. The dials have a mix of sunray, grained and opaline finishes, bold trapezoid-shaped indexes and three large Arabic numerals.

Taking on its own visual identity, the Mariner variants feature a deep gradient-blue hue and different coloured lume that distinguish the hour hand (blue) and minute hand (orange), which helps to maximise the diver’s safety. The Polaris Mariner Memovox is powered by the self-winding Calibre 956, which is visible through a sapphire caseback so the owner can watch the hammer in action – not while diving, of course.

RICHARD MILLE RM 27-04 RAFAEL NADAL

One of Richard Mille’s best-known ambassadors over the past decade, thanks to the highly visible way in which he sports the brand’s ultra-light timepieces en route to winning tennis trophies, Rafael Nadal inspires a new model this year. Weighing a featherweight 30g, the RM 27-04 tourbillon watch comes in a 47.25mm by 38.4mm case made of TitaCarb – a high-tech polyamide that’s 38.5 per cent carbon fibre. What’s truly special is the watch’s tennis racquet-like cable structure made of braided steel, which supports the manual movement and enables it to resist accelerations of more than 12,000g’s.

PANERAI LUMINOR MARINA FIBRATECH PAM 1663

Perfect for the watch fan who turns his nose up at boring old steel, one of Panerai’s Luminor Marina models for the year features a 44mm case made from Fibratech, a composite made of basalt fibres derived from volcanic rock. Sixty per cent lighter than steel, durable and highly corrosion-resistant, the material is a paler version of Panerai’s carbon composite, Carbotech, which is used here in the bezel, crown and crown-lock lever. Powered by the P.9010 automatic movement, the PAM 1663 has a water-resistance of 300m.

MONTBLANC 1858 GEOSPHERE MESSNER LIMITED EDITION 262

Know someone who has developed a newfound interest in hiking as a result of ongoing travel restrictions? Cheer them on with this special edition of the Montblanc 1858 Geosphere, which pays tribute to Italian mountaineer and explorer Reinhold Messner. Characterised by the two distinctive turning globes that make up its world- time function, the Geosphere features a combination of bronze, blue and rose gold-coated elements, housed in a 42mm bronze case. The caseback has an image of the Mont Blanc mountain, a compass and two crossed ice axes.