The Polerouter and the first transpolar flight

In 1954, Scandinavian Airlines radically reduced flight times between the USA and Scandinavia with a new route over the North Pole. This daring new route quickly won over celebrities and heads of state alike. It is also the story of how the Polerouter, one of Universal Genève's most famous models, was propelled to the top and secured a place in the minds of collectors forever.

Notice to all platists: this article is about the fact that since the Earth is round, it can sometimes be more convenient to head north to reach east. For everyone else who accepts that our planet is round, it's a simple matter of logic: the quickest route between Scandinavia and Los Angeles passes through the magnetic North Pole.

As early as the 1920s, the US Air Force was already flying over the North Pole. But in the early 1950s, when Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) wanted to offer a commercial flight via the Arctic Circle, the airline ran into serious technical challenges. The aircraft's magnetic compasses were no longer of any use within a 1,000-kilometer radius of the North Magnetic Pole, but that wasn't all: it was also impossible to orient oneself using conventional navigation instruments due to the convergence of the meridians.

At the same time, Scandinavian Airlines contacted watchmaker Universal Genève with the idea of creating a watch to mark this daring new polar route for commercial aviation. This commission led to the launch of the icon we know today as the Polerouter - originally named Polarouter - in 1954 and revealed to the world a young watch design genius, Gérald Genta.

The Polerouter remains to this day one of Universal Genève's most illustrious models. Gérald Genta's original design is distinguished by its three-dimensional appearance. In his patented solution, the outer metal ring of the dial is attached to the bezel and appears to hover above the central dial attached to the movement. This construction makes the watch water-resistant and prevents dust from entering. It also enables it to withstand shocks and magnetic fields, a considerable advantage given polar flight conditions. At the time of its launch, Universal Genève did not fail to promote all these technical feats in a few words: "to withstand climatic conditions from the Pole to the Equator".

Let's start at the beginning: what are the origins of this historic transpolar flight? In the late 1940s, a team led by SAS navigator Einar Sverre Perdersen set out to find solutions to the challenges of navigating over the North Pole. Working closely with the US Air Force, they developed a novel chart system called the SAS Polar Grid System, which replaced meridians with parallel lines. At this time, the field of aeronautics is booming, and many other inventions see the light of day.

At the side of a company called Bendix, SAS designs a new gyroscopic compass system called Polar Path Gyro, which enables orientation using astronomical navigation. Thanks to these revolutionary systems, which replace meridian lines with parallel lines, pilots can now follow a perfectly straight axis, avoiding the effects of rotation and drift usually encountered at these latitudes. Even though aircraft are equipped with on-board clocks, the reliability and precision of the Polerouter make it a valuable - and elegant - aid for navigators.

On November 15, 1954, after several trials, the first flight to Los Angeles on this new route takes off from Copenhagen. Leading journalists and three Scandinavian prime ministers - Denmark's Hans Hedtoft, Sweden's Tage Erlander and Norway's Oscar Torp - are on board the Douglas DC-6B equipped with state-of-the-art technology.

At the same time, another flight leaves Los Angeles for Copenhagen, billed by SAS as "the first new route to Europe in thousands of years". After stopovers in Greenland and Canada, the two planes land more or less simultaneously. The plane bound for America arrived three minutes ahead of schedule.

On landing, the prime ministers would each have received a watch. But to the dismay of historians, no archive confirms this anecdote. On the other hand, photos intended to promote this new polar itinerary by the airline prove that SAS crew members wore these watches at Los Angeles airport.

Around 170 watches are produced in the first series. Most were given as gifts to SAS captains, whether or not they were on transpolar flights. Three telltale signs make it easy to recognize these early models: their dials bear the SAS logo, have no date window, and the name inscribed is Polarouter (instead of Polerouter).

Renamed "Polerouter" in 1956, the watch underwent a considerable technical upgrade two years later. Indeed, it swapped the "bumper" movement, whose rotor oscillates between two bumper springs, for the revolutionary "Microrotor", one of the world's first micro-rotor movements. With a height of just 4.1 mm, it was one of the thinnest automatic calibers available on the market at the time. Before incorporating this technical breakthrough, its durability and reliability were tested during a Franco-Swiss expedition to Greenland, during which four members of the team climbed ten summits under testing conditions with Polerouter Microrotor watches on their wrists. On their return, the watches' settings were almost intact.

America wasn't the only territory in SAS's sights for transpolar flights. On February 24, 1957, the airline inaugurated a new polar route linking Copenhagen to Tokyo. As in 1954, this first trip featured simultaneous departures from both cities, with several celebrities on board, including the princely couple of Japan. Its itinerary also offered considerable time savings, reducing the flight time from 50 to 32 hours.

Parallel to the rise of commercial aviation, the Polerouter went through several evolutionary phases, with models such as the gold Polerouter De Luxe or the Polerouter Date equipped with a date window. These two versions, close to the original, are accompanied by new case and dial designs, including concave dials without a "second level" dial attached to the bezel. The collection will also feature a watch dedicated to diving, the Polerouter Sub.

On November 15, 2024, the 70th anniversary of the SAS's first polar voyage, Universal Genève unveiled three new Polerouter watches powered by original Microrotor movements dating back to the 1960s. Proof that even today, aviation and the watchmaking innovation of the 1950s continue to inspire the world.