The Vulcain Cricket was announced on 23 September 1947 by company president André Didisheim and American head Bernard S. Lippman, and is described as the first distinctly audible alarm wristwatch. It is powered by the hand-wound calibre 120, a 17-jewel movement measuring 28 mm across and 5.45 mm high, beating at 18,000 vibrations per hour, with two separate spring barrels, one for timekeeping and one for the alarm. It is recognisable by its pusher at 2 o’clock and crown at 3 o’clock. Its hammer strikes a membrane held under a second, perforated caseback, which acts as a resonance chamber and gives the loud, long-lasting sound that inspired the name. An early 1940s example sold by Antiquorum has a 34 mm 18k gold case, a two-tone silver dial with radium Arabic numerals and central seconds.

The Cricket was aimed first at the American market, where it had great success. Harry S. Truman wore one and Dwight Eisenhower was photographed wearing his, and the watch became known as “The President’s Watch”, with Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon also linked to it. The White House press corps made a tradition of giving a Cricket to the president. Vulcain added calibres 401, 402 with date and 406 for ladies in 1957, the gold-resonator Golden Voice, and around 1961 the Cricket Nautical diver with an inner rotating depth chart. The calibre 120 stayed in production into the 1970s.

Collectors see the Cricket as the reference mechanical alarm wristwatch, valued for its presidential story and the rare practical complication rather than for high prices. Vintage examples remain accessible: a steel Cricket of 34 mm sold at Antiquorum in 1999 for CHF 992, while sought after variants such as a 1960s Cricket Nautical reached €13,650 at Monaco Legend. The original 1947 model is no longer produced. After new owners acquired the rights in 2001 the brand was revived, and Vulcain makes Cricket alarm watches again today, including the Cricket Classic 1951 inspired by the original.