From http://ninanet.com by Steve Gurevitz
"..Jaeger-LeCoultre realized the Geophysic in anticipation of the International Geophysical Year, which ran from mid-1957 through 1958. Some 67 countries officially participated in a variety of experiments and observations of geophysical phenomena such as aurora, geomagnetism, glaciology and solar activity. Apparently the Geophysic was often presented as a sign of hommage, for example being given to the crew of the first nuclear-powered submarine, the US Nautilus, after their successful first voyage under the north pole in 1958. The real highlight is the movement, designated 478/BWS/br. nomenclature that indicates the version of caliber 478 with fine regulation and beryllium balance and forch. It is apparently the most highly realized version of a series of 12 1/2 ligne (about 28mm diameter) JLC movements stretching back to about 1940, and has been fully adjusted. Only 1.038 examples were made in stainless steel and 30 in pink gold. In 1962, this automatic watch was renamed Geomatic..."

Nautilus
Construction of NAUTILUS was made possible by the successful development of a nuclear propulsion plant by a group of scientists and engineers at the Naval Reactors Branch of the Atomic Energy Commission, under the leadership of Captain Hyman G. Rickover, USN. In July of 1951, Congress authorized construction of the world's first nuclear powered submarine. On December 12th of that year, the Navy Department announced that she would be the sixth ship of the fleet to bear the name NAUTILUS. Her keel was laid by President Harry S. Truman at the Electric Boat Shipyard in Groton, Connecticut on June 14, 1952. After nearly 18 months of construction, NAUTILUS was launched on January 21, 1954 with First Lady Mamie Eisenhower breaking the traditional bottle of champagne across NAUTILUS' bow as she slid down the ways into the Thames River. Eight months later, on September 30, 1954, NAUTILUS became the first commissioned nuclear powered ship in the United States Navy. On the morning of January 17, 1955, at 11 am EST, NAUTILUS' first Commanding Officer, Commander Eugene P. Wilkinson, ordered all lines cast off and signaled the memorable and historic message, "Underway On Nuclear Power." Over the next several years, NAUTILUS shattered all submerged speed and distance records. On July 23, 1958, NAUTILUS departed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii under top secret orders to conduct "Operation Sunshine", the first crossing of the North Pole by a ship. At 11:15 pm on August 3, 1958, NAUTILUS' second Commanding Officer, Commander William R. Anderson, announced to his crew, "For the world, our country, and the Navy - the North Pole." With 116 men aboard, NAUTILUS had accomplished the "impossible", reaching the geographic North Pole - 90 degrees North. In May 1959, NAUTILUS entered Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine for her first complete overhaul - the first of any nuclear powered ship - and the replacement of her second fuel core. Upon completion of her overhaul in August 1960, NAUTILUS departed for a period of refresher training, then deployed to the Mediterranean Sea to become the first nuclear powered submarine assigned to the U.S. Sixth Fleet. Over the next six years, NAUTILUS participated in several fleet exercises while steaming over 200,000 miles. In the spring of 1966, she again entered the record books when she logged her 300,000th mile underway. During the following 12 years, NAUTILUS was involved in a variety of developmental testing programs while continuing to serve alongside many of the more modern nuclear powered submarines she had preceded. In the spring of 1979, NAUTILUS set out from Groton, Connecticut on her final voyage. She reached Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California on May 26, 1979 - her last day underway. She was decommissioned on March 3, 1980 after a career spanning 25 years and over half a million miles steamed.
Faraday:
By the 1950?s the use of electromagnetic motors and nuclear power created a new set of problems for watches - that of stray magnetic fields, which rendered most watches useless. Most ?antimagnetic? watches are only rated to 60-80 Gauss and are therefore only suitable for resistance to slightly above normal magnetic fields. Other companies at the same period, released ?anti-magnetic? watches. These, however, rarely exceeded a level of resistance to 500 Gauss. They were anti-magnetic due to the beryllium balance and pallet fork combined with an invar balance spring and an ?antimagnetic dust cap?. The problem with this is that beryllium contains a small amount of iron in its alloy and is therefore susceptible to magnetism at a certain point. This is also true of the balance spring, which, once magnetized, becomes irregular in shape and duration of pulsation, due to the coils sticking together. The theory behind this is quite brilliant in its simplicity: in much the same way a compass in an iron box does not work as it is shielded from magnetic fields, the movement of the watch continues to work due to the same phenomenon. Similar to a Faraday cage, which conducts stray static charges away from sensitive electronic equipment, the cage in the watch conducts stray magnetic fields away from the movement of the watch. For example, an 8000 Gauss magnet, has a stray magnetic field of 500 Gauss at 6 feet, thus any normal watch will stop functioning properly due to the movement becoming magnetized.
What is Geophysics?
Geophysics, a branch of Earth sciences, is the study of the Earth by quantitative physical methods, especially by seismic, electromagnetic, and radioactivity methods. The theories and techniques of geophysics are employed extensively in the planetary sciences in general.