Flipping the script: How the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso became a game changing icon

Zach Blass

There are certain brands or designs that, as the original or the most dominant force, become a catch-all term for a particular item. These proprietary eponyms mean that people (at least in the United States) will call any tissue a Kleenex. We often say “Google it”, despite there being an abundance of search engine options, or ask for “Chapstick” when looking for any lip balm. Probably less obvious, but thermos, escalator, and dumpster were all brands before they became catch-all terms. For rectangular watches, the 1917-born Cartier Tank, or the term “Tank” rather, has become a catch-all term in reference to watches of a similar shape. Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, after all. To have a rectangular design that not only avoids becoming “X watch brand’s Tank”, but also a distinct original icon is not an easy feat. The watchmakers’ watchmaker, however, has long accomplished just that with its 1931 icon: the Reverso.

Flipping the script: how it all started

Jaeger-LeCoultre explains that, in 1930, a businessman named César de Trey was challenged to find a way to protect the glass of a watch for polo players during matches. Faced with this niche problem, de Trey imagined a solution – a case that could be flipped over in order to protect the crystal covering the dial. De Trey was a businessman, though, and not a watchmaker, and wisely enlisted Jacques-David LeCoultre to produce the watch, while both LeCoultre and de Trey sought out designer René-Alfred Chauvot to help design it.

Amazingly, around a year later, on March 4, 1931, the duo submitted an application to the Paris patent office to register “a watch capable of sliding in its support and being completely turned over.” Three months later, César de Trey would buy the rights to Chavot’s design, and in November, would go on to register the Reverso name, which is why the original Reversos were only branded “Reverso” on the dial, without the LeCoultre name. Wanting to be quick to market with their revolutionary watch, de Trey and LeCoultre formally entered a business partnership, and less than nine months from the time the patent application was submitted, the first Reverso pieces were available for sale. After 17 years of production, it would later disappear from the catalogue. But I don’t think I need a spoiler alert disclaimer when I say it made a triumphant comeback a few decades later.

Despite its legendary status in the present day, the Reverso ceased to be produced for nearly 25 years. As Anthony Traina recalled in-depth on Hodinkee, the stylish and keen-eyed Italians were the catalyst of the Reverso’s resurrection – disappearing in 1948 and returning thanks to the persistence of Giorgio Corvo in the ’70s.

This is a key turning point for the model, as its proven demand, and the industrialisation achieved whilst realising its revival signalled the Reverso was not only worth bringing back, but also worth evolving and expanding upon. In the immediate wake of its return, Jaeger-LeCoultre would go on to refine the construction of the case and bring water resistance into the mix. No longer shackled by the Reverso’s polo origins, and decades past an era that birthed clear-cut sport and tool watches, Jaeger-Lecoultre would go on to explore its flippable case element under a lens driven by horology and complication which distinguished the Reverso even further and would create new iconic signatures for the model.

The ’80s would bring the “Grande Taille” Reverso, with its larger case, and by the Reverso’s 60th anniversary, the maison would debut its first-ever model with further complication in 1991.  The 60th anniversary sparked a ten-year project, in which within the span of a decade, JLC introduced six complications models of the Reverso. These models included a perpetual calendar, a minute repeater, a retrograde chronograph, a tourbillon, a power reserve indicator, and a dual time. Since its inception 93 years ago, over 50 calibres have been designed in-house for the Reverso.

What makes it an icon?

There are various signatures that distinguish a Reverso as a Reverso, such as its rectangular shape and Art Deco style with the three-row gadroons that continue to be seen above and below the dial. Obviously, the clear-cut signature is the design’s polo-inspired flippable mid carriage. The case, at least presently, is comprised of over 50 components that result in a design in which the wearer can slide the mid-carriage of the case out, flip it, and slide it back in. Remember the terms I mentioned earlier? Other brands have since gone on to emulate watches with flippable cases, with or without JLC’s help. But in the same manner the Cartier Tank has become an example of a proprietary eponym, any watch with a flippable case is referred to by collectors as a Reverso, despite it being a trademark exclusive to JLC. This element alone cements the Reverso’s icon status.

Sure, historically, the plain reverse side has long been used for engraving and customisation, and it still is today. But while the original Reverso mandated a solid back in the name of protecting the crystal from shocks, we now have Duetto and Duoface Reversos with crystals on both sides, either exhibiting the movement, or more often, adding extra functions. The exhibition of a movement is by no means iconic, but the multi-dialled nature of the Reverso has become its iconic signature.

Expected of any proclaimed “icon”, the Reverso has well-permeated popular culture.  For example, there are many instances of actors wearing the Reverso, one of the most recognisable being Jon Hamm in AMC’s Mad Men, as troubled Madison Avenue ad exec Don Draper. An actual spoiler alert – the show would later reveal that Don Draper is a reinvention of the character’s real identity, Dick Whitman, so it’s very fitting that Draper/Whitman wore a two-faced watch.

This same dual-identity element was perhaps spotted by Christopher Nolan for his rendition of Bruce Wayne/Batman – though Val Kilmer’s Batman wore a Reverso before Nolan’s directorial take in the 1995 film Batman Forever. Christian Bale wore a Reverso throughout his tenure as the Caped Crusader, and Jaeger-LeCoultre even made a limited edition that used the same silvered dial on the front of the watch, with a hidden Batman emblem artisanally decorated on the reverse side. As an individual who appreciates luxury but prefers to remain under the radar, the Reverso is an understandable choice for a superhero protecting his identity.

Off-screen, there are more instances in which Reversos can be found on the wrists of celebrities. For example, Jay-Z, an established veteran collector, is known to own a pink gold Grande Reverso Ultra Thin Tribute to 1931, with an engraving of Carnegie Hall on the reverse. Robert Downey Jr. sported a Reverso Tribute Chronograph this past awards season in the wake of everyone drooling over the pieces during their Watches and Wonders 2023 debut.

More officially, Jaeger-LeCoultre has enlisted various talent such as Nicholas Hoult as Jaeger-LeCoultre brand ambassadors. Anya Taylor-Joy, Lenny Kravitz, and many more assemble an all-star cast of in-focus individuals routinely sporting the Reverso and other JLC creations.

Notable models

There are far too many Reverso models to list, and each is notable in its own way. Of course, the OG is the most significant, but I definitely want to shout out the 200 Corvo Reverso watches that kickstarted the Reverso’s return – and they do come up for sale every now and again. Without this effort, we would not have the plethora of Reverso options we have today.

Fast-forwarding to the present, the Reverso is a vibrant range that regularly hosts different colours for its dials. On the entry-level side of the mechanical segment of the collection, the Reverso Tribute Small Seconds is available with black, silver, green, blue, and burgundy dials in a variety of case metals. These Monoface models have been modernised with a 27.4mm width with a 45.6mm lug-to-lug length that seems compact on paper, but in this rectangular context wears a little larger than you might think.

The newly debuted and regular production Reverso Tribute Monoface mid-size affords those currently in the market for a brand new Reverso to own one that is effectively the same size as the original 1931 model – measuring 24.4mm across and just 40.1mm lug-to-lug.

 

Those jet-setting around the world or working for an international company like myself, would be enticed by travel time Reverso references like the Reverso Classic Duoface Small Seconds. The front dial displays your local time with blued hands against a two-tone, brushed and guilloché silver backdrop, and the second dial, in velvety, matte black and guilloché, shows GMT-like hours and minutes with luminous hands and, replacing the small seconds, a 24-hour indicator for the black dial.

As I mentioned earlier, the 2023 Reverso Tribute Chronograph (pictured above on the right) had the watch community in lust from the outset. Perhaps the only criticism of the current model is its larger size required to house its improved (albeit larger) in-house movement. But there is always the original ’90s model that inspired it for your consideration. The good news: it measures just 42mm long lug-to-lug, 7.4mm less than the current iteration. The bad news: once the Reverso Tribute Chronograph was introduced, the price of the original ’90s model skyrocketed to meet the retail price of the modern model – around US$25,000.

Stepping up from complicated to crazy complicated, the Hybris Mechanica range of JLC’s watches is where you find the most elaborate and horologically insane creations. The 18k white gold Reverso Hybris Mechanica Calibre 185 Quadriptyque is a wonderful example, the first-ever watch to have (technically) four dials. A limited edition of ten pieces, this absolute behemoth clocks in at a substantial 51.2mm lug-to-lug and 31mm across, with a thickness of 15.5mm – understandable considering how much is packed into the watch. The oversized case is needed to house the four separate faces and eleven complications, which require a staggering 800 components.

Its functions include a flying tourbillon; a big date, instantaneous perpetual calendar; a chiming minute repeater, the Northern Hemisphere moonphase with month, year, and lunar month; and the Southern Hemisphere moonphase. That’s not even the entire list of functions – but you get the point – and it goes without saying the watch is impeccably finished and decorated. Setting the watch sounds like a herculean task, but its wooden presentation box enables quick setting of all the complications, which has to be seen to be believed. And the retail price? A cool US$1.6 million.

The Reverso seems common now, with so many collectors routinely wearing one, but it was revolutionary for its time, and remains remarkably complex and distinguished to this day. These are all hallmarks of a timeless, certified icon.