Jaeger-LeCoultre

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Style Endures! Grande Reverso Ultra Thin 1948: Fabrique en Suisse by Jaeger LeCoultre.

[The reissued white dial Reverso: Grande Reverso Ultra Thin 1948 with its namesake from 1948]

Reverso watches never have gone out of style. The watch is a classic of art deco design. It portrays style, elegance and form. At the same time as it was originally designed for the officer and mallet wielding polo player, it has arguably and equally remained as such. The officers’ uniform may have been switched for the businessmen’s suit, or the laidback attire of jeans and t-shirt, but the timeless style of the Reverso remains. Part of this timeless and universal appeal has to be design of the case. The proportions for the watch case, save a few in more recent times, have always obeyed what is known as phi: (the divine proportion) that the ratio of the short side to the long side is a fixed proportion irrespective of whether the case size was original, grande taille, or extra grande taille. In its original designed form, the case is reversible (indeed, as the name suggests!) and allows personalization on the soIid side. The watch sits unobtrusively on the wrist, below a shirt cuff, to be called upon to complete the look, to tell the time. Seemingly effortless in execution, the watch is the epitome of haute horologie as timeless style. It is a timeless design classic.



The art deco era was a product of the early decades of the twentieth century. In a fifteen to twenty year period, from the start of the 1920’s, the advent of the machine age saw a design style combine the traditional craft elements with machinery image and materials. The Reverso case is exactly that: a mixture of haute horologerie craft, and machine design. It was born in an era in which watch case design went from just round, to any watch case shape you like, so long as it is not round! The Art Deco era encompassed a couple of decades in which style and design were streamlined: the Mallard railway engine, the Chrysler Building, and the Chrysler Airflow car. The Reverso design, often copied, or mimicked, the true Reverso was always Jaeger LeCoultre. It embodied then and still embodies now the essence of art deco: glamour, functionality and modernity.



The story behind the design of the case is well known. By the time Cesar de Trey had acted upon the complaints of a British officer who had seen another watch die in the heat of battle on the polo field, LeCoultre had been manufacturing movements for the Parisian Edmond Jaeger, and the Parisian jeweller Cartier. The design work for the new watch was given over to Alfred Chauvot, who in March 4, 1931, lodged a patent for a watch “..capable of revolving and sliding into its case”. In November 1931, after having secured the rights to the Reverso from Alfred Chauvot, together with Jacques-David LeCoultre, César de Trey founded a company called Spécialités Horlorgères. Hence, the first Reverso’s were just that: Reverso. By 1937, with the change of name for the LeCoultre firm to Jaeger LeCoultre, and the incorporation of the Reverso into the range of watches into the renamed firm, the Jaeger LeCoultre Reverso.



In more recent times, Jaeger LeCoultre has undertaken research into, and revision of, the original Reverso designs from that Art Deco era. The first issue that was based on past designs was the 1931 Reverso with the black original dial in 2011: the Tribute to 1931. In keeping with a move in more recent times to larger watch case sizes, the re-issued 1931 design was in a newly designed ultra thin grande taille case. And in keeping with the original design there was just the name “Reverso” on the dial. After all Reverso watches originally were produced by a watch company that was specifically set up to produce them and hence that was the only name on the dial: Reverso. But with the re-issue, the case size was increased. Despite this, and that’s the beauty of a case design that obeys the same (phi) divine proportion, independent of the actual length of the sides of the case there is still the same elegance, the same style, but now sized for more recent demands for larger watches.


[The Reverso watch was one of the first to allow personalization in the decoration or design of the reverse side of the case]

Part of the learning from history has come from Jaeger LeCoultre’s own archives, but also from initiating the Virtual Museum in 2011. Through the Virtual Museum Jaeger LeCoultre have learned more about the varied history of the watch. Initially, the first watch that came to light was the red dialed Reverso. A spectacular and outlandish colour for the dial, but the style remains. It was (and is for that matter) a dash of colour in an otherwise all too often monotone world. The Art Deco designs were renowned for being bold in terms of colour and shape, and the red dialed Reverso was just that. This was not a dulled or a darkened red, but a vibrant and vivid red. A red dial that would be noticed! The red dialed Reverso followed closely on the release of the original Reverso. To the extent that except for the colour, the watch was the same as the original design: still the same insignia on the dial, still the same movement under the dial. The re-release of the watch as a limited edition, some 80 years later, (albeit in the larger case size) saw Jaeger LeCoultre stick faithfully to the same bold colour and design. The watch was as popular now as it was then.


[Dials that were actually used were just one of the possible dials that could have been used]

By 1933 the watch design had changed in small perceptible ways. The dial was issued in blue. Still the same bold Art Deco design and colour, the blue (like the red) was vibrant, and not restrained. The movement (and corresponding addition to the dial) was a separate second hand. The original movement (the Calibre 063) had been improved to take account of the off-centre second hand and the improvements in timing that would be required. The Calibre 410 was the new engine behind the Reverso’s classic dial. Recently Jaeger LeCoultre have reissued this watch in the larger grande taille ultra thin case size in a limited edition.



The blue dial Reverso was swiftly followed with a more sober colour: the brown dial version in 1934. Essentially the two original watches are the same except for the colour of the dial and one small name change on the dial. For the blue dialed Reverso, the name had switched from “Reverso” on the dial to “LeCoultre”. One year later, for the release of the brown dial the title had been changed to incorporate the complete ownership structure: “Reverso LeCoultre”. The production of the Reverso watches had been taken over by LeCoultre S.A. as Spécialités Horlorgères was subsumed within the larger watch making company.



The re-issue of brown dialed Reverso, especially in the rose gold case, and with the straps made by Argentine leather specialist and boot maker: Casa Fagliano, it is now, as it was then, one of the most elegant watches on the market. The leather straps supplied by Fagliano are both supple and robust in their finish. The Fagliano straps add to the timeless and enduring style that is the Reverso.


[The Fagliano strap on the rose gold Reverso and the black strap for the original Tribute to 1931]

The final version of the coloured Reverso’s as part of the Tribute to 1931 series is just about to be released with a white dial, blue markers, and sub-dial seconds form that was last seen in 1948. The name on the dial now reflected the full ownership behind the watch: “Jaeger LeCoultre: Fabrique en Suisse”. A new movement, an improved version of the Calibre 410: the Calibre 438 was now behind the dial. It was basically the same movement but with subtle improvements in the timekeeping performance. The reissue, some 66 years later is in the same larger Reverso case as the other Tribute to 1931 watches: the ultra thin grande taille. But the dial is a true and faithful rendition of the original watch in 1948; even down to the “Fabrique en Suisse” under the manufacturers name. It is as stylish now as it was in 1948. The set is complete!



The original coloured dial Reversos, as well we being the most stylish of watches to grace owners’ wrists over the decades, have also witnessed how the legal name and entity of Jaeger LeCoultre Reverso that we know today came to be. The dials write a narrative through the creation of the watch firm we know. The re-issued versions of the watch are the same stylish and elegant watches now as the originals were then. As Coco Chanel so succinctly stated it: “Fashion Changes, but Style Endures”. And so it is for the watch that epitomized style and elegance in the Art Deco age; and epitomizes the same virtues in the current age. Design that obeys such divine proportions will never go out of style, and will always endure!

Andrew H

This message has been edited by 219 on 2014-05-12 09:44:29 This message has been edited by amanico on 2014-05-16 09:56:29

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