This yr was all concerning the Reverso for Jaeger-LeCoultre. At Watches & Wonders this yr, the watchmaker’s watchmaker unveiled a complete of 9 new Reverso novelties, capturing each expression of the long-lasting watch. From easy to difficult, extremely technical to craft oriented, and in nearly each materials you’d wish to see, it was a surprising output, and really spectacular to see all of them up shut and private.
We determined to set ourselves up with the unimaginable process of choosing our favorites from the brand new crop of Reverso novelties launched final week. Not a simple choice in any respect, however in some way, throughout these picks, the group has captured the breadth of the Reverso, or at the least began to.
You’ll want to tell us your favourite among the many new Reversos within the feedback beneath, particularly if it was one we didn’t occur to pick out.
Zach Weiss
Like many watch fans, the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso is on my eventual hit record. An iconic costume watch, its signature reversible case design offers it not only a distinctive look but additionally perform and character. And to that finish, I’ve all the time felt that, if I have been to choose one up, I’d must go for one of many Duoface fashions, basically turning one watch into two. Final yr, I obtained the chance to spend a while with the latest model of the Reverso Tribute Duoface in rose gold, which left an impression on me. Although it wasn’t probably the most compact Reverso, the 2 sides, one with the long-lasting artwork deco “tribute” design and a small seconds, and the opposite a extra energetic, radial luxurious burst of markers with a 24-hour sub dial, made for an thrilling pairing. However, because it was rose gold, the worth tag was round $25k.
At Watches & Wonders 2025, JLC launched that very same Reverso Tribute Duoface Small Seconds design, however in metal, bringing the watch’s worth and ritual down. Good. Obtainable in both black or blue for the small seconds aspect, paired with a monochromatic silver for the flip aspect, each seemed genuinely implausible. The silver aspect, wrapped in matching polished metal, has an interesting architectural high quality. That mentioned, the black dial would in all probability be my most popular model because it simply looks like a correct, if conservative, selection for a Reverso. Regardless, due to the metal case, it felt much less like a dress-only affair and extra of a daily-if-business informal design.
Priced at $13,700, the brand new Reverso Tribute Duoface Small Seconds appears honest, if not a screaming worth, given the two-in-one nature of the design. In spite of everything, it truly is like having two $6,850, in-house, luxurious watches in a single.
Kat Shoulders
Jaeger-LeCoultre is usually considered one of my favourite appointments at Watches & Wonders. Not solely is their picture room normally primo for superior photos, the watches themselves all the time depart me shocked. I’ll admit that once I went into the assembly I hadn’t actually picked out a favourite of the bunch – there have been so many Reverso’s this yr it was powerful to choose only one. However as quickly as I laid eyes on the brand new Tribute Monoface Small Seconds, that was instantly my favourite. I used to be extraordinarily giddy for the opposite photographer within the room to wrap up his pictures so I may get hands-on with it. There’s one thing so particular concerning the heat of pink gold paired with that finely grained golden dial —it’s classic allure with a contemporary take. The excessive polished indices are tremendous simple to learn at a look even in darkish mild.
However what actually caught my eye was the Milanese mesh bracelet in matching 18k pink gold. It hugged my wrist completely and was extremely elegant. Having additionally seen it on a person’s wrist, this one is definitely calling everybody’s identify. As somebody who sometimes gravitates in direction of sports activities watches I’m not too far in left discipline in choosing this one because the Reverso was initially created for polo enjoying. So this watch does have a real sports activities heritage however in fact, can also be simply elegant as hell. They’ve made this icon really feel exceedingly elevated with out it coming off as too flashy. Can an all gold watch be understated? I feel this one can. This new Reverso is a reminder of how timeless design can evolve with out shedding its soul.
Zach Kazan
If there’s one factor everybody is aware of about me, it’s that I don’t actually care about horses. So possibly it’s a little bit of a shock that my favourite Reverso from this yr’s crop of recent novelties is the Reverso Tribute Enamel ‘Shahnameh,’ which is definitely a sequence of 4 timepieces, every in a brilliant restricted run of simply ten examples. The watches tie the Reverso’s origins as a watch made for polo gamers to the Shahnameh, a Persian epic poem that charts the historical past of the Persian folks. Particularly, JLC is drawing from a particular version of the Shahnameh devoted to Shah Tahmasp and introduced in 1568 to Ottoman sultan Selim II. That version contained 258 conventional Persian miniature work. In Persian tradition, many of those work included pictures of horses, and JLC artisans have recreated 4 of these work for this run of watches.
Okay, so, a number of historical past right here, and these watches are an incredible instance of how tradition is mirrored over centuries in watchmaking traditions. And if you happen to’re a scholar of Persian historical past and tradition (or a horse lover) these watches will little doubt have nice that means. They’re additionally, in fact, unbelievable examples of expertise, and stunningly lovely in individual. Every watch combines a complete of 4 artisanal crafts: miniature enamel portray, grand feu enameling, guillochage (every dial is has a definite guilloche sample created with a standard rose engine) and paillonnage (a uncommon ornamental enamelling approach that introduces skinny gold leaf between layers of fired enamel).
The complexity of the handwork right here is totally mindblowing. Miniaturizing the work themselves to scale for the small Reverso caseback is itself a serious problem, however then every caseback is painted by hand in enamel, with paillonnage methods integrated artistically all through. We had the chance to view these tiny enamel work underneath magnification in our assembly, and so they fairly actually take your breath away – there may be an unbelievable quantity of depth and element.
This yr’s Watches & Wonders releases might have skewed broadly towards the industrial and away from fanatic pushed releases and “wonders,” however you solely needed to step into the JLC sales space and have a look at these casebacks underneath a loupe to seek out one thing really spectacular. Jaeger-LeCoultre
