Back in early 2023, Jaeger-LeCoultre dropped the first installment of its Collectibles series, a selection of vintage JLC pieces restored by the maison and offered for sale through its boutiques and online. A celebration of nearly 200 years of watchmaking at Jaeger-LeCoultre, the program draws from well-known models like the Reverso and deeper cuts like the futuristic Memovox Polaris. Our very own Cam Wolf was on the scene at the brand’s Rodeo Drive boutique to check out the second capsule collection, and the offerings lived up to every bit of their promise.
This week, JLC is back with the fifth edition of The Collectibles, this time focusing specifically on the Reverso and its first decade on the horological scene. In case you need a refresher: The watch is the result of a wildly British problem: Officers playing polo in India were breaking their watch crystals. Businessman César de Trey witnessed this and, after teaming up with Swiss watchmaker Jacques-David LeCoultre to design a new movement, enlisted Frenchman Réne-Alfred Chauvot to patent a swiveling case that could be reversed to protect the crystal. Et voila! The Reverso was born. Initially, the watch was fitted with Tavannes movements until LeCoultre’s own in-house calibers were included in 1933.
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For some decades after the Second World War, the Reverso fell out of favor. However, an Italian distributor, Giorgio Corvo, discovered a trove of unused steel Reverso cases at the brand’s Le Sentier headquarters in 1972, and requested that they be assembled and sold in Italy. Not having a movement that could fit within the case, JLC balked. Undeterred, Corvo had his own watchmakers in Italy place a modern JLC movement within the old case and returned with it to Le Sentier. Impressed, JLC used this as the basis of a limited run of Reversos. After quickly selling these out, JLC realized it had a winner, and the famed reversible watch came charging back from the dead.
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But back to the 1930s for a moment. Those heady days represented the exciting initial development of the first-generation Reverso and its immediate successors before the war wreaked havoc on Europe, and watchmakers were forced to switch over to wartime production. Each piece within the fifth Collectibles collection features the model’s distinctive Art Deco influence throughout its design, with case gadroons and applied indices that instantly recall 1920s and 1930s art and architecture. Standouts include a 1931 black-dialed reference with a railroad minute track and trapezoidal indices—perhaps the most emblematic Reverso configuration. Slightly later in the model’s chronology is a 1937 reference with small-seconds, evidence of the inclusion of an in-house JLC caliber that succeeded the original series of Tavannes movements. But perhaps coolest of all is a Reverso Cardonnet, a ladies’ model in stainless steel fitted to a chrome rope-like strap attached via an unusual set of lugs.
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Given their complex case construction and age, it’s rare to find first-generation Reveros in excellent condition—and even rarer to be able to buy one that’s been restored by La Grande Maison itself. Thankfully, over the past few years, many of the larger brands have come around to the idea of curating selections of their own vintage pieces. JLC’s wide-ranging assortment of compelling and important models makes The Collectibles a particularly important offering within the world of vintage watches. If you have a mind to snag one, they’re on view in JLC’s New York City boutique through February 23, and they can also be purchased online directly from the brand’s website.