Jaeger-LeCoultre: Reverso Tribute Nonantième

Born of a challenge, Jaeger-LeCoultre created the Reverso in 1931. A revolutionary watch, designed to withstand the blows of British Army officers’ polo matches in India. An ingenious solution that cleverly hides the watch face by turning the case upside down. 

Thanks to the swivelling case and the Art Deco lines, over the years the Reverso has established itself as a great classic of watchmaking, loved and collected by many connaisseurs.

In 1991, 60 years after the Reverso’s creation, Jaeger-LeCoultre presented the Reverso Soixantième. With power reserve and date displays, it was the first Reverso with complications and the first with a sapphire crystal caseback. Although the Reverso case and its shaped movement had not initially been designed for complications, the Soixantième revealed its full potential, unleashing a sequence of pieces that gave new visual expression to the great watchmaking complications.

The Soixantième was followed in 1993 by the Reverso Tourbillon, the Reverso Répétition Minutes in 1994, the Reverso Chronographe Rétrograde in 1996, the Reverso Géographique in 1998 and, coinciding with the Millennium, the Reverso Quantième Perpétuel. 

In 2001, Jaeger-LeCoultre marked the completion of another decade in the Reverso story with the Septantième. Its movement, Calibre 879, offered an 8-day power reserve – almost unheard-of at the time. 

Today, nine decades after the Reverso was born, Jaeger-LeCoultre presents the Reverso Tribute Nonantième, which gives a completely new visual expression to an alliance of several classical complications. 

REVERSO TRIBUTE NONANTIÈME

The front dial of the Reverso Nonantième exudes refinement and elegance. The pink gold case with its signature gadroons frames a silvered, sunray-brushed dial with applied golden indexes and Dauphine hands. In the lower half of the dial, a moonphase display is set within the circle formed by the small seconds counter. Beneath 12 o’clock is a large date display, framed by an applied filet of pink gold that echoes the rectangular shape of the dial and case. 

The classically elegant aesthetic of the front dial gives no hint of the surprise concealed on the reverse side of the watch. Flipping the case over reveals a completely new complication never seen before on a Reverso.

The solid pink-gold caseback is dominated by two round apertures of different sizes, arranged like a figure-eight and encircled by the classic gadroons. The small upper aperture displays a semi-jumping digital hour indication. Seen for the first time in a Reverso, this complication recalls digital displays developed by the Manufacture for wristwatches in the 1930s. 

In the large aperture below the hour, minutes are displayed on a rotating disc that is partially concealed by a three-quarter plate lacquered in vivid blue – in the Atelier des Métiers Rares – and sprinkled with tiny golden stars to depict the night sky. Within a small circle at the centre, an applied golden sun and moon, pass above a horizon, to indicate night and day. In the semi-circle below the horizon, a JL logo is set on a sunray-pattern background. 

As is the case for all complicated Reverso models, Jaeger-LeCoultre’s engineers developed an entirely new, manually wound movement for the Nonantième, Calibre 826. Comprising 230 components and showing the same time on both faces of the watch, it offers a power reserve of 42 hours. 

The Reverso Tribute Nonantième is offered in a limited edition of 190 pieces, available exclusively at Jaeger-LeCoultre boutiques at the price of € 39.700.