With its ‘1931 Polo Club’ themed booth at Watches and Wonders 2025 and nine Reverso novelties, Jaeger-LeCoultre pays homage to the origins of its iconic design.
The ‘1931 Polo Club’ booth concept celebrates the origins of an icon. The idea behind creating the first Reverso was to design a watch that could withstand the rigors and impacts experienced on the British Army’s polo grounds in India in the early 1930s. Jacques-David LeCoultre and French designer René-Alfred Chauvot patented the invention of a ‘wristwatch which can slide on its base and flip over on itself’ in 1931.
The creation was an instant success. The reverse side of the watch was intentionally kept simple, fulfilling its primary mission: protecting the watch face from physical impacts. However, it soon became a canvas for artistic self-expression through engravings and enamel miniatures.
The faces of Reverso watches reflect the artistic influences of the eras in which they were created, while the casebacks hold messages, miniatures, and decorations personalized for the owner. Its distinctive shape and infinite creative possibilities account for its success spanning almost 95 years.
Over the years, the Reverso has appeared in various forms: versions for ladies (such as the Reverso One Duetto Jewelry or tone-on-tone pieces), artistic collaborations (like the one with French fashion and shoe designer Christian Louboutin), limited-edition Reverso Tribute Enamel timepieces, and dedicated exhibitions and events celebrating one of fine watchmaking’s most recognizable designs.
At Watches and Wonders, Jaeger-LeCoultre tells the story of the Reverso in four chapters: the story of an icon, the story of style and design, the story of innovation, and the story of craftsmanship. The new models presented at the show build on this legacy of success.
Reverso Tribute Minute Repeater
Minute repeaters are among the grand complications, and only a handful of brands truly excel in this elite category. Activated by a slide or pusher, minute repeaters chime the time on demand, typically using distinct tones: a low tone for the hours, a sequence for the quarter-hours, and a higher tone for the minutes past the quarter-hour.
Jaeger-LeCoultre has mastered this complication, having been among the first to create a minute repeater wristwatch in the late 19th century. During the 20th century, the Manufacture continued to innovate, and the Reverso Minute Repeater of 1994 marked a notable breakthrough with its redesign of the complication for the shaped movement fitted within a rectangular case.
The Maison focuses not only on the mechanical efficiency of chiming movements but also on the clarity and beauty of the sound produced. Since 2005, these watches have included further innovations like crystal gongs (so named because they are attached directly to the sapphire crystal, enabling a cleaner sound and increased volume) and trébuchet hammers (introduced in 2009).
The Hybris Mechanica à Grande Sonnerie (2009), the Master Ultra Thin Minute Repeater Flying Tourbillon (2014), and the Master Grande Tradition Minute Repeater are just a few examples of the brand’s significant milestones in chiming watches.
The Reverso Tribute Minute Repeater in pink gold features two faces: the front dial showcases a teal blue, hand-guilloché barleycorn pattern. The reverse dial presents a significant part of the newly developed movement, Calibre 953. The movement incorporates seven existing patents, including key inventions that enhance chime quality: trébuchet hammers, crystal gongs, and silent-interval elimination. As is customary at the Maison, the calibre is masterfully decorated: the bridges are hand-beveled; the decorative finishes combine brushed and grained surfaces; and the cool, silvery tones of the metal provide contrast with the warm pink gold of the case. The bridge that spans the entire breadth of the movement from 7 o’clock to 5 o’clock and supports the hammers is decorated with blue lacquer to match the front dial.
With space for 6 Reverso timepieces, Jaeger-LeCoultre released an exclusive Nonantième Collector’s box commemorating the 90th anniversary of its iconic Reverso.
Reverso Tribute Geographic
Another novelty features a new in-house movement: the Reverso Tribute Geographic. Its Calibre 834 consists of 209 components, offering a 42-hour power reserve and a dual time zone display. The complication displays a second time zone, indicated by a 24-hour disc, alongside a corresponding city name. For precise setting, the main hour hand jumps in hourly increments without disturbing the minutes, adjusted via a discreet pusher hidden between the lugs at the top of the case.
The novelty comes in both steel and pink gold. On the front dial, the sunray finish in rich blue (steel case) or chocolate (pink gold case) complements the signature Reverso Tribute design codes. The second time zone display, along with the day/night indicator and city reference, is situated on the reverse side. On the steel model, details in shades of blue contrast with the cool tones of the metal, while the pink gold model features complementary black and grey details.
The pieces are presented with two interchangeable straps designed by Casa Fagliano, the celebrated Argentinian maker of polo and riding boots and a long-time partner of the Maison.
Reverso Tribute Monoface Small Seconds
The Reverso Tribute Monoface Small Seconds epitomizes the essence of the Reverso. The focus is on clean lines and shapes, featuring the pared-down Reverso Tribute dial and a unified color palette. With a smooth and flexible Milanese link pink gold bracelet, an 18k pink gold case (45.6 x 27.4 mm), and a grained dial, the novelty blends vintage glamour with modernity.
It houses the rectangular, hand-wound Calibre 822, which offers a power reserve of 42 hours. It features a pure polished metal caseback, offering ample space for personalization.
Reverso One ‘Precious Flowers’ and a New Interpretation of the Reverso One ‘Precious Colors’
In 2021, Jaeger-LeCoultre introduced the Reverso One ‘Precious Flowers’ series. These timepieces embody fine watchmaking, artistic crafts, and high jewelry simultaneously. In 2025, two new models of exceptional beauty join the collection: the Reverso One ‘Precious Flowers’ – Green Arums, and the Reverso One ‘Precious Flowers’ – Purple Arums. Both models are presented in pink gold cases, and each will be produced in a limited edition of 10 pieces.
The colorful arums are created using the grand feu champlevé enameling technique. This demanding process begins with hollowing out the metal surface, leaving only the raised outlines of the floral design. These depressions are then filled with powdered glass enamel and fired in a kiln. Achieving the desired tonal nuances, intensity, and depth of color requires applying and firing up to 10 layers of enamel, one layer at a time. Notably, purple and pink enamel pigments are among the most challenging to work with. The snow-setting of the diamonds is the next step.
The pictured Purple Arums interpretation features a floral bouquet rendered in purple, pink, and green grand feu champlevé enamel, accented with a total of 637 snow-set and grain-set diamonds (2.12 carats). It has a mother-of-pearl dial and a shiny purple alligator strap, matching the purple flowers.
In 2023, the Maison introduced the Reverso One Precious Colours in two eye-catching variations: blue and green. The 2025 model features geometric shapes in 6 bright pastel tones executed in miniature painted enamel. The 277 brilliant-cut diamonds adorning the case are grain-set (a technique where tiny claws of gold are raised from the flat metal surface to hold each stone). The richly decorated case pays tribute to the Art Deco style and the talented artisans of Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Métiers Rares® atelier.
Reverso Tribute Enamel ‘Shahnameh’ Series
Four new Reverso Tribute Enamel timepieces in white gold pay tribute to the origins of polo. The sport can be traced back to ancient Persia, celebrated in the Shahnameh, the national epic of Greater Iran. The Shahnameh, or ‘The Book of Kings’, was written by the poet Ferdowsi over more than 20 years, between 977 and 1010 CE. It is one of the most important works in Persian literature and a significant part of world culture.
Horses were recognized as loyal companions, status symbols, and extensions of the heroes themselves. Polo was considered a game of kings – both a sport and a form of military training. Persian nobles and royalty demonstrated their agility, teamwork, and horsemanship through the game.
One of the most magnificent editions of the Shahnameh is the copy dedicated to Shah Tahmasp. It contains 258 illustrations, each considered a masterpiece of Persian miniature painting. The paintings were created on paper using opaque watercolors, ink, silver, and various forms of gold.
The ‘Shahnameh’ series reinterprets Persian miniature painting through four exceptional crafts mastered by the Maison: miniature enamel painting, grand feu enameling, paillonnage, and guillochage.
The article features images of three of the four exceptional miniature masterpieces: ‘Siyavush plays polo before Afrasiyab’ (illustrated Folio No. 180, attributed to Qasim ibn ‘Ali, painted c. 1525-30, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York); ‘Faridun in the guise of a dragon tests his sons’ (illustrated Folio No. 42, attributed to Aqa Mirak, painted c. 1525-35, Aga Khan Museum, Toronto); and ‘Rust pursues Akvan, the Onager-Div’ (illustrated Folio No. 294, attributed to Muzaffar ‘Ali’, painted c. 1530-35, Aga Khan Museum).
Each piece features a differently patterned guilloché dial in distinct colors: blue sunray guilloché, bluish-green herringbone guilloché, and green lozenge guilloché, respectively.
The series is released as a limited edition of 10 pieces for each design.
Photo credits: Loupiosity.com
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