Letter from the Publisher

“We are convinced that there is
also room for subtlety”
2011
will be a Reverso year for Jaeger-LeCoultre. The swiveling watch is celebrating its
80th birthday and continues to enjoy unabated success. For its Manufacture in
Le Sentier (Vallée de Joux), the new models presented in 2011 demonstrate the
brand’s ability to offer products that are both innovative and classically inspired. We present an interview
with Jérôme Lambert, the man who is leading Jaeger-LeCoultre to ever-higher horological peaks.
Glass half-empty types have often said that the Reverso
was a handicap for Jaeger-LeCoultre, due to the substantial
space within the brand’s collections occupied by this iconic
model since its birth in 1931. Some even said that the name
of the collection tended to supersede that of the brand itself.
This was not true 20 years ago, and is even less so today.
Many a watch industry boss can only dream of having within
their collection—and for the past 80 years—such a strong,
highly distinctive and high-profile model. It was the good
fortune of Jaeger-LeCoultre to have had the flair to create this
reversible model—based on the idea of protecting the watch
by turning it over—for polo players in 1931. The company
has proven its strength through the evolution of this model,
which now plays a prime role in conveying the brand’s image
and its exceptional know-how. Above and beyond the idea of
sturdiness and resistance, the Reverso’s second face on the
caseback has provided remarkable scope for expressing the
talents of engravers, enamelers and gem-setters. These few
square centimeters have enabled countless enthusiasts to
customize their watch. Over the decades, this has been one
of the key characteristics of this model that simply has no
equivalent. But that’s not all, for as well as becoming an iconic
watch, the Reverso has become a particularly demanding
receptacle for a number of exceptional mechanisms. In doing
so, it conveys the maturity of the manufacture and its rare
ability to marry tradition and innovation.
It is worth recalling the Reverso’s first real steps in the
field of complications. While the Reverso watch has been
driven throughout its history by several generations of
mechanical movements, it was not until the last decade
of the 20th century that it first hosted complications.
This new approach sparked the creative imagination of
the company watchmakers, who devoted their efforts to
creating complicated movements specially designed for
the rectangular case of the Reverso. At that time, oversized
watches such as the ones currently on the market were
not really in vogue; making horological complications that
could operate within small areas called for genuine feats of
miniaturization. In 1991, the Reverso was equipped with its
first complicated movement, Jaeger-LeCoultre Caliber 924.
The Reverso Soixantième, which featured a power reserve
display and a pointer-type date indication, was to be the first
in a prodigious lineage of Reverso watches issued in limited
editions. In 1993, the Reverso was fitted with a tourbillon.
In 1994, the Manufacture rose to a new challenge with the
creation of Jaeger-LeCoultre Caliber 943, which equipped
the Reverso Répétition Minutes. In 1996, the Reverso watch
was endowed for the very first time with a chronograph
mechanism. In 1998, a new 500-piece limited series displayed
a dual time zone; and in 2000 a Reverso Quantième Perpétuel
added the final chapter to the saga of the six limited edition
pink-gold Reverso watches.
In parallel with these strides, Jaeger-LeCoultre had
developed the concept of two back-to-back dials on the
Reverso Duo and Reverso Duetto models, which could either
show the time in two different time zones or feature two
different dial styles.
Grande Reverso Duo
incorporates the very
essence of the Reverso.
Mutiple Time Zones and GMTs 321 •