One day in India in 1930, someone from Jaeger-LeCoultre rubbed elbows with a few polo players from the British colonial army. César de Trey took on their desire to possess a watch that would be able to support the shocks that came with their sport, and passed it on to Jacques-David LeCoultre. The Reverso, which means “I turn around” in Latin, is an enrapturing timepiece who’s casing turns around itself at will. It is defined by the flexibility of a gesture, and all the makings of its particularly elegant design. Safeguarded from jostles and bumps, the watch’s originality has allowed it to take off towards a decided success. Quickly become mythic, it has established itself as an art deco object who’s curves attempt to reconcile art and industry in their own right.
With its multiple possibilities for personalization on its reverse side, the Reverso has inspired other styles by the label. Composed around a nacre dial, with a baguette diamond periphery, the Reverso 101 Art Déco is a small slice of precision that until now has been reserved for openwork and skeleton timepieces: through an iconic subtleness, the heart of the mechanism fits into a kind of atmospheric void. The key to the mystery? An invisible and removable mirror. The perfect balance between progress and the tradition of Swiss artisanship, the style reuses the Reverso’s lines and the Calibre 101’s concision. From the Reverso would also come the Grande Reverso Neva – sprinkled with meandering patches of diamonds in its white gold version – and, in 2012, the Grande Reverso 1931 Rouge. By leaving a minimum of its metal exposed, the carmen enamel watch, the same color as those that artists in the 20s sported to highlight their independence, this watch won’t enchant you, it’ll blow you away. While the international show of Haute Horlogerie cekebrates it’s 24th edition. The Jaeger LeCoultre revives with the Reverso watch for the pleasure of afficionados and presents the exclusive twelves pieces Hybris Artistica, just out of the studio and still ad’s virgin. Before such of preciseness, the knom-how is exalted in a new level. In this way, the gem setters definitively put the magic of Jaeger LeCoultre into the toolbox of time.
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