90 years of the Reverso legend

Jaeger-LeCoultre
Heritage Reverso Classic
(1943)

The Reverso by Jaeger-LeCoultre, a watch with a double soul, is 90 years old. It is only visible if you turn its case upside down and look at it from a different angle. Legend has it that the idea was born in India, in 1931, from the desire of a group of elegant British officers, polo enthusiasts, who could not give up wearing their watches even during matches. Attaching the watch to the wrist upside down, with the glass facing inwards, was the only way to protect it. Produced also for other brands, including Patek Philippe, the Reverso first passed into oblivion, then resurfaced in the 1980s by a far-sighted and ingenious Giorgio Corvo, who convinced the company (to the sound of sales in Italy) to put it back into production. It went on to become a veritable watchmaking icon, with its rectangular flip-up case that over the years has also taken on a symbolic connotation, playing on the idea of two dials.
Not only that. Born at the height of the Art Deco period, in a world dominated by silver-plated dials, the original Reverso models had a black background with contrasting markers, which earned it the name 'dial of the future'. Almost immediately, aesthetic variants with brightly coloured dials - deep red, chocolate brown, burgundy or blue lacquer - were launched, making the watch even more modern and unique. From the very beginning, the Maison offered ladies' models with cases made of different metals and in different sizes, to be worn with a Cordonnet strap or as pendants or purse pins. However, when it came to key design elements, Jaeger-LeCoultre never made any compromises: hence the distinctive features of the Reverso, such as the horizontal knurling that recalls the rectilinear geometry of the case, the triangular lugs that appear to be a natural extension of the brancards and the case itself, which is so integrated into the support that, at first glance, it does not suggest that it can be turned upside down, when in fact it is. And it is precisely in these factors that the timeproof success of the line lies, over and above the great and extraordinary complications with which it was subsequently equipped and which still accompany it today, 90 years after its debut.

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