Haute horologer Jaeger-LeCoultre has given exquisite watch fans an early festive treat with the a new addition to its Reverso Tribute Chronograph collection, will a stunning new full pink gold timepiece.
Building on the success of last year’s reference in steel, the storied Swiss watchmaker has reinterpreted its quintessential sporting complication in solid 18k pink gold across the dial, movement bridges, applied indexes and pin buckle. It will be produced in a limited edition of 250 pieces.
The Reverso Tribute Chronograph epitomises La Grande Maison’s core watchmaking philosophy of expressing mechanical sophistication through aesthetic creativity and fine craftsmanship.
Born in 1931 with a protective swivelling case designed to be worn on the polo fields, the Reverso was quickly adopted by tastemakers from all walks of life, attracted to its elegant and sporty Art Deco aesthetics. Through more than 90 years of evolution, its case has unfolded from the original Staybrite steel to precious metals, while the blank metal flip side has been decorated with engraving, lacquer, enamel or gemstones–or has become a second dial. Continually reinventing itself without ever compromising its identity, it is one of the world’s most recognisable wristwatches, acknowledged as an icon of 20th-century design.
Celebrating the Reverso’s polo origins with a unique expression of the ultimate sporting complication, the Reverso Tribute Chronograph honours the Reverso Chronograph of 1996, which had introduced an entirely new architecture for the integrated chronograph calibre. That earlier movement has been reinvented with Calibre 860, which displays the time on both the front and reverse dials in addition to revealing the beautifully crafted chronograph mechanism on the reverse side.
The front dial introduces a new style of decorative finish to the Reverso Tribute line: the pink gold surface has been laser-engraved with fine horizontal lines spanning the width of the dial–a clean, elegant and contemporary aesthetic that reinforces the rectilinear geometry of the Reverso case and amplifies the three horizontal gadroons above and below the dial. Set against this background are the signature Reverso Tribute design details: applied trapezoid indexes, Dauphine hands and a chemin defer minutes track. On the new dial, the minutes track is highlighted in black, creating a striking contrast with the pink gold.
The Reverso Tribute Chronograph is powered by Jaeger-LeCoultre Calibre 860, which revisited the ground-breaking Reverso Chronograph Retrograde of 1996.Testamentto the inventiveness and technical prowess of La Grande Maison, it was one of six special Reversos developed within just ten years, each designed around an entirely new expression of the great classical watchmaking complications. Its movement, Calibre 829,was not only the first rectangular shaped chronograph movement in a rectangular case of Jaeger-LeCoultre,but also the first manually wound integrated chronograph to be developed in the post-quartz era at Jaeger-LeCoultre. Like all Jaeger-LeCoultre movements, it was designed, produced, assembled and decorated at the Manufacture.