Jaeger Le Coultre Reverso
Few would claim that polo
is an egalitarian sport. The
twin requirements of owning numerous polo ponies
and having had a public school
education tend to discourage
any widening of
participation in the game
amongst the less affluent
portions of society.
That JLC is now
inextricably linked with its
Reverso line, which has
strong historical ties to
the game of polo, is perhaps
fitting, then; after all,
the Swiss company’s watches,
worn by polo-playing royals,
mirror the values of the
sport, both in expense and
in exclusivity.
Created in 1931,
apparently at the request of
British polo players in
India, the Reverso’s key
distinguishing feature is
the ability to reverse its
face in order to protect the
watch mechanism (presumably
from overzealous opponents’
mallets.) In this sense, it
is, perhaps, the world’s
first sports watch, which,
together with its
distinctive Art Deco
styling, has earned it a
place on The List.
The original Reverso was
not a huge sales success;
the 1930s was a particularly
hard decade for most luxury
watch manufacturers.
However, following its
rediscovery in the 1960s, and subsequent modifications and adaptations, the Reverso
line of watches has grown to be
JLC’s most popular,
accounting for nearly half
of the brand’s sales in the
last ten years.
There is now a myriad of
different Reversos from
which to choose, some with
tourbillons, others with
multiple complications, but
for us, the Reverso has
always been a dress watch
(despite its sporting
origins) that benefits from
simplicity. This means
leather straps, no gold and
no additional complications
that supply extraneous information,
such as the current price
of fish cakes in Hong Kong.
The modern Reverso that
most embodies this aesthetic
of purity, in our opinion,
is the Grande Taille, which
features a calibre 822
movement with 21 jewels and
a 45 hour power reserve. The
nice thing about JLC is
that, as a manufacture, its
movements are produced in
house, adding exclusivity
and greater differentiation
from other lesser brands,
whose offerings are often
based on ubiquitous ETA
movements. The calibre 822
is no exception, and bears
all of the classical signs
of a JLC movement, including
the four bridge design.
In terms of wearing the
Grande Taille, (and, in
fact, any Reverso), the
overarching rule is that it
should only ever be teamed
with smarter items from your
wardrobe. It is a dress
watch after all, and matches
nicely with a well cut
evening suit, or, maybe, a
pin-striped business suit.
It is not, under any
circumstances, to be worn
with t-shirts, polo shirts,
rugby jerseys or anything
else of that kind – that is
the territory of sports
watches from brand such as
Omega and Breitling, both
far removed from JLC’s
domain.
This is a watch that does
not rely on vulgar
ostentation to show its
class. Nor does it link
itself to a
particular time period; the
Grande Taille is beyond the fripperies of fashion. What it does do
is to clearly state its
owner’s taste for fine
timepieces in a subtle way
that is far removed from the
peacock-like displays of
colour in which some of
JLC’s competitor’s are apt
to indulge.
