NEW EXPRESSIONS OF LOVE
Jaeger-LeCoultre presents the Reverso Tribute Nonantième featuring a completely new expression of several classical complications
NINETY YEARS AGO, Jaeger-LeCoultre created the Reverso, an ingenious solution for polo players who wished to protect the glass of their watches while playing matches. Although the Reverso case and its shaped movement had not initially been designed for complications, Jaeger-LeCoultre presented the Reverso Soixantième with power reserve and date displays 60 years after its initial debut. the Soixantième was instrumental in showcasing the collection’s full potential, setting the stage in 2021 for its latest chapter in the legacy of the Reverse in the Tribute Nonantième.
Giving a completely new visual expression to several classical complications, the Reverso Tribute Nonantième showcases a conventional front, distinct from predecessor variants by way of Grande Date display: pink gold case with its signature gadroons frames a silvered, sunray-brushed dial with applied golden indexes and Dauphine hands. In the lower half of the dial, a moonphase display is set within the circle formed by the small seconds counter. Beneath 12 o’clock is a large date display, framed with windows of pink gold that echoes the rectangular shape of the dial and case.
Flipping the case over reveals an entirely new visual expression of some of watchmaking’s most familiar complications and this is where it truly shines: a central blue lacquer dial but really a three-quarter plate lacquered in vivid blue and sprinkled with tiny golden stars to depict da and night sky while exhibiting a “semi-jumping hour”and disc minutes. The small upper aperture displays a semi-jumping digital hour indication. Seen for the first time in a Reverso, this complication recalls digital displays developed by the Manufacture for wristwatches in the 1930s.
The Le Sentier manufacture developed an entirely new, manually wound movement for the Nonantième, Calibre 826. Comprising 230 components, Jaeger LeCoultre engineers reworked the cal. 822 workhorse Reverso movement to incorporate the displays showing the same time on both faces of the watch.
At 49.4 mm, its proportions are comparable to other extra-large models in the Reverso line up, but the sophistication of the Nonantième artfully distracts from its larger than traditional Reverso dimensions hence offering a very classically elegant countenance. Its size only becomes readily apparent after you put it on your wrist.