The latest timepiece in our Icons of Watchmaking History series is the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso. Here, Gisbert L. Brunner takes a look at the wristwatch with a special twist.

This is a watch which has been around for an uninterrupted 80 years. It was on 4 March 1931 that René-Alfred Chauvot patented a wristwatch which could slide on its base and swivel… to flip over on itself. His creation was an outstanding success – that lives on today, on the wrists of style-conscious ladies and gentlemen. The Reverso has its roots in faraway India, where the polo-playing British colonists complained that the delicate crystal glass of their watches broke too easily. Chauvot’s solution, the reversible watch, proved ideal.



Of course, Jaeger LeCoultre has consistently improved the product and, in 2011 – at the ripe old age of 80 – the Reverso is ultra-slim and throroughly up-to-date. Here’s to the next 80 years.



Icons of watchmaking history -

No. 1: Audemars Piguet Royal Oak

No. 2: Breitling Navitimer

No. 3: Bvlgari-Bvlgari by Bvlgari

No. 4: Cartier Santos

No. 5: Chronoswiss Regulator

No. 6: Heuer Carrera

No. 7: Hublot Classique

No. 8: IWC Portuguese


Text: Gisbert L. Brunner
Photo: IWC