English Version | The timelessness of art

10 Dec 2022
By Vogue Portugal

Iconic is that which remains relevant no matter how much time passes. It is the one that resists the passing of decades, centuries, but moves forward clockwise. In Reverso lies the secret of perpetuity.

Iconic is that which remains relevant no matter how much time passes. It is the one that resists the passing of decades, centuries, but moves forward clockwise. In Reverso lies the secret of perpetuity.

© Jaeger-LeCoultre
© Jaeger-LeCoultre

There’s a Portuguese proverb that says that necessity sharpens the wit, but in the history of Jaeger-LeCoultre, it has been the edges of the case of the most emblematic watch of the 20th century that have been sharpened. Reverso is its name - a tribute to the challenge that saw its birth, while the 1930s were taking their first steps. This is what happens when we talk about icons. We have to go back more than 90 years to discover the origin of the watch that changed Jaeger-David LeCoultre's life forever, but this is one of those travels in time that deserves to be told. The story begins with César de Trey, a successful French businessman, who discovered a passion for polo during one of his trips to India. In the sport he found only one fault: it was difficult to keep his watch risk-free. Difficult, yes, but not impossible. "What if I could rotate the watch case to protect the dial?", thought de Trey. The man dreamed, the watch was born. The French entrepreneur presented his idea to Jacques-David LeCoultre, who accepted the challenge, and gave René-Alfred Chauvot the task of designing the case. By March 1931, the patent for "a watch capable of sliding on its stand and being turned completely inward" was already secured, followed a few months later by the registration of the name Reverso. More than ninety years later, what was once an innovation still is – from design to mechanism, timelessness distinguishes this watch.

While the flip-over mechanism is the core of the revolution it represented, there was much more which Reverso pioneered. Its black dial, for example, opposed the sea of silver that was flooding haute horlogerie around 1930, and was considered "the dial of the future" thanks to the high readability it provided. No wonder. Jaeger-LeCoultre has always excelled at balancing form and function. What started as a response to a momentary need has become not a watch, but a style, which has transcended the purpose for which it was created. And that can also be seen in the small details, such as the white metal back. In the beginning, it was nothing more than a functional detail, protecting it from possible damage, but in it it was discovered the perfect canvas for a personal treasure, hidden until the moment the case is turned over: coats of arms, names, dates, portraits, personalized messages... You can find a bit of everything in the history of Reverso and the engravings that have marked it. A watch from 1935 features an engraving commemorating Amelia Earhart's famous flight between New York and Mexico City. And several prestigious institutions have left their symbols forever inscribed on the back of this Jaeger-LeCoultre model.

Nine decades running and the secret still lies in the unnoticeable adaptations to the demands of each time. The rectilinear geometry recognizable in any of the Reverso models has been the home to more than 50 different calibers. In 1994, the Reverso Duoface took the industry by storm by introducing a dual time zone model, with the local time appearing on the front dial and the other on its back. The same can be said of the Reverso Duetto, born in 1997, which replaced its apparent robustness with a more feminine silhouette that still inhabits the wrists of those who seek the epitome of elegance. The Reverso is proof that necessity always sharpens ingenuity - and, in this case, aesthetics - and that sometimes even small unforeseen things can lead to great innovations, like this watch, which went beyond the borders of jewelry and became an icon of 20th century design. And to think that it all started because César de Trey didn't want to ruin his watch during a polo match.

Translated from the original on "The Velvet Touch" issue of Vogue Portugal, published December 2022.Full stories and credits on the print issue.

 

Vogue Portugal By Vogue Portugal

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