WatchTime will be bringing its popular event series to L.A., hosting the inaugural WatchTime Los Angeles two-day collectors’ extravaganza on May 3-4, and we’re bringing 27 of the industry’s most interesting and innovative timepiece brands with us. One of them is the venerable Swiss manufacture Jaeger-LeCoultre, which will be showing an array of men’s and ladies’ watches from its diverse timepiece families. Here’s a sneak preview.
Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Reverso model began its life in 1931 not as a luxury accessory but as a literal sports watch, its swiveling reversible case designed specifically to be worn by mounted polo players during matches. Few such equestrian athletes would wear the Reverso on the field of play these days, but Jaeger-LeCoultre has not forgotten its leader model’s origins. The latest timepiece to pay tribute to the sport of polo is the Reverso Tribute Duoface, including this limited edition with a handmade Cordovan leather strap by Casa Fagliano, the Argentinian artisans behind some of the world’s finest equestrian boots. In classic Reverso style, the watch features two independent dials each displaying a different time zone. On the front side of the rectangular Reverso case — here in 18k rose gold, measuring 49.4 mm x 29.9 mm in diameter and a mere 12.6 mm thick — is a slate grey, satin-brushed sunray dial, with gold-plated dauphine hands and gold-plated, hand-applied hour indices, and a small seconds subdial at 6 o’clock. On the opposite side, a silvered dial combines an opaline finish in the center with a Clous de Paris motif in the background, and another set of gold-plated dauphine hands indicates the local time on another set of gold-plated hour markers, while the front dial’s small seconds display is replaced by a 24-hour GMT subdial with a day/night indicator. Inside the swiveling, Art Deco-inspired case is Jaeger-LeCoultre’s manual-winding in-house Caliber 854/2, with a 42-hour power reserve. Its two-tone Fagliano strap uses the same soft and supple leather, made with the same long-held traditional techniques, used in the company’s world-famous polo boots.
Jaeger-LeCoultre introduced its Rendez-Vous collection of luxurious ladies’ timepieces in 2012. The collection contains self-winding mechanical movements that have been entirely developed and assembled in Jaeger-LeCoultre’s manufacture in Le Sentier, Switzerland. The watch bears an Art Deco influence, particularly the 1930s-style Arabic hour numerals on the dial, which also has a soft-relief hand-guilloché texture. Jaeger-LeCoultre recently introduced a moon-phase complication into the collection with the Rendez-Vous Moon Medium. Its 34-mm-diameter case is available in stainless steel or rose gold, and the watch is powered by Jaeger-LeCoultre manufacture Caliber 935A, an automatic with 267 parts (including 42 jewels) and a 40-hour power reserve. The grained and silvered guilloché dial has as its signature attraction a large and very precise moon-phase display, with a sandy-finish moon disk that imparts an attractive sense of depth. According to JLC, the moon-phase indication’s accuracy lags by only one day every 985 years. The bezel is set with diamonds. Leather and ostrich straps are available, as is a stainless steel or rose-gold bracelet.
For the deep-pocketed aficionado of high-complication timepieces, Jaeger-LeCoultre will bring its Master Ultra Thin Tourbillon in 18k rose gold. The elegantly rounded case measures 40 mm in diameter and only 10.77 mm thick, tightly cradling the self-winding manufacture Caliber 978G, which stores a power reserve of 45 hours. The movement’s tourbillon regulator, with a newly designed gold bridge, dominates the vista of the the eggshell-colored dial in a wide aperture at 6 o’clock, complemented by gilded, faceted gold hour markers and elegant Dauphine hands. The rear side of the caliber, glimpsed through a sapphire caseback, displays its high-horology finishes, notably the gold oscillating weight and the new sunray motif engraved on the mainplate. The luxurious ensemble is rounded out by a brown alligator leather strap with a gold buckle to match the case.
Jaeger-LeCoultre will exhibit many other popular pieces from several of its current collections at WatchTime Los Angeles. Click here for info on the full roster of exhibiting brands, details on our events, panels and presentations, and to order tickets.
