In 1930, Swiss businessman César de Trey was attending a polo match in India, when he discovered that players’ watches were being destroyed during the games. As the story goes, de Trey returned home and challenged the Swiss horologist Jacques-David LeCoultre to produce a sturdier timepiece, one that could stand up to the rigors of polo. This sparked the novel idea to create a watch case that could swivel in order to protect its most delicate parts, and, in 1931, the first Reverso was produced. While it eventually achieved a cultlike status, the Reverso never reached the hype and obsessive collector base that a watch with its credentials should. Now, a trio of new Reversos coming out this year brings new attention to this overlooked icon.
For many, myself included, the Reverso is already an all-time favorite. Bulkier sport watches designed for racing and diving seem ordinary by comparison—the Reverso, after all, is the original luxury sport watch. The name, to state the obvious, comes from its flippable case. The original had a face on one side and an armored shell on the other. Polo players were meant to turtle the watch when playing to protect it from thumping mallets and errant balls.
Despite its incredible history, functionality, and elegant case, the Reverso isn’t talked about in the same breath as other pantheon-level watches. In fact, interest in the watch was so low Jaeger-LeCoultre didn’t even make it between the late 1940s and mid-1970s. The DC-area-based watch dealer and collector Kevin O’Dell has been a fan of Reversos but tells me that up until a few years ago they weren’t even worth selling. He held onto his over the years knowing collectors would come around. Now he’s selling some vintage models in a matter of minutes. “An iconic watch is an iconic watch,” he said, “whether it’s on or off trend.”
Now, Jaeger-LeCoultre is releasing a watch that fills a conspicuous hole in its catalog. The new Reverso Tribute Monoface is the modern iteration of the watch from nearly a century ago. By recalling the proportions of the 1931 design, this watch ticks every box for a collector in 2024: a shrunken–down case that fits current vintage tastes, a hard-wearing unadorned caseback, and almost 100 years of history packed in.
Throughout the Reverso’s history, Jaeger-LeCoultre has found many uses for the caseback that go beyond protecting the watch during polo matches. Nowadays, you can find versions with elaborate enamel paintings or designs made of diamonds. Jay-Z owns one in pink-gold engraved with an image of Carnegie Hall on its reverse side. Other modern takes show off the brand’s technical ability, like 2021’s Reverso Hybris Mechanica Calibre 185 that managed to fit four different faces and nearly a dozen complications into a single Reverso.
But the real joy of the Reverso is the fact that it can be two watches in one. Two other new versions joining Jaeger-LeCoultre’s lineup this year are these Duoface styles. The first has a spinning tourbillon at the center that is visible from the ultramodern skeletonized face or the classic steel-gray dial on the other side. The other lets you choose between an inky navy or a silver visage. These models might not be suitable for the polo field like the original, but it is an extremely cool—and fun—bit of functionality. While other reversible watches exist, the Reverso is the only one that comes with a yarn worth spinning.
Cam Wolf is GQ’s watch editor.
A version of this story originally appeared in the November 2024 issue of GQ with the title “The Original! Reversible! Luxury Sport Watch!”
