Jaeger-LeCoultre Grande Reverso Ultra-Thin Tribute to 1931 Q2788570

The Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso celebrated its 80th Anniversary in 2011 so enthusiasts were expecting something interesting, perhaps a tweek to the case or a high complication. What they got instead was this lengthy-named Grande Reverso Ultra Thin Tribute To 1931 ref. 2788570. Debuting at the annual SIHH (Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie) it bears such an uncanny resemblance to the original Reverso that if teleportation was a thing and someone stepped out of a machine and the first thing they noticed was this watch they could be forgiven for thinking the craft was on the fritz. From the steel case and black dial to the luminous pencil-shaped hour markers and lume-striped sword hands to the in-house manual wind caliber 822 it is an almost perfect re-imagining of what was then and remains today an almost peerless watch. Really and truly the teleportation analogy can be applied to any decade with respect to the Reveso, it is always of-the-moment and en vogue - there simply cannot be a more spectacularly Art Deco, thoroughly modern, yet completely timeless wristwatch. Like so many cool, historical wristwatch stories the tale of the Reverso involves a European man traveling on business. It's 1930 in British-colonized India, Swiss businessman Cesar de Trey takes in a game of polo at a British officer's club and while visiting post match with a Hired Assassin - the term for a professional polo player - he's presented with a smashed wristwatch and a unique challenge: create a time piece that can withstand the punishment of the game. Upon returning to Switzerland he calls on friend and professional colleague Jacques-David LeCoultre of LeCoultre & Cie who in turn contacts business associate Edmond Jaeger of Jaeger S.A. who in turn contacts French designer René-Alfred Chauvot, who on March 4, 1931 registers the patent for the swiveling case, and the rest is of course history. You'll notice that on the ref. 2788570 the only line of text on the dial reads, "Reverso," which is exactly as the original. As mentioned, Jaeger-LeCoultre was two separate firms when the Reverso debuted and even though LeCoultre & Cie was asked by de Trey to make the movement it wasn't ready in time so these first Reversos had third party calibers by Tavannes, which also supplied movements to Cartier, Hermes and Dunhill. By 1933 LeCoultre had fitted shaped movements into the watch at which point the dial began bearing that signature. That, however, is an insignificant detail compared to what was happening when the Reverso debuted - the Roaring 20s had just drawn to a close on the heels of the 1929 U.S. stock market crash and the start of the Great Depression, the whole world was expanding and contracting and shifting all at once, politically, geographically, innovatively, economically, artistically - the Bauhaus was winding down and style moderne was surging - it was crazy. The chance then that a single fashion object would emerge with the Reverso's ongoing relevance is as rare as a Coelacanth. Of course one of the most beautiful aspects of the original - and of this ref. 2788570 - and perhaps part of its early appeal was the opportunity owners had to personalize the reverse side of the swivel case. Anything the heart desired - or desires - could be engraved, or engraved and the filled with colored lacquer, or in a true display of the hand crafts: miniature painted in enamel. No other watch in the world provides such a panorama for self-expression. This is the watch you buy because you appreciate what it took to create the original and you understand that while there is an endless variety of wristwatches out there, there is actually only one Reverso.