It is an icon of 20th century design. The Reverso. Although it was conceived for the gentleman polo player it soon found its way onto women’s wrists as well. For the house of Jaeger-LeCoultre began designing women’s watches early on when its founder, the pioneering LeCoultre & Cie, realized the potential timepieces had for being worn as jewelry. Bringing together the arts of horology and jewelry, great aesthetic women’s timepieces have emerged throughout the decades at the house. For instance the very first Reverso for women was brought out in 1931, and subsequent models were brought out that could be worn on a cordonnet bracelet or transformed into brooches, handbag clips or pendants. This year the house has introduced a Reverso Duetto with a fully diamond-set bracelet but that is not all. Introduced at the Watches and Wonders trade show in Geneva last March was a true wonder with the reveal of the Reverso Secret Necklace, a magnificent piece of High Jewelry. 

The Reverso Secret Necklace is all about black, white and gold beauty with its chain of intricate diamond-set links and polished onyx beads from which a richly gem-set Reverso is suspended and there are two charming charms of polished onyx. The reverse side of the pink gold case is set with white diamonds and black onyx in an intricate pattern of geometric repeats, contrasting with the warm tone of the metal. Vertical rows of grain-set diamonds wrap around the convex sides of the case and frame the dial. Contrasting with the richness of black onyx and pink gold, the center of the dial is set with white diamonds, as are the signature brackets that define each corner of the dial. Each of the hundreds of tiny links that form the supple chain has been set with diamonds – a particularly demanding process as it requires great skill and dexterity to manipulate such tiny elements. 

But the house of Jaeger-LeCoultre is one of the rare watchmaking « Maisons » to have its very own Métiers Rares® (Rare Handcrafts) atelier, bringing multiple craft skills together in a specialized workshop within its Manufacture. With over 3,000 diamonds, the gem-setting on the Reverso Secret Necklace requires over 300 hours of meticulous work for the house’s Métiers Rares® (Rare Handcrafts) atelier artisans. The Reverso Secret Necklace was conceived and produced entirely in-house and comprises 93 parts, including the manually wound Caliber 846, created especially for the Reverso. And while the necklace’s time side appears to be hanging upside down, it is set that way so the wearer can read the time as it is lifted to the sight level. 

Meanwhile the house has also brought out its Reverso One Duetto Jewelry, the first Reverso One with a fully diamond set bracelet, once again the work of the house’s Métiers Rares®(Rare Handcrafts) atelier artisans. The new Reverso One Duetto Jewellery presents the back-to-back dial concept in a new setting that is as rare as it is precious. With 335 grain-set diamonds that cover the entire case-back and wrap seamlessly around its curved sides to frame the dial, the case is unquestionably a piece of jewelry, emphasized by the inverted diamond set into the crown. On the front, every detail of the silvered sun ray dial with its guilloché decoration is finished with the golden brackets in each corner, the applied Arabic hour numerals and hour markers, the Dauphine hands – all emblematic elements of the Reverso One models. A total of 719 diamonds adorns this High Jewelry piece, including at least 384 for the bracelet alone. ©Trish Valicenti for The Gourmet Gazette. https://www.jaeger-lecoultre.com/us-en