Sunday, May 4, 2014

Quick Look: Jaeger-LeCoultre Grande Reverso Ultra Thin Duoface

One of the more popular pieces released in SIHH 2013, The Grande Reverso Ultra Thin Duoface has started to trickle into the Australian market and we were fortunate enough to get a close look at a piece.

From a design point of view, there is very little to fault. You have a vintage looking dial on the front, and a more contemporary black dial on the back, with a pusher on the side of the case to quickly adjust the hour hand on the second face for a second timezone. However, you could just leave both dials on the same time and have two watches for the price of one, as both dials have very distinctive characters. If anything the watch is possibly a little too monochromatic, but that can be easily fixed with a dark brown strap.

This model is part of the new Reverso "Ultra Thin" range, which begain with the Tribute to 1931 in 2011. Jaeger-LeCoultre has managed to shave off as much unnecessary millimetres as they can from the height of the case of the Reverso. Of course, there will always be a certain minimum height to it, due to the extra carrier case to support the swivelling watch case. Having said that, the whole watch is proportioned just right and seems to be a good fit for a vast majority of wrists (as long as you're not Ahhhnold on whose wrist a 60mm watch looks normal).

The watch is powered by a well-proven manual wind movement (yes, one movement powering both sides). The movement has been in service since the introduction of the Reverso Duo, way back in 1994.


Personally, the Reverso is an iconic watch, so much so that it really deserves a place in everyone's collection, just like the Speedmaster and the Submariner. A Reverso with two dials and a two timezone function really is the best of the range, unless you really want to engrave something on the solid case back of the regular one-sided Reversos.

SPECS

Grande Reverso Ultra Thin Duoface 1931

Mechanical manual wind movement, Calibre 854/1
180 parts
45 hour power reserve
Water Resistant to 30m
Fitted alligator strap with pin buckle.
Case size  46.8mm x 27.4mm, 9.1mm thick
Available in stainless steel (RRP A$11,400) and pink gold (RRP A$20,600)

2 comments: