• The genesis of Reverso: bringing the origin story of an icon to life
• A story told in four chapters: an inspiring journey through more than nine decades of the Reverso
• An immersive booth: a celebration of craftsmanship, an educational journey and a new gastronomic experience

In 2025, Jaeger-LeCoultre pays homage to the polo origins of its iconic Reverso timepiece with the 1931 Polo Club. This yearly theme comes to life for the first time at Watches and Wonders Geneva 2025 with an immersive booth that reinterprets the grand stables of aristocratic houses, where polo was played on private fields when the Reverso was born.

With the 1931 Polo Club, Jaeger-LeCoultre celebrates the origins of an icon, tracing the Reverso’s genesis to its conception on a polo field in India in 1930 and its roots in the transformative decade preceding it. The 1920s – known as the Roaring Twenties, the Jazz Age, and les années folles – was a dazzling era of social and cultural change, technological progress, and economic growth. It saw the birth of the Art Deco design movement and the rise of sport as a fashionable leisure pursuit, epitomised by the charismatic ‘sporting gentleman’ and the game of polo.

Polo had become a social cornerstone in countries like India, Britain, Argentina, and the United States. During a visit to India, Swiss businessman César de Trey, found himself immersed in this milieu, and British army officers, passionate players of the game, challenged him to create a watch capable of withstanding its rigours. When de Trey returned to Europe, he partnered with Jacques-David LeCoultre to produce the concept, and through connections with Jaeger SA, entrusted a French industrial designer René-Alfred Chauvot to design the case and its swivelling mechanism – and the Reverso was born. Staying true to its original design and proportions since 1931, the Reverso has continuously evolved while preserving its Art Deco lines and balanced aesthetics. In the 1990s, this evolution took on a new dimension as the Maison began integrating high complications, further enhancing its technical sophistication.

BRINGING AN INCOMPARABLE ORIGIN STORY TO LIFE

Providing a rich experience of this world, the Watches and Wonders booth was inspired by the design of the grand stables of aristocratic houses, where polo was played on private fields. Different realms of the Reverso world are presented in spaces around the perimeter of the booth, with design elements inspired by the horse boxes found within such stables. The use of natural materials such as oak, stone, and darkened metal evoke a privileged world that pays homage to the horse. The strong architecture, clean lines and restrained colour palette also make subtle reference to the Art Deco style that reigned supreme in 1931.

The architectural layout draws the eye to the centre of the booth, where a spectacular six-metre-high horse commands the space. Made using volumetric LED technology, the three-dimensional ‘sculpture’ is animated in a show of its beauty and power, creating a holographic effect as it moves through 360 degrees. The three-minute show – narrating the genesis of the Reverso – is presented every 30 minutes, with the booth darkened to amplify the dramatic effect.

Set on three levels, different areas of the booth invite visitors to immerse themselves more deeply in the story of the Reverso, through a variety of hands-on experiences, and to discover the newly launched timepieces. For visitors wishing to deepen their experience and knowledge, guided tours are offered.

AN INSPIRING STORY IN FOUR CHAPTERS

A design of rare longevity, the Reverso has continually reinvented itself. Constantly evolving yet retaining the spirit of its origins, it has become more than simply a watch – rightly recognised as an icon, in the true meaning of the word. At Watches and Wonders, Jaeger-LeCoultre tells the story of the Reverso in four chapters.

THE STORY OF AN ICON traces the Reverso’s evolution from its birth in 1931 as a sports watch to becoming a cultural icon. Its inventive design, launched during a time of dramatic social change, quickly resonated with tastemakers and defined the era’s aspirations. Though production ceased in the 1960s as Art Deco fell from favour, the Reverso was revived in 1975, aligning with a renewed appreciation for Art Deco style.

In the 1980s, the Reverso’s timeless elegance and status-symbol appeal perfectly matched the era’s taste for polished sophistication. Its 60th anniversary in 1991 marked a turning point with the Reverso Soixantième, the first to feature mechanical complications. This milestone transformed the Reverso into an enduring collection, cementing its status as a 21st-century icon.

THE STORY OF STYLE & DESIGN began with a patented rectangular case, designed to accommodate the swivelling mechanism. It quickly evolved into the sleek rectangular form that embodies Art Deco principles.

Within a year of its launch, the Reverso – initially in steel with a black dial – began to offer variations: baton indexes, coloured dials, gold cases, and smaller models for women, designed as bracelets, pendants, or handbag clips.

Over nine decades, countless iterations in size and materials have been introduced, yet the core design elements remain unchanged: the horizontal gadroons, triangular lugs, and perfectly integrated pivoting case. A rare example of timeless design, the Reverso’s longevity has made it one of the world’s most recognisable wristwatches.

THE STORY OF INNOVATION began with its revolutionary rectangular pivoting case, designed to protect the dial and hands. In 1931, it was seen as a revolution in Haute Horlogerie: an unusual rectangular case, powered by shaped calibres, set in a dedicated casing ring to protect them from shocks, humidity and the passing of time.

Staying true to its original design and proportions since 1931, the Reverso has continuously evolved while preserving its Art Deco lines and balanced aesthetics.

In the 1990s, this evolution took on a new dimension as the Maison began integrating high complications, further enhancing its technical sophistication. In the wake of the quartz crisis, Jaeger-LeCoultre chose the timepiece to revive its expertise in sophisticated watchmaking – overcoming the challenge of designing rectangular movements for increasingly complex mechanisms.

This period saw landmark creations:

• The Reverso Soixantième (1991);
• The Reverso Tourbillon (1993);
• The Reverso Répétition Minutes (1994);
• The Reverso Chronographe Rétrograde (1996);
• The Reverso Géographique (1998);
• The Reverso Quantième Perpétuel (2000).

During the same decade, the Reverso Duoface (1994) and Duetto (1997) introduced a second dial on the caseback.

Anniversary models, such as the Reverso Septantième (2001) and Grande Complication à Tryptique (2006), further pushed boundaries, while the Gyrotourbillon 2 (2008) and Reverso Tribute Gyrotourbillon (2016) showcased bi-axial flying tourbillons. In 2012, the Répétition Minutes à Rideau made its debut, and in 2021, the Reverso Hybris Mechanica Calibre 185 ‘Quadryptique’ achieved an unparalleled feat with 11 complications across four dials.

THE STORY OF CRAFTSMANSHIP highlights the Reverso’s evolution into a canvas for artistic expression. Since the 1930s, it has been adorned with miniature paintings, gemstones, engravings, and enamelling, with miniature painting particularly revered in Eastern traditions – especially in India, where the idea of the Reverso started. Among the earliest commissions, the Maharajah of Kapurthala ordered 50 pieces with enamel portraits of his wife, marking the first enamelled Reversos. Though now lost, a similar 1936 piece in Jaeger-LeCoultre’s collection features a portrait believed to be Kanchan Prabha Devi, Maharani of Tripura State. Originally designed to protect the dial, the blank metal caseback soon became a medium for artistry, transforming the Reverso into a true work of art.

As traditional decorative crafts declined in the mid-20th century, the revival of mechanical watchmaking in the 1990s reignited interest in these techniques. The Reverso played a key role in preserving them, starting with the first modern Reverso featuring grand feu enamel in 1996.

In 2016, Jaeger-LeCoultre established the atelier des Métiers Rares™, bringing gem-setters, enamellers, engravers, and guilloché specialists together in a dedicated workshop. This collaboration has enabled increasingly intricate and innovative embellishments, solidifying the Reverso’s reputation as a showcase for artistic mastery.

INTRODUCING NEW REVERSO MODELS FOR 2025

At Watches and Wonders Geneva 2025, Jaeger-LeCoultre introduces 9 new models to the Reverso collection. From new aesthetic interpretations of existing models to entirely new calibres, the new timepieces express each of the four chapters of the Reverso Story.

Celebrating the Reverso as a catalyst for technical innovation, the new Reverso Tribute Minute Repeater features an entirely new integrated movement, Calibre 953, which is open-worked on the reverse side and features 7 patents. In the Reverso Tribute Geographic in both steel and pink gold (18k – 750/1000), Calibre 834 introduces the world time complication to the Reverso Tribute for the first time, providing an innovative solution to displaying world time in a rectangular case, together with a patented Grande Date display case (patent CH715152). The Reverso Hybris Artistica Calibre 179, introduced in 2023, is now presented in a white gold (18k – 750/1000) case.

In a magnificent artistic interpretation of the Reverso, the Reverso Tribute Enamel ‘Shahnameh’ series is a collection of four watches featuring miniaturised reproductions of illustrations from Persia’s most celebrated epic poem, the Shahnameh. Each of the enamelled caseback images pays homage to the horse – central to this year’s polo theme – through the art of Persian miniature painting. Also showcasing the artistic crafts, two new interpretations of the Reverso One ‘Precious Flowers’ and a new interpretation of the Reverso One ‘Precious Colours’ feature radiant mixes of grand-feu enamel, diamonds and lacquer in various combinations.

Underlining the versatility and timeless modernity of the Reverso design, a new aesthetic expression of the Reverso Tribute Nonantieme ‘Enamel’ features decorative enamelling on the reverse side and a grey sunray dial. Marrying vintage appeal to contemporary elegance, the Reverso Tribute Monoface Small Seconds in 18k (750/1000) pink gold is presented with a pink gold Milanese bracelet and features a grained dial that matches the precious metal.

In homage to the iconography of the very early Reverso models, the Reverso Tribute was designed in 2016, distinguished by the simplicity of the dial – with baton indexes, Dauphine hands and a chemin de fer minutes track – which amplifies the linear geometry of the case. For 2025, Jaeger-LeCoultre presents two new aesthetic variations of the Reverso Tribute Duoface Small Seconds. With both models cased in steel and featuring a redesigned reverse dial, one has a vivid blue front dial and the other has a pure black dial.

A CELEBRATION OF CRAFTSMANSHIP AND AN EDUCATIONAL JOURNEY

At different stations located around the booth, master artisans demonstrate four of the key skills intrinsic to the creation of the Reverso icon:

• RESTORATION: a watchmaker from the Manufacture Restoration Workshop demonstrates the special skills required to restore a watch;
• ENAMELLING: an enameller from the Manufacture’s atelier des Métiers Rares™ demonstrates four types of enamelling technique practised at La Grande Maison;
• INNOVATION: a Research & Innovation constructor dives deep into the intricacies of the Minute Repeater with prototypes and displays of measurement;
• CASA FAGLIANO: travelling to Geneva from Argentina, family members of Casa Fagliano, the world-renowned maker of polo boots, demonstrate the many steps involved in creating their handmade straps, and display the patented Hybris triple folding buckle.

A viewing room is dedicated to the 180 skills mastered within Jaeger-LeCoultre’s fully integrated Manufacture. It showcases the video series ‘In the Making’, which goes behind the scenes of the Manufacture to tell the story of various watchmaking skills from the perspective of the artisans themselves.

A specially designed space on the upper level of the booth is dedicated solely to the Atelier d’Antoine, where the 2025 programme of hands-on Discovery Workshops will focus on the Reverso. In these dynamic and highly interactive sessions, participants will dive deep into the inside story, viewing rarely seen documents from the Reverso archives, and will take on the challenge of assembling a Reverso case, guided by experts from the Manufacture. Discovery Workshop places are available to all visitors by appointment.

After participating in an Atelier d’Antoine Discovery Workshop on the Reverso or exploring the booth, visitors can test their knowledge with the Atelier d’Antoine Pursuit, an interactive quiz designed to engage and educate.

THE 1931 CAFÉ PRESENTS A NEW GASTRONOMIC ADVENTURE

In the latest collaboration under the Made of Makers programme, Jaeger-LeCoultre commissioned the gifted young Chocolate Craftsman Mathieu Davoine to create a new gastronomic experience inspired by the world of polo. The 1931 Café invites visitors to sample four chocolate delights that each deliver multiple sensory surprises and challenge perceptions of chocolate. Complemented by a beverage specially created by Mathieu Davoine, the chocolate delights showcase his experimental approach to chocolate gastronomy, revealed through unconventional textures, daring blends of unexpected flavours and surprising visual presentations.

Watches and Wonders takes place in Geneva from April 1 – 7 2025 and is open to the public from Saturday April 5 to Monday April 7.

Public day tickets to Watches and Wonders Geneva 2025 can be purchased online at: https://www.watchesandwonders.com/en/geneva-2025