A Short History of Jaeger-LeCoultre
In 1833, Antoine LeCoultre opened a small shop in Sentier, Switzerland for the manufacture of time pieces. In 1847, he invented a Keyless watch winding system. (Edouard Heurer, founder of the now Tag Heuer company, designed a similar keyless winding system.) In 1851, LeCoultre was awarded a Gold Medal for his skills by the London Universal Exposition.
With his son, in 1866, LeCoultre established the first large works for the making of time pieces. By 1870, the works had over 500 employed under the single roof. Beginning in 1902 and continuing for 30 years, the LeCoultre works produced the movements for most of the watches made by Patek Philippe.
After some 30 years of collaboration, in 1937, LeCoultre and Jaeger, a Paris watchmaker, united and the brand became Jaeger-LeCoultre.
Since the year 2000, Jaeger has been wholly owned by the Swiss luxury group, Richemont.
The Reverso Watches
Polo players were constantly damaging their wrist watches because of the hectic play of the sport. Jaeger heard about this and designed a ""whack" proof watch. The Result was the 1931 Reverso, from the Latin for "turn around". A Reverso watch face could be swiveled inward and be fully protected. The plain steel back side of the watch was then exposed and not the more fragile front crystal side.
The idea of a flip-over watch was appealing and Reversos have been on the market during nearly all the 90 years since the first. Over the years, many models have been offered, including gold cased, and others with complications such as Sun/Moon, Reserve Dial, Date, and more. According to one source, just since 1991, there have been over 20 different Reverso models introduced with complications.
The example described here is Model 270.2.63 available from 1999 to 2005.
18K Gold case is 42 by 26 mm rectangular with Reeded Ends, rotates within its back plate. Fixed Gold Bezel, scratch resistant Sapphire Crystal on both sides. The Reverse side shows the movement. This is one of the few Reversos that allow a view of the watch works.
Under the sapphire crystal, is a two tone guilloche silvered dial with painted bold black Arabic numerals, blued steel sword hands, inner minute track, sector for the power reserve indication at 10, apertures for the night and day indication at 2, and Moon phase at 6. The Subsidiary Seconds dial is concentric to the Moon Phase window. A Night Day window shows rotating Sun Star symbols, the Sun during Daylight, the Stars at Night.
A Corrector Point on the side near the stem, allows quick correction of the Moon Phase with the Gold Toned Setting Pin provided. The instruction manual cautions against adjusting the moon phase if the hour hand is between 10 p.m. and 3 a.m. when the moon mechanism is engaged. The Day Night display can be used to indicate when the watch is in a safe Day phase before adjusting the Moon.
Some prefer to adjust the Moon Phase with a plastic or wooden pusher as there is a possibility that a careless slip of the supplied metal pusher might damage the soft gold surface.
Case Back stamped or Engraved "REVERSO" Jaeger-Le Coultre" "270.2.63" with the individual watch Serial Number. The case in which the Reverso works reside has Guilloch work and is stamped with several Hallmarks showing Gold content and other Certifications. The Winding Stem Crown bears a stylized "JL".
Some Reversos have a plain blank back side allowing for placing initials or having a scene etched or painted. The Sun Moon reverse side is a Saphire Window which does not allow such embellishment.
The Reversos show below have Backside designs not possible on the Sun Moon example.
The Manual Wind Caliber 823 powers this Reverso. The tonneau-shaped, rhodium plated Jaeger movement is hand crafted and assembled with Cotes de Geneve decoration and additional finely curved work. The movement is set with straight-line lever escapement, monometallic balance adjusted to 5 positions, shock absorber, self-compensating flat balance spring, blued steel screws, beats at 21,600 vibrations a day, Winding Reserve up to 45 hours is shown on a face dial.
This Sun Moon came fitted with a Black Crocodile leather strap. The strap fit into the supplied 18K Gold Deployant clasp. The strap buckle is 18K Gold with a stylized JL symbol. Crocodie imports to the USA are now restricted (in 2022).
A watch with a Deployant Clasp will sometimes move toward the far side of the wrist requiring twisting the arm toward the bodyin order to view the watch...a lttle unconmfortable.
The Deplayant Clasp is contoured to fit the underside of the wrist. Once the Clasp finds its place under the wrist, it will not move...the watch position on the wrist (centered, toward the far side or toward the near side) is actually determined by the length of the two watch straps.
Lengthening the 12 hour strap, will position the watch on the wrist closer to the body. A proportionate shortening of the 6 hour strap will be necessary. If the straps are properly measured and fitted, a watch can be positioned to stay in the center of the wrist.
Note that Jaeger Deployant Clasp design has changed in recent years...the Clasp fitted to an older Jaeger has a differnt design than a modern Clasp. This makes it nedessary to pay attention to the Clasp style when measuring for the new strap.
A different solution to the "traveling" watch. After having the watch continuosly move to the far edge of the arm, the watch straps were reversed with the 12 hour strap installed in place of the 6 hour strap. The Clasp was now backward and the Jaeger Logo upside down on the buckle but...the watch now stayed centered or if it did drift a little, the drift was toward the body allowing for easy view of the watch. For this particular user, the strap switch saved about $500 for a new strap, kept the watch on the wrist center, and was a very acceptable solution to the moving watch issue.
The Watch Box
The Sun Moon came in a black box fitted with Off White drapes and a cushion. A Warrantee Guarantee Booklet was included with the watch as was a User Guide.
The Sun Moon Reverso also came in a Black Dial version.
Extract of the Reverso Patent
Precise Time Setting
The Reverso 823 Movement has no Hacking function. The Seconds Hand will not stop when the Crown is pulled out to the Time Setting position. This makes exact timing to the Second difficult. This may not be a serious concern considering that the Manual Movement is expected to gain/lose some seconds over time.
When the watch is running, pull the stem out to the Setting position. Set the watch time to a reliable standard such as time.gov.
A Manual wind watch can be expected to lose, gain a few minutes in a month. More than this may indicate a need for service or adjustment.
Jaeger-LeCoultre Website
The JL website has some historic information about the company in addition to displaying the current models. A Web search can be made for more information. Some watch interest websites have JL forums.
Jaeger will issue a Certificate with specific information about an historic watch. There is a charge for this service.
A few Comments about the Brand
Jaeger-leCoultre is considered by many to be one of the top luxury watch brands as that term is loosely defined. Jaeger watch prices span a wide range from modestly expensive to very expensive. Jaeger watches seem to hold their value well and are collected by admirers. Jaeger is known for its comprehensive testing requirements as indicated by the "1000 Hour Control" noted on some models.
Jaeger has Boutique stores in various locations which can be very convenient to view watches, ask questions, get service or support.
About this website
This website is not related or connected to Jaeger-LeCoultre, or Richmont. Neither the watch nor the brand are endorsed or recommended. Any copyrighted material or images are shown here for educational and informational non-commercial purposes only. The opinions and comments here are those of the website owner and are for information only. Nothing on this website should be relied upon for any purpose.
(c) Richard Madison 2022