Designed by Jacques-David Le Coultre, the Reverso was conceived to withstand the harsh beating a watch would endure during a game of polo. Born in 1931 as a sports watch by its very definition, the Reverso has evolved into a dress watch thanks to its now-classical aesthetic and graceful design. Unique in that its case can be opened, slid along a rail, flipped around on its vertical axis, and snapped back into place so that its caseback faces out with its dial against the wrist, the Reverso's eponymous function has given JLC a powerful medium through which they could further adapt the Reverso's iconic design: cue in the Duoface.
Designed to capitalize on its flip-action by giving it a second dial, the Duoface was, in fact, a means of increasing the Reverso's utility as a functional timepiece. Released in 1994, the first Duoface was split between a lighter colored 'home' dial and a darker colored secondary dial that the user would wear to indicate the time in two different parts of the world - making it a dual-time timepiece. The Reverso Tribute Duoface Small Seconds that I have here features the very same mechanism with one blue time-only dial and another silver guilloche dial with a day/night indicator.
Made from stainless steel, the Reverso Duoface sports a case designed to work with famed artisanal polo leather bookmaker Casa Fagliano that modernizes the Reverso's iconic rectangular shape to include longer and thinner lugs with a concave indent between them on the case so that the leather strap can better fit between them and blend into the case for a better-integrated aesthetic. Furthermore, with its engraved decoration running horizontally across the top and bottom of the polished case, the Reverso Duoface features design flourishes that pair well with its two dials.
Speaking of its dial, the Reverso Duoface has a sunburst blue dial with a small seconds subdial at 6 o'clock and a striking silver Clous de Paris guilloché dial showing a night/day indicator at 6 o'clock to mirror the small seconds on the other side. Both bright with plenty of personality, the Reverso Duoface's two dials are complemented with applied polished hour markers and dauphine hands.
Two watches in one, literally, the Reverso Duoface Small Seconds is an incredibly versatile timepiece that allows the user two different watch faces to match his/her’s outfit or feeling of the day. Furthermore, this Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso showcases its horological heritage with a robust and excellent manually-wound, in-house movement. While it's hidden beneath both dials, the cal. 854A/2 features the same high-quality architecture and finishing that has earned Jaeger LeCoultre their deserved moniker; "the watchmaker's watchmaker."
