We throw around the words “sports watch” frequently, and often carelessly, to describe watches that fall in a loosely defined category of “not dress watches,” and Jaeger-LeCoultre rarely gets the credit for establishing the segment when it produced the Reverso in 1931. While we aren’t quite at the 100-year anniversary of the model yet, that doesn’t mean it can’t be lauded, anyway. Unveiled at Watches and Wonders 2023 is the new Reverso Tribute Chronograph – a watch that most buyers will not play polo with — but if you do, please send in a photo.

Specifications

Brand: Jaeger-LeCoultre
Model: Reverso Tribute Chronograph
Dimensions: 49.4 x 29.9 x 11.14 mm
Water Resistance: 30 meters
Case Material: 18k pink gold or steel
Strap/Bracelet: Fagliano Collection calf leather and leather/canvas hybrid
Crystal/Lens: Sapphire crystal
Movement: Manually wound Jaeger LeCoultre Manufacture Calibre 860
Power Reserve: 52 hours
Operating Frequency: 4Hz
Price & Availability: Price unavailable, TBD

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Featuring a classic three-hand time-only dial on one side and a skeletonized chronograph on the other, the new Reverso Tribute Chronograph is the best of both worlds and a touch more fidgety than your barebones Reverso. Despite the Art Deco design (which has remained unchanged for the model’s entire existence) the color and finish choices are decidedly modern. The JLC Reverso Tribute Chronograph comes in a pink-gold case with a black sunburst dial and strap, or a steel case with a blue-gray sunburst dial. The blue-gray dial has a unique chilling tone achieved through Jaeger-LeCoultre’s innovative atomic layer deposition (ALD) process. ADL results in an extremely thin layer of titanium oxide layered onto the dial.

When you flip open the Reverso Tribute Chronograph, you get the — well, the chronograph part of the watch. The Calibre 860 is on full display with only the hands, minute track, and retrograde minute totalizer hindering your view. Floating style markers seemingly hover over the Côtes de Genéve decorated bridges. Blued chronograph hands and screws, violet rubies, and gold accents jump out to create a truly fascinating watch face. Despite this decoration, the chronograph remains surprisingly legible. A black minute track with a silver or gold surround provides high contrast against the movement, although the steel model may have some minor legibility issues with the hour and minute hands.

The Calibre 860 is an all-new manually wound chronograph movement developed and made in Vallée de Joux (the Swiss high watchmaking valley in the Jura Mountains). The movement elegantly packs all the chronograph function into a rectangular shape to fill the case of the Reverso. It also provides the unique retrograde minute totalizer at 6 o’clock. However, only timing up to 30 minutes is a bit disappointing, but it will work for most people, and if you are like me, you forget what you started timing after 30 minutes, anyway.

The Reverso Tribute Chronograph comes with two fantastic straps. The Fagliano Collection of straps contains some of my personal favorite OEM straps in the watch market because they are supple and comfortable. The addition of a canvas strap really brings this watch home and dresses it down to a level that I could almost see on the wrist during a game of polo — if I were to actually watch polo.

Jaeger-LeCoultre goes by many names, some of which are carefully chosen to avoid mispronouncing LeCoultre but oftentimes due to its longstanding legacy of being an outright amazing watchmaker. You don’t get the nickname “The Watchmaker’s watchmaker” for no reason. The ability to provide nearly infinite nuance and complication to one of its most popular models without significant change to its design after nearly one hundred years proves how capable the JLC truly is. The Reverso Tribute Chronograph delicately balances the sophistication of the original sports watch that the Reverso was with the haute horlogerie prowess of Jaeger-LeCoultre. The Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Tribute Chronograph is priced at $21,400 USD in steel and $37,400 USD in pink gold. You can learn all about this watch and the brand’s Watches and Wonders 2023 releases at JLC’s website.