SIHH 2015 – Jaeger-LeCoultre Grande Reverso 1931 Seconde Centrale – hands-on with live photos & price

The Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso is an icon, a pure piece of horological history, first created in 1931. For more than 80 years, Jaeger-LeCoultre had worked hard to keep this little piece of rotating metal on stage. Over the years, we’ve seen multiple complications, multiple sizes or multiple limited editions. In 2011, the manufacture chose to re-introduce a superb and faithful edition of the very first Reverso, the Jaeger LeCoultre Grande Reverso Ultra Thin Tribute to 1931. Here is a new edition, paying tribute to another old model, discreetly unveiled during SIHH 2015, the Jaeger-LeCoultre Grande Reverso 1931 Seconde Centrale.

While the previous editions of the ‘vintage-inspired‘ Reverso were mostly fitted with a time-only (see here) or a small-second manual movement (see here and here), this new edition comes with an automatic movement with central second. You might think this is odd in the context of a Reverso, but in fact, this watch is extremely close to some 1930s / 1940s vintage editions – not the most usual ones for sure. Take a look at this red lacquered dial edition that fetched a record price at an Antiquorum auction, with a price of CHF 50.000. Both were equipped with this unusual but very nice ‘Seconde Centrale’ layout. From the words of JLC, this new Jaeger-LeCoultre Grande Reverso 1931 Seconde Centrale is inspired by a 1935 model equipped with the Calibre 411.

The Jaeger-LeCoultre Grande Reverso 1931 Seconde Centrale has a two-step dial, with an inner / central white minute-track and extended powdered numerals and hour-markers in a gilded colour – a finish that can also be found on the hands. This round layout totally changes the face of the Reverso, that usually comes with a squarish dial and sub-dials. Because of this new Central Second, the movement is also different. it’s the Calibre Jaeger-LeCoultre 966A, an automatic engine with central rotor and 38 hours of power reserve.

Because of its self-winding mechanism, the movement of this new Reverso Seconde Centrale is slightly thicker than the manual one cased in the Jaeger LeCoultre Grande Reverso Ultra Thin Tribute to 1931 – 4.20mm compared to 2.94mm. The case is thus also thicker and measures 9.2mm (vs. 7.3mm for the Ultra-Thin Tribute to 1931). This new addition is only available in 18k white gold with black dial edition. The case remains elegantly sized at 46.8mm x 27.4mm, resulting in a discreet and refined look on the wrist.

The Jaeger-LeCoultre Grande Reverso 1931 Seconde Centrale will be available only in the brand’s official boutiques and it will be priced at 18.800 USD. More to discover on Jaeger-LeCoultre.com.