Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Tribute Duoface

A watch built to survive a polo match

The Reverso began with a complaint from the polo field. In 1930 the Swiss businessman Cesar de Trey, who knew both Jacques-David LeCoultre and the Paris firm of Jaeger through the watch trade, was traveling in India, where British army officers had taken up polo. They asked whether he could find a way to protect the glass and dial of their watches during matches. His answer was a case that could be flipped over, so the dial faced the wrist and only a plain metal back faced the mallets.

De Trey brought the idea to LeCoultre, and through Jaeger's connections a French industrial designer, Rene-Alfred Chauvot, was engaged to design the case. On March 4, 1931, the Paris patent office received an application for 'a watch capable of sliding in its support and being completely turned over.' In July de Trey bought the rights to Chauvot's design, and in November he registered the Reverso name. The first watches were on sale less than nine months after the patent application was filed.

The case moved faster than the movement. A rectangular case needed a shaped calibre that LeCoultre had to design from scratch, so the earliest 1931 Reversos ran on movements made by Tavannes. LeCoultre's own calibres 410 and 411, hand-wound and tonneau-shaped, arrived in 1933. The small seconds sub-dial at six o'clock, the layout this 2025 watch still uses, first appeared on the Reverso in 1934.

Jaeger-LeCoultre's own account describes the result as a revolution for its day: an unusual rectangular case, powered by a shaped calibre, set in a dedicated carrier that protected it from shocks and humidity. The double-sided case, historical patent CH159982, and its Art Deco lines are the parts that have never changed.

The people who kept it alive

Four names carry the Reverso story. De Trey had the idea and the business sense; Chauvot drew the 23-part case; Jacques-David LeCoultre built the movements, and in November 1931 he and de Trey founded a marketing company, Specialites Horlogeres S.A., to sell the Reverso and distribute LeCoultre watches. The firm itself was officially named Jaeger-LeCoultre in 1937.

The watch nearly died after World War II. Accounts differ on the details. One history says production stopped in 1948 and that in 1972 Giorgio Corvo, the brand's agent for Italy, found 200 forgotten Staybrite steel cases at the factory, worked for a year with his own watchmakers on a holder for a small oval Calibre 840, and sold all 200 finished watches within a few months, at a time when the brand sold about 200 watches a year in all of Italy. The Foundation for Haute Horlogerie's account says Corvo bought the last 200 cases and sold every piece within a month. Both agree that the Reverso was officially reborn in 1975.

In 1981 Jaeger-LeCoultre assigned engineer Daniel Wild to redesign the case to modern standards without visibly changing it. His case, unveiled in 1985, was machined in-house on then-new CNC equipment, was water and dust resistant, and had 55 parts instead of the original 23. The brand now describes the swiveling case of the Tribute Duoface as having 50 components.

The complications came under Gunter Blumlein and Henri-John Belmont. For the 60th anniversary in 1991 the brand released the Soixantieme, limited to 500 pieces, the first Reverso with complications and the first in the larger Grande Taille case. A tourbillon, a minute repeater, a retrograde chronograph and a world-time Geographique followed over the decade.

The world in 1931

The Reverso was born into a world sliding into depression. On May 11, 1931, Creditanstalt, Austria's largest bank, went bankrupt, starting a banking collapse in Central Europe. On September 19 the United Kingdom abandoned the gold standard. A luxury watch was a hard sell, which makes the speed of the Reverso's launch all the more striking.

India, where the idea was born, was in political upheaval. Mohandas Gandhi was released from prison on January 25, official ceremonies inaugurating New Delhi as India's capital began on February 10, and on March 5, the day after the Reverso patent was filed, the British viceroy and Gandhi signed the Gandhi-Irwin Pact. That September Gandhi represented the Indian National Congress at the Second Round Table Conference in London.

In New York the Art Deco style the Reverso embodied was going up in steel and stone. Construction of the Empire State Building was completed on May 1, and the George Washington Bridge was dedicated on October 24, nearly doubling the previous record for the longest main span in the world.

From blank back to second dial

For six decades the back of a Reverso was a plain plate: a shield on the polo field and, for many owners, a place for engraving or lacquer. In 1994 Jaeger-LeCoultre launched the Duoface, historical patent EP0633514, the first time the reverse side was used to host a second dial. The brand presented it as an expression of dual time, with local time on the front and home time on the back. A feminine double-dial version, the Duetto, followed in 1997.

The engineering trick is that one movement drives two sets of hands that turn in opposite directions. The Duoface calibre uses a second gear train to reverse the rotation for the back dial. A gear linked to the front minute hand carries the motion through to the reverse side, where a separate mechanism allows the hour to be set independently.

In 2016, for the Reverso's 85th anniversary, Jaeger-LeCoultre launched the Reverso Tribute line, built around the original 1931 codes: trapezoidal hour markers, railway-track minute scales and Dauphine hands. The Tribute Duoface became a regular part of that line; a Tribute Duoface Tourbillon followed in pink gold in 2023 and in steel in 2024.

How to identify Q3988481

Reference Q3988481 was announced at Watches and Wonders 2025, alongside the black-dial Q398847J. The two are otherwise identical. Both are steel, as the earliest Reversos were, and both measure 47 mm long, 28.3 mm wide and 10.34 mm thick, with sapphire crystals on both sides and 30 meters of water resistance. Earlier Tribute Duoface models in the catalog carried a textured clous de Paris back dial; the 2025 pair has a smooth silver sunray back dial instead.

The front dial is a sunray-brushed blue, made by applying 24 layers of colored and transparent lacquer by hand, each dried before the next. The brand ties the black and blue colors to the colored dials it offered on demand less than a year after the Reverso's launch. Hours are marked by elongated, faceted applied indexes rather than numerals, with Dauphine hands and a small seconds sub-dial at six o'clock.

Flip the case and the back dial shows the second time zone, with double indexes and a 24-hour sub-dial flanked by day and night plaques. The crown sets the minutes on both dials and the hours on the front; the second-zone hour is set by a small slider in the top of the case band, which is invisible until the case is released from its carrier to be turned. The inside of the carrier is etched with a sunray pattern.

Inside is the hand-wound Calibre 854: 160 components, 21,600 vibrations per hour and a 42-hour power reserve on one barrel. Published jewel counts differ between sources (19 and 21), so check the movement paperwork rather than relying on either figure. The watch ships with two interchangeable straps by Casa Fagliano, the Argentine maker of polo and riding boots: one in blue calf leather and one in blue canvas and leather, on a double folding clasp.

At launch the steel Duoface Small Seconds was priced at $13,700 in the United States and 14,800 euros in Europe. It is not a limited edition, and new examples marked with a 2026 production year were being offered for sale online in October 2026 for $13,300. The model is too new to have a public auction record.

The numbers

Reference

Q3988481 (blue front dial)

Caliber

Jaeger-LeCoultre 854 (given as 854A/2 in one review), hand-wound, 160 components

Frequency and reserve

21,600 vibrations per hour; 42 hours

Case

Stainless steel, 47 x 28.3 x 10.34 mm, reversible swivel case of 50 components

Water resistance

30 meters (3 bar)

Production

Regular production from 2025; not limited, no production total published

Timeline

1. 1930

   Cesar de Trey, traveling in India, is asked by polo-playing British officers for a watch that can survive a match.

2. Mar 4, 1931

   A patent application for a watch that slides in its support and turns completely over is filed in Paris on Rene-Alfred Chauvot's design.

3. Jul 1931

   De Trey buys the rights to Chauvot's case design.

4. Nov 1931

   The Reverso name is registered; de Trey and Jacques-David LeCoultre found Specialites Horlogeres S.A. to sell it.

5. 1933

   LeCoultre fits the Reverso with its own shaped calibres 410 and 411, replacing the original Tavannes movements.

6. 1934

   The small seconds sub-dial at six o'clock first appears on the Reverso.

7. 1937

   The company is officially named Jaeger-LeCoultre.

8. 1948

   Reverso production stops, according to one history.

9. 1972

   Italian agent Giorgio Corvo finds 200 forgotten Reverso cases at the factory and starts the revival.

10. 1975

    The Reverso is officially reborn.

11. 1985

    Daniel Wild's redesigned, water-resistant 55-part case is unveiled.

12. 1991

    The Soixantieme, limited to 500 pieces, marks the 60th anniversary and the first Reverso complication.

13. 1994

    The Reverso Duoface introduces a second dial on the back of the case.

14. 1997

    The Duetto brings the double-dial idea to a women's model.

15. 2016

    The Reverso Tribute line launches for the 85th anniversary.

16. 2023

    The Reverso Tribute Duoface Tourbillon is introduced in pink gold.

17. Mar 31, 2025

    The steel Tribute Duoface Small Seconds Q3988481 (blue) and Q398847J (black) are announced at $13,700.

18. Oct 2026

    New examples with a 2026 production year are offered for sale online at $13,300.

The world in 1931

• Jan 30, 1931

  Charlie Chaplin's silent film City Lights premieres in Los Angeles with Albert Einstein as guest of honor.

• Feb 10, 1931

  Official ceremonies inaugurating New Delhi as the capital of India begin.

• Mar 5, 1931

  The British viceroy of India and Mohandas Gandhi sign the Gandhi-Irwin Pact.

• May 1, 1931

  Construction of the Empire State Building is completed in New York.

• May 11, 1931

  Creditanstalt, Austria's largest bank, goes bankrupt, setting off a Central European banking collapse.

• Sep 19, 1931

  The United Kingdom abandons the gold standard.

• Oct 24, 1931

  The George Washington Bridge across the Hudson River is dedicated.

Price record

This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.

By reference price, Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Tribute Duoface is number 75 of 100 in the watches entries of the FLOAT 100. 54 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (61 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• The very first Reversos of 1931 did not run on LeCoultre movements. The case was ready before LeCoultre's shaped calibre, so early watches used movements made by Tavannes.
• In the 1930s Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin and Cartier all made watches using the Reverso case, and the Reverso was not even the first reversible case: Universal Geneve already offered one called Le Cabriolet.
• The hour of the second time zone is set with a slider hidden in the top of the case band. You can only see it when the case is pulled out of its carrier to flip.
• The blue front dial takes 24 hand-applied layers of colored and transparent lacquer, each dried before the next goes on.
• Its straps come from Casa Fagliano, an Argentine maker of polo boots, which brings the watch back to the polo field where the idea started.
• The 1972 revival sold 200 watches in a few months in Italy, about what the brand had been selling there in a whole year.
• The original 1931 case had 23 parts. The 1985 redesign had 55, yet looked unchanged.