Hands-On: Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Squadra World Chronograph

With all due respect to King David, Jack (of Beanstalk renown), and the Miracle on Ice, the best way to kill a giant is to field a colossus of your own. In 2006, Jaeger-LeCoultre did precisely this in response to the runaway success of oversized sports watches from Audemars Piguet, Hublot, Ulysse Nardin, and a gaggle of others. The Reverso Squadra World Chronograph is a titanium juggernaut of a watch with the presence of Big Ben on a (slightly) smaller scale.

But big watches raise big questions, including brow-furrowing doubts about fit, wrist feel, weight, and overall ergonomics. As the largest serially-produced Reversos in the 83-year history of Jaeger-LeCoultre’s signature model line, the Squadra series presents the ideal subject for a hands-on watch review.

The look and feel of a watch on the wrist is an essential facet of the ownership experience – perhaps even the defining experience. At the end of the day, a watch is only worthwhile if the owner feels that it looks good and feels good.

On these terms, the Squadra is a qualified success. The look and geometry of the case was polarizing from the day this model line debuted at the SIHH trade show in January of 2006. At the time, JLC had been working for parts of three decades to rehabilitate the image of its iconic watch. While the Reverso was loved and respected, it played to an older crowd during the 1980s and 1990s. JLC feared that the market share lost to newer, hipper, and larger rivals would become permanent as a generation gap developed and older customers left the marketplace. The Squadras were designed to stem the bleeding.

Of the three Squadra models that bowed at SIHH ’06, the most intriguing was the World Chronograph. The case, like all original Squadras, was the standout feature. Rendered in titanium, the enormous structure raised eyebrows even in the era of the Offshore and Big Bang. With the exception of JLC’s virtually unobtainable 2-pound platinum Reverso Grande Complication à Triptyque, the Squadras dwarfed all reversible watches in company history. Among devotees of the brand, the formation of a love/hate schism was immediate.

Haters Gonna Hate… or are they? On the wrist, the Squadra deals a body blow to the doubters. Ironically, the watch achieves this feat because its physical impact is so minimal. The entire rotating case and underlying chassis are crafted from grade five titanium. Grade five titanium retains the light weight for which the grey metal is known, but it also resists scratching in a manner more like steel than the inferior jewelry-grade titanium still common in the watch industry. Brushed titanium is notorious for betraying every minor insult and injury. Not only does this Squadra look remarkably fresh for a watch pushing a decade, but it sits lightly on my 6.4″/16cm wrist. Tastes vary, but this watch won’t overwhelm any adult male forearm muscles.

The Squadras weren’t just bigger Reversos. They slaughtered a sacred Le Sentier cow by deviating from the traditional aspect ratio of the Reverso case. While the exact proportions have varied since the line’s 1931 debut, the Reversos never strayed far from a height-to-width aspect ratio of 1.61: the Golden Ratio. Consider the above image of the Squadra World Chronograph with a traditionally proportioned Reverso Night and Day (Duo) for comparison. The enormous disparity in size is less salient than the difference in shape; the Squadras are nearly square.

Ironically, the hew and cry from the traditionalists neglected to recognize that the Squadras bore a faithful resemblance to Reverso inventor René-Alfred Chauvot’s original patent applications for the revolving case. The eventual 1931 rectangular shape was necessitated by the rectangular-shaped movements of the time as much as aesthetic intent.

The case of the Squadra feels unlike any other Reverso on the wrist. One key consequence of the stubby form is that the watch sits on the skin like a supple cushion-style case. In comparison to a standard Reverso, which wears somewhat like a rigid wrist band of metal, the Squadra spreads its surface area evenly and avoids creating pressure points. While standard Reversos tend to fit or reject certain wrist profiles (e.g., flat, rounded, oval), the Squadra feels as though it does a better job of accommodating in-between fits. If a standard Reverso Grande (contemporary 48.5 mm) doesn’t work for you, consider the Squadra. The best cross-reference when evaluating the Squadra’s suitability for a given wrist would be a titanium 44-47 mm Panerai. A wrist that endorses one would suit the other.

Conceived in the late 1920s as a rotating watch that could shield its glass crystal by rotating the metal caseback outward during polo matches, the Reverso was the original sports watch. Later, as more impact-resistant material supplanted glass as watch crystals, JLC reinvented the revolving Reverso as a double-dial watch with independent displays on both sides.

JLC’s Squadra World Chronograph continues this tradition with an impressive suite of complicated functions. Even partisans of the traditional Reversos grudgingly admit that the World Chronograph approximates a splice of Swiss watches and Army knives. In addition to the reversible case, the Squadra features a JLC in-house Caliber 753 chronograph with automatic winding, a grand date, a night/day indicator, and a world time display.

Chronograph functions are featured on the same dial as three-hand time and the two-window date display. A night/day dial features at 6 o’clock and shares space with the constant seconds. On the recto dial, 24 time zones are displayed simultaneously on a migrating world time disc. The continuous rotation of the world time disc in relation to the cities keeps the user apprised of the time in every zone – simultaneously.

While the Squadra case may strike some as an affront or monstrosity (or both), the indisputable fact is that splitting the world time function from the primary dial creates clarity lacking in almost every other world time watch on the market. Consider the below trainwreck a cautionary tale of what can happen when a chronograph is packed into the same dial as a world timer:

On the main dial of the Squadra, large Arabic numerals are a model of legibility. The enormous size, luminescent coating, and clear contrast with the black dial make these figures a joy to read. In the flesh, this dial features a surprising amount of thoughtful details; a small sector track rings the periphery of the dial, and subdials echo this motif. At center, a horizontal guilloché echos the metal “gadroons” that traverse the end caps of the titanium case. The chassis of this Squadra features the hallmark of every Reverso; a tight pearlage pattern completes JLC’s thoughtful finishing of inner case’s surface. While the Squadra appears somewhat brutal in the purgatory of photo studio light boxes, it asserts undeniable charm in the flesh.

Not only is the chronograph easy to read on this dial, it is also a pleasure to use. In this application, JLC’s “Autotractor”-based caliber 753 delivers the premium pusher feel users expect from a manufacture of this stature. Starting, stopping, and resetting of the chronograph benefits from a crisp column wheel function selector within the mechanism. The chronograph cycles through its functions with rife-bolt snaps, and the vertical clutch engagement of the system ensures that no unsightly jumps, staggers, or partial resets mar the experience. JLC’s chronograph also features a 65-hour power reserve, so the watch can survive a day or two off wrist without concern for imminent resetting.

Automatic (self-winding) Reversos are as rare as small bills at a Christie’s auction. Along with the 1998 Reverso Gran’Sport Automatic and the 2014 Reverso Night & Day, the Squadra series ranks among the few exceptions that can sustain themselves from wrist movement alone. Room for a winding rotor is one of the key benefits of the enormous case volume, and the feature affords this watch a failsafe that manual-wind Reversos lack.

The world time feature takes on new dimensions of utility thanks to its isolation from other functions. A floating night/day shade overlays the time zones and provides a gentle reminder of which regions are best left undisturbed by errant phone calls.

An outstanding articulated rubber bracelet adds tremendously to the quality of the Squadra experience. While conventional bracelets can transmit the shock of cold weather direct to the skin, and rubber often traps sweat and heat, the multi-link rubber system employed herein suffers none of these drawbacks. The natural rubber nodes feel supple against the skin, and the links have no tendency to pinch skin or pull hairs. While testing the watch at our Hollywood, Florida headquarters, I was struck by how well conceived and thoughtfully finished this strap appears in person. Although JLC also offers alligator strap options for this model, I cannot imagine choosing any alternative over this bracelet.

Better still, the bracelet includes screwed junctions on each individual link, so precise sizing is possible for wrists with unusual fit requirements. The JLC double-deployant buckle is a user-friendly unit that employs spring-loaded double trigger release. The buckle has the same milled-from-billet feel of the best contemporary Rolex Oyster clasps, and it inspires confidence when closed.

The Jaeger-LeCoultre Squadra World Chronograph is not for all watch collectors – or even all JLC junkies. It’s the antithesis of the recent market obsession with factory replicas (“tribute watches”) of vintage classics. In the Squadra, an open-mind at ease with calculated controversy will find a ready partner. As a heretical take on the classic Reverso, the Squadra is more iconoclast than icon, but it succeeds on its own merits.

This is a comfortable, complicated, and eminently useful Jaeger-LeCoultre that offers a thinking man’s alternative to the Big Bang King Powers of the world. For those who may have repudiated the Squadras when they bowed in 2006, consider trying ours in person.

The Squadra’s charisma just might inspire an about-face.