Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso GranSport Chronograph: Yellow Brick “Roadster”

The Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso is JLC’s corporate icon. Like the Submariner to Rolex or the Navitimer to Breitling, the Reverso is the one watch that symbolizes Jaeger-LeCoultre to the watch enthusiast fraternity.

And the Reverso Gran’Sport Chronographe Retrograde is a member of JLC’s first family of watches. Originally designed as a solution for boisterous British polo players in India (the reverse side of the watch was shatterproof steel, not glass), today’s Reverso is a double-sided platform for additional complications.

The Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Gran’Sport Chronographe Retrograde offers users two watches in one.

On the main dial, hours, minutes, seconds, and a jumping date provide the essential readings that owners expect of their “daily driver” watch. A helpful marche/arret indicator clarifies the operational status of the signature complication…

But rotate the famous Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso case, and a second independent dial appears. An in-house JLC chronograph movement powers the 30-minute retrograde minutes display and radial seconds dial. Exquisite hobnail guilloche and a two-tone dial treatment express the chronograph in a fashion that is visually and functionally distinct from the civil time on the opposite face.

Jaeger-LeCoultre intended for the 1998-2006 Reverso Gran’Sport Chronographe Retrograde to be a gateway Reverso for younger luxury watch buyers who had grown up with Rolex, Omega, and Breitling sports watches. The 50m water resistance greatly surpassed the 30m of the standard dress Reverso, and full metal bracelets – 18K gold in this instance – reinforced the model’s sporting intent.

Due to limited Jaeger-LeCoutre distribution networks in their pre-Richemont (pre-2001 model year) years, the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Gran’Sport line never had the exposure it required to really catch fire. The resulting rarity of these models makes them an attractive target for savvy collectors seeing future collectibles.

Video and content by Tim Mosso.