Jaeger‑LeCoultre brings The Collectibles back to New York this February with its fifth capsule, and this time the spotlight falls entirely on the Reverso – eight early pieces that trace the model’s formative decade between 1931 and 1937. In a world saturated with “vintage‑inspired”, it feels refreshing to handle the real thing: watches that left the Vallée de Joux when Art Deco still set the rhythm of modernity.
The Collectibles: programme and exhibition
The Collectibles sits at the intersection of manufacture archive, museum and carefully curated boutique window. Jaeger‑LeCoultre’s team hunts down historically relevant pieces from the so‑called golden age of watchmaking, then restores them in‑house to a level that satisfies both the brand’s heritage department and collectors who actually intend to wear their watches. The scope runs across 17 reference families, from Duoplan and Reverso to Geophysic, Futurematic and Memovox Polaris, covering the period from the mid‑1920s to the early 1970s.
Inside the restoration workshop in Le Sentier, ten watchmakers specialise in these older calibres and cases. They service movements, rebuild worn components by hand and draw on a deep stock of historical parts while they preserve the original character and patina whenever possible. Once they sign off, the watch leaves the valley with an archive extract, a copy of The Collectibles book and a fresh leather strap matched to the period aesthetic, unless the piece keeps its metal bracelet. When available, original boxes, papers and straps accompany the watch, which adds a welcome layer of narrative for collectors who enjoy complete sets almost as much as they enjoy bevels and bridges.
The fifth capsule occupies Jaeger‑LeCoultre’s flagship at 701 Madison Avenue from 5 to 23 February 2026, Monday to Saturday, 10:00 to 18:00. New York, with its skyline of stepped setbacks and polished steel, fits the Reverso in a very literal way; you only need to step out of the boutique and look up to understand the watch’s geometry. The eight capsule pieces are available there and through jaeger‑lecoultre.com from 5 February, alongside copies of The Collectibles book which you can also order through the website or any boutique.
Reverso: the first decade revisited
The capsule traces the Reverso from its birth as a sports tool for polo‑playing officers in British India to a fully formed design object that already adapted to masculine and feminine wrists. In 1931 the solution looked radical: a rectangular case in a carrier that slides and flips over to protect the glass, framed by strict gadroons and flat planes that align exactly with the Art Deco language of the time. The formula, however, proved flexible: within a few years the Reverso already appeared in different metals, with various dial layouts and in sizes suited to both men and women.
Mechanically, Jaeger‑LeCoultre gradually moved the model from outsourced Tavannes movements to in‑house calibres designed specifically for the Reverso’s tight rectangular footprint. Across its lifetime the Reverso has housed over 50 different calibres and created a second face, the blank back, that watchmakers and artists used for enamel, engraving and gemstones. Collectors today still respond to the purity of those early executions, and this capsule reads almost like a condensed catalogue of the DNA that later Reverso Tribute and Reverso One models revisit.
The men’s Reverso pieces
Jaeger‑LeCoultre opens the capsule with a reference that many enthusiasts dream about but rarely see outside books: a 1931 Reverso with black dial, the so‑called “dial of the future”. At a time when silvered dials dominated, this deep black surface, framed by a railroad minute track and elongated trapezoidal indexes, looked stark and contemporary. Today you recognise the direct line from this layout to the modern Reverso Tribute pieces with their sunray dials and applied markers; the proportions and hierarchy of information barely changed. On the wrist, an original 1931 wears lighter and more delicate than current tributes, with sharper lugs and a quieter bezel that reminds you how lean these early cases were.
The 1936 two‑tone Reverso, in steel with 9‑carat yellow gold, speaks a slightly different language. Here the case combines a steel carriage with gold elements to improve resistance to shocks and wear while it keeps the tactile warmth that collectors look for in precious metal. Inside ticks Calibre 410, the first in‑house movement that Jaeger‑LeCoultre created specifically for the Reverso, introduced in 1933 with a small seconds at six o’clock. Before Calibre 410, the manufacture relied on Tavannes movements (Calibres 063 and 064 for men, 050 and 051 for women) to bring the Reverso quickly to market; this watch therefore marks an important turning point where the Reverso becomes a fully integrated Jaeger‑LeCoultre product.
The third men’s piece in the capsule, a 1937 Reverso with small seconds, closes this first chapter. It uses Calibre 413, the fourth in‑house Reverso calibre, and carries a black dial signed “Jaeger‑LeCoultre”, which immediately anchors it in the year when LeCoultre and Jaeger finally merged their operations and identities. That double‑barrelled name on such an early dial feels surprisingly modern; it also offers a precise production reference for collectors who enjoy tying serial numbers to historical events. This watch, in many ways, shows a Reverso that already left behind its experimental years and settled into the silhouette we recognise today.
The Reverso Dame and feminine interpretations
The four Reverso Dame models remind you that Jaeger‑LeCoultre designed the reversible case for both genders from the outset, not as an afterthought. The 1931 Reverso Dame in bicolour 18‑carat yellow and white gold uses a white gold cradle with yellow gold lugs and case body, a combination that plays with light in a quieter manner than steel and gold. Its dial abandons a printed minute track in favour of brackets at each corner, a detail that you find again in the modern Reverso One line. The proportions sit elegantly on a smaller wrist, yet the architecture remains identical to the men’s watch; the Reverso never shrinks its design language into caricature when it goes “ladies”.
The Reverso 1931 Dame with Double Signature adds a discreet layer of collectability. Heated blue hands cut across the dial, the steel flashes with that specific shade of blue which watchmakers obtain through thermal treatment, and the typography carries a second signature from a historic retailer. Jaeger‑LeCoultre delivered only limited batches of Reverso pieces with such co‑signed dials to select boutiques, so surviving examples speak both about the brand and about the distribution network that helped make the Reverso an international object of desire. I always enjoy these small traces of commercial history as they frame the watch within a social geography, not just within a factory ledger.
Perhaps the most surprising piece in the set is the Reverso 1931 with cordonnet bracelet. Collectors usually associate these feminine Reverso models with slim leather straps, yet this example wears a chromed cordonnet, a rope‑like bracelet attached via specific lugs that differ from the usual straight bar arrangement. The look feels closer to jewellery while it keeps the hard edges and rectilinear architecture of the case, and you can almost imagine it appearing in a 1930s magazine as a piece of modern design rather than a sports watch. The size and profile make it an easy daily wearer today, especially for someone who prefers a period‑correct bracelet that still feels contemporary.
The final two Reverso 1931 Dame pieces round out the feminine side of the capsule with stronger graphic contrast. Both examples sit within cases framed by geometric brackets and they pair either black or brown calfskin straps with dials that push the Art Deco theme further. The black dial option, in particular, must have looked extremely forward‑looking in the early 1930s when most women’s watches still used light, finely printed dials. Seeing all four Dame models side by side underscores how quickly Jaeger‑LeCoultre explored variations in metal, display and attachment while it kept the essential Reverso grammar intact.
What you receive, how you buy and a word on price
Each Collectibles watch in this capsule leaves the boutique as a complete package. You receive the watch, an extract from the Jaeger‑LeCoultre archives, a freshly made strap matched to the case and dial, and a copy of The Collectibles book which situates your piece within the broader lineage of the manufacture. When the original box, papers or bracelet survive, Jaeger‑LeCoultre includes them as well, a detail that matters if you care about historical integrity and future liquidity.
The watches are on sale globally from 5 February 2026 through the brand’s website and at the Madison Avenue flagship during the exhibition period. Jaeger‑LeCoultre lists each Collectibles piece individually and invites prospective buyers to contact the boutique or their advisor for exact pricing; the official platform currently shows capsule watches with “price available upon request”, which signals a level that sits above current production but remains in line with rare, fully serviced manufacture‑certified vintage. For context, modern high‑end Reverso references such as the Tribute Monoface Small Seconds now start in the low five figures in euro or dollars, while limited complicated variants climb significantly higher. In that light, a historically important, early‑1930s Reverso with factory restoration and documentation will likely appeal to collectors who already understand what these watches achieve on the open market and who see value in pairing originality with brand backing.
Walking out of the Madison Avenue boutique with one of these pieces on the wrist feels less like buying a vintage Reverso and more like reconnecting a loose thread in the model’s history. You do not just acquire a watch; you join a short chain of custodians that stretches back to the first owner who flipped that case over to shield the crystal from a flying polo ball in an era when the Chrysler Building still counted as new.
