Okay, so I’ve been wanting to get my hands on a Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso for a while now. You know, that classic watch with the flipping case? It’s just so cool. Anyway, I finally decided to imitate one, the Reverso Tribute Monoface, and let me tell you, it was quite the journey.
First, I started by digging into the history of this watch. Turns out, it was made back in 1931. Some polo players wanted a watch that wouldn’t break during their rough games, and a watch dealer named Csar de Trey took on the challenge. He worked with Jacques-David LeCoultre, who then got a French engineer named Ren-Alfred Chauvot to design it. How cool is that?
Now, the original Reverso is way out of my budget. I mean, we’re talking thousands of dollars here. So, I started looking at how I could imitate the look of this classic watch. I spent hours online, looking at pictures of the Reverso Tribute Monoface. I studied the case shape, the dial, the hands, everything.
- I started by sketching out the design. It’s a rectangular case, so that was easy enough. But getting the proportions right took some time.
- Then I looked for parts that I could use. I found a cheap rectangular watch case online that looked pretty similar to the Reverso.
- For the dial, I decided to print one out. I found a high-resolution image of the Reverso Tribute Monoface dial and scaled it to fit my watch case.
- I used some old watch hands I had lying around. They weren’t exactly the same, but they were close enough.
Putting it all together was tricky. I had to carefully glue the printed dial onto the watch face. Then I attached the hands. It wasn’t perfect, but it was starting to look like a Reverso!
The coolest part of the Reverso is the flipping case. Obviously, my imitation wasn’t going to have that feature, but I wanted to imitate the look. I used some metal foil to create a fake backplate, like the one on the Reverso that’s used for engravings.
I wore my imitation Reverso out to a get-together with friends, and no one could tell the difference! It started so many conversations. The blank metal flip side of the original Reverso was designed to protect the dial and glass. Over time, that feature has been used to personalize the watch with monograms, emblems, and personal messages, using lacquer. I just thought that was an amazing touch.
I’m pretty proud of how my imitation Reverso Tribute Monoface turned out. It’s not the real deal, but it captures the spirit of the watch. And it was a fun project to work on! It actually looks pretty good with jeans and a polo shirt, which surprised me. I thought it would look too formal, but it doesn’t.
End Result
In the end, I didn’t create a perfect replica, but that wasn’t the goal. I wanted to pay homage to a watch that I think is really special. And in that, I think I succeeded. Plus, I learned a lot about watches and had a lot of fun in the process!
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