FOUR FACES, 11 COMPLICATIONS

Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Reverso Hybris Mechanica Calibre 185 is a marvel of watchmaking. With four faces (also known as Quadriptyque) and eleven complications, it is arguably the most complex production wristwatch ever created

Since the advent of personal timepieces, the quest to build increasingly complicated watches was always constrained by the volume of space available in the watch. Having a multitude of complications in a watch is pointless unless they can be legibly and comprehensibly displayed, and the watch can be reasonably worn. Liberated by the unique design of the iconic Reverso, and after six years of development, Jaeger-LeCoultre has created a world’s first: a double-faced case continuously driven by the in-house Calibre 185, and a double-faced cradle with indications synced and updated by the primary movement every day at the stroke of midnight by an ingenious mechanical system proprietary to Jaeger-LeCoultre.

If executed through conventional mechanical means, the 11 complications of the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Hybris Mechanica Calibre 185 Quadriptyque would result in a timepiece far more suited for a desk than a wrist. Thanks to nearly two centuries of expertise and a modern approach to innovation, the new Reverso tells the story of cosmic and terrestrial time within the confines of a 51mm X 31mm X 15mm white gold case.

One of the main protagonists of the watch is the tourbillon complication. Occupying the 7 o’clock position on the recto face of the case, the flying tourbillon (thus called because the absence of an upper bridge allows it to appear as if it is floating), makes one rotation a minute, continuously varying the position of the balance to achieve a single corrected average time measurement.

The recto face also displays the indications of a perpetual calendar, a centuries-old mechanism that always displays the correct date despite the irregular number of days each month. It also takes leap years into account, displaying a 29th day in the month of February every four years. Considering the dimensions of the flying tourbillon at 7 o’clock, a new system was developed to position the date display at 5 o’clock.