Jaeger-LeCoultre

 

I briefly shared this 2016 novelty in the new collection preview, in December 2015 . 

THE question which comes to mind is this one: " Is this really a novelty "? 

I would immediately say that it rather is an evolution, since we had a Duoface in the " GT case era ", and, in 2013, these two Duoface in the Reverso Grande Ultra Thin Family.

The Blue, which was a Boutique Edition,

 
So, not a novelty, but an in depth evolution of the Reverso Duoface.

The most significative difference, on pictures, at least, is about the pusher, which was very discrete, in the first Duoface, more prominent, on the last one. 

Here, we have a very smart solution which doesn't spoil the purity of the case, since the pusher is now replaced by a small trigger, invisible when you don't flip the case, here illustrated by this technical draw:

   

  

This solution is a great aesthetical and technical improvement, in my opinion. And the price to pay, flipping the case when you want to set the second time zone, is not too high. 

Most of the time, you don't have to set the second time zone, indeed. 

As you could guess, to change the second time, you slide the trigger. Push it once per hour.

So, this is the first good point of this new Reverso Tribute Duo. 

The second difference is about the case size.

A difference you cannot see in picture, but which you will immediately understand if I give you the following figures:

- The 1st Reverso Duoface, with the GT case, was 42, 2 x 26 x 9, 4 mm big. A GT case. 

- The Grande Ultra Thin Duoface, was 46 x 27 x 8, 9 mm big. 

- The new Reverso Tribute Duo is... 42, 8 x 25, 5 x 9, 15 mm.

So, it is much smaller, narrower, and it has almost the same thickness. The proportions looses in millimeters what they gain in elegance. That is the second good news. It seems that JLC heard those, and they are many, who wanted to see a nice Reverso with a GT case.

The third difference is more subtle: The recto and verso dials. 

You will find the nice finely grained dial of the Tribute to Reverso 1948, or of the white Grande Reverso Ultra Thin Duoface from 2013 but with blued applied indices, and with some other differences, such as the new hands, more modern, more curved, shorter, too, blued on recto, silver on the verso, and the now round small seconds which seems to be larger than the rectangular one in the former White G.R.U.T.

The verso dial is very close, if not similar with the 2013 edition, with its hobnail decoration, but in a nice navy blue hue, now. 

Some close ups of the dials:

 



 
A detail about the blue indices and hands, on the recto dial:

The applied indices are painted in blue, while the hands are heated blue.

Stephane Belmont explained me that they tried the solution of heated blue indices, but the outcome was not satisfactory, so they painted it in blue. 

The fourth difference, the decoration of the inside part of the carriage, where the case lies. 

No perlage anymore, but a soleillé finish:

 

As for the movement, The main difference between the former Cal 854 and the now referenced Cal 854 A/2 is that the latest movement includes the quick setting of the second time through the trigger. Other than that, the vibrations per hour are the same ( 21 600 ), it is also manual winding movement, and the power reserve is identical ( 45 hours ). 

The other difference is that the new Reverso Tribute Duo is available in steel, only. Not in gold, like it was the case for the 2013 version. 

Let's see some real pictures of this model, now: 

 



 



 



 

 


 

You already guessed it, this is my favorite Reverso from the 2016 collection. Ok, the new Reverso Tribute Gyrotourbillon is certainly more exclusive and " horological ", but this one is very much my taste. 

I applaud the choice of a smaller case ( smaller than the name suggests, since the Tributes to Reverso were all big ( 46 x 27 mm ), the treatment of the dials and the choice of the hands, even if, and it will be one of the rare reserves I will express here, I find those in the recto dial too short.

Two shots to show you the difference between the former Tribute case and the new one:

The other reserve I have is that it is not, in the absolute, a real novelty. But with the Duos, we are used to see evolutions, not revolutions. And here we have quite a lot of evolutions.

Looking forward to reading your comments and thoughts,

Best.

Nicolas

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