Style Edit: Jaeger-LeCoultre CEO Jérôme Lambert on the Reverso’s enduring appeal: at Watches and Wonders 2025, the industry veteran explained the continuous reimagination of the classic design

On a busy day during the fair, Lambert took some time to sit down for an interview with Style.

Why focus on the Reverso this year?

The Jaeger-LeCoultre family is rich but every other year we work on the Reverso because it’s a watch that has many facets and can exist in many dimensions. It tells a story of complications, of craftsmanship and style. Every two years we can bring new creativity and tell all these stories. This year we’re exploring the origin of the watch and, when it comes to complications, we’re willing to go to the depths of the movements and the relationship between the movement construction and the case itself. It’s very balanced – the case and the skeletonised part go together, and we also follow the golden ratio. You want to question the fundamentals of the watch.

What role does design play versus technical prowess at Jaeger-LeCoultre?

Jaeger-LeCoultre is about watchmaking creativity, and the watchmaking part is obvious thanks to the number of calibres we’ve patented. Our manufacture is probably the last one to be fully integrated and to be able to fully deliver a watch from A to Z. It gives the creative side the ability to not compromise.

We have created more than 50 movements for the Reverso – more than one movement every two years – and it’s not for the sake of making a calibre, but it’s because if you make a ladies’ watch, for instance, you need to have a specific calibre and you have to design a new movement. The capability to have the watchmaking serve the design, in the case of the Reverso, gives you the luxury not to compromise. The style serves the manufacture to drive it to more perfection. At the end of the day, if you do a mechanical movement and there is not that emotion of uniqueness and the beauty of decoration, the movement is useless.