BY JOVAN K
Jaeger-LeCoultre has been finding new ways to surprise us with the Reverso for decades, but now and then, they release something that reminds you just how much room there still is to push the concept. The new Reverso Hybris Artistica Calibre 179 Q39424E5 is one of those watches.
If you’ve been following the Gyrotourbillon’s story since it first appeared back in 2004, you’ll know this isn’t a complication that stopped going any further. What’s interesting is that Jaeger-LeCoultre never really made a noise about its evolution. While some brands would have turned every update into a major launch, JLC simply kept refining it in the background, generation after generation. The result is what you see here, a watch that feels like the natural outcome of more than twenty years of development rather than a sudden breakthrough.
The watch comes in an 18k pink gold Reverso case measuring 31mm x 12.41mm and 51.1mm in length, but the dimensions only tell a small part of the story. The first thing that grabs your attention is the engraving. Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Métiers Rares artisans have transformed the side of the case into a canvas, carving a Pegasus in high relief against a backdrop of flowing clouds that continue across the lugs and onto the dial itself. The cloud motif carries over to the front display, where 50 individually shaped apertures have been filled by hand with different shades of blue lacquer, creating surprising depth and movement. It’s the kind of decorative work that takes longer to explain than some brands spend developing an entire collection.
The front side displays the local time through a blue lacquered sub dial at 12 o’clock, balanced by the Gyrotourbillon at 6. Flip the case over and the watch reveals a skeletonized second time zone display complete with a 24-hour day and night indicator, hand-finished bridges, and more blue lacquer detailing. Everything revolves around the Gyrotourbillon itself, whose inner titanium cage completes a rotation every 16 seconds while the outer carriage rotates once per minute and doubles as the running seconds display. Even after all these years, it’s still one of the most captivating mechanisms in modern watchmaking.
Powering everything is the manually wound Calibre 179, a movement measuring just 6.85mm thick despite containing 385 components and 52 jewels. It beats at 21,600vph and offers a 40-hour power reserve, but the more interesting details are hidden within the regulating system. Jaeger LeCoultre uses a greyed hemispherical balance spring together with a specially developed double anchor escapement designed to reduce air resistance and improve stability. That becomes particularly important when the tourbillon is moving this quickly, and it’s a reminder that beneath all the artistic craftsmanship sits some seriously advanced watchmaking.
What’s easy to forget today is that when the original Gyrotourbillon launched in 2004, it was considered one of the most technically ambitious multi-axis tourbillons anyone had ever attempted. More than twenty years later, Calibre 179 feels like the payoff for all that development. The Pegasus engraving, blue lacquer work, and incredible finishing will naturally grab most of the attention, but they’re only half the story. Underneath all of that sits a movement that represents decades of refinement, making the Reverso Hybris Artistica Calibre 179 as impressive mechanically as it is visually.
The watch ships on a blue alligator strap with a pink gold folding clasp that adjusts to the nearest 0.5mm. It’s limited to only 5 pieces, and the price is upon request, though it has been confirmed to sit above CHF 650,000.
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