Designed by René-Alfred Chauvot, the Reverso was conceived with the express purpose of being able to withstand the harsh beating a watch would endure during a game of polo by virtue of its eponymous reversible function. This was put to JLC by entrepreneur César de Trey as a challenge for the brand in 1930. Born the year following in 1931, the Reverso was a sports watch, due to its particular use case. Thanks to its now-classical aesthetic and graceful design, the Reverso has evolved into a modern dress watch. However, in the 1930s, the Reverso needed to be more durable than other available watches; hence its ingenious reversible case was born. This protected the dial from a direct hit and gave the Reverso its name. Over 90 years later and the Reverso’s design lives on as one of the most recognizable in watchmaking. Launched in the 1990s, the Reverso Grande Tallie Steel ref. 270.8.62 that we have here was available until the mid-2000s as one of the larger Reverso variants. Indeed, it features a 26.1mm-wide and 42.2mm tall stainless steel case that almost perfectly matches the original Reverso’s golden ratio-esque 1.61 proportions, but with an enlarged footprint. As a result of this enlarged footprint, the ref. 270.8.62’s “Grande Taille” name meaning “Large Size,” makes sense. In keeping with the Reverso’s original versions, the ref. 270.8.62 is powered by the manual-wind cal. 822 movement, and features a monochromatic silver dial with a guilloche center and a satin-finished dial periphery that houses its Arabic numerals.

Requiring no introduction, the Reverso has been at the forefront of the horology industry since its launch in 1931 and watch collectors have shown no slowing in their desire to add this icon to their collection in some form or another over its near-decade of production.