Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Hybris Mechanica Calibre 185

With 188 years of relentless innovation and savoir-faire behind it, Jaeger-LeCoultre continually sets new boundaries in the domain of fine mechanical watchmaking. Its Hybris Mechanica series of ground-breaking, ultra-complicated timepieces has established a constellation of stars shining with unparalleled brilliance in the horological heavens. In 2021, the latest addition to this celestial assemblage is a grand oeuvre six years in the making — the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Hybris Mechanica Calibre 185 Quadriptyque, the first watch in the world with four faces of timekeeping indications.

Since the advent of personal timepieces, the quest to build increasingly complicated watches is constrained by the volume of space available to the watchmaker. 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, 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 thoroughly modern approach to innovation, Jaeger-LeCoultre tells the story of cosmic and terrestrial time within the confines of a 51mm by 31mm by 15mm case, a story told in four chapters of horological virtuosity.