Hallo,

i am trying to investigate the case finishing of my JLC Reverso (270.8.54) from 1999.

since the watch has relatively sharp and well defined angles i assumed that it was not molested with. Also the seller that it is untouched, but i obviously take it with a grain of salt.

Modern Reversos have a vertical brushed finish on the back side. And i belive if you send an old one for service they also revinish the case with vertical brushing.

Here is how my case looks, smooth surface, no brushing:



I realised that also the same model like mine are offered for sale with vertical brushed finish, however on those you can hardly recognize the text. So i assumed that those were refinished either during service or prior to sale by the dealer.


In fact most of the example i find online have vertical brushing but hardly readable text.


and so on...

with one exception. one example i found has sharp looking text and vertical brushing, but if you look clearly, the numbers look slightly different then my example:


Here is a comparison:


I started looking if i can find any example that looks like my watch and i found this youtube video:

He has exact same smooth case (no brushing) with relatively sharp edges and clear text.


So here is my question. Does anyone know if the Reversos from ~1999 had originally a smoth or vertically brushed backside of the case?
Thank you!

 

Thank you very much @SpikiSpikester

 

Well, the back of the "watch head" is indeed polished (in my case it is duo face though), the question is about the finishing on the back side of the "frame" which holds the watch head.
Thank you!

 

haha, i also saw some old JLC catalogues from this era for sale, but forgot to purchase while they were still available.
i guess i should try to find a copy

If this is a true New Old Stock then this gold one recently sold here on OF also has brushed finish:
https://omegaforums.net/threads/jaeger-lecoultre-reverso-duoface-day-night-rosé-gold-nos.129535/

havent found any Steel NOS though.

 

yeah i was a bit mislead since every example that i found with a polished back didnt have any rest overs of the old brushed finishing.
normally you either see partial loss of finishing or a very soft case due to overpolishing.
but now i am also leaning towards brushed finish at the factory, unless someone has a NOS Reverso hidden away to prove otherwise
thanks!

 

If it helps, I've got the same Reverso Duo (270.8.54) and AFAIK, it's not been polished before, and the back is brushed. It's off-site, so I can't take photos to illustrate it, sorry!

 

Relax, there have been various finishes on the Reverso backs since the Grand Taille case was introduced in the early 90's. Most of normal production cases were done with a vertical brushed finish, but most of the LE's they did in that era had polished backs. These were the 500 piece editions with tourbillon, chronographe, minute repeater, perpetual calendar and other complications. So it is not surprising that some regular production Reversos had polished backs like yours depending on production schedules. The way they signed the backs also varies, the initial ones from the 90's were usually lightly engraved with Jaeger LeCoultre name, model and serial number, but later ones had a more distinct signature to make them look more substantial and uniform. I have a very early rose gold Grand Taille case from 1992, it has a brushed back but the lettering is very simple single line engraving, just the bare minimum of effort. Your watch is fine, it has the finish it came with from the factory, it's just a bit different from most Reversos. If it is ever sent in to JLC for an overhaul they should not be putting a brushed finish on it, they should leave it as it came from the factory.

 

I would think that, as with our Speedmasters, if it is ever sent to CH for an overhaul it should be sent with instructions not to polish anything.

 

In comparison to Omega, JLC polishing is optional (at least it is what their website states). As far as i know Omega would just do what they think is necessary.

 

So, I took these during a visit to the factory - this is where the cases are polished at JLC:









Here you can see the backs of the Reverso case frames in the tray - all polished:



Now what I can't say for certain is if these were brushed after this step...but my impression at the time was that this was the final finishing step.

Cheers, Al

 

Polishing is an art onto its own, and if not done right it can ruin a piece. I bought my rose gold Grand Taille Reverso when they first came out in 1992 from Cellini in NYC. In 1999 while I was living in Melbourne I asked the AD there, The Hour Glass, to arrange for the back to be personalized. We decided on an Art Deco design JLC offered which was an engraved back which was then enamel filled. I think they still offer this design. The watch was sent off to Switzerland and in a couple of months came back with the work done (cost USD 346), it all looked good. But in the following days there was something not quite right about the back under certain lighting condition. Under a loupe it was obvious what had happened, the buffing wheel had intruded over a portion of the three raised ribs on each end of the case and slightly rounded off the sharp edges and marred the sand blasted finish at the bottom of the channels. It was probably just a split second of inattention by the case refinisher after the engraving that caused the damage. Took it back to The Hour Glass and they agreed that it wasn't right and the watch was sent back to JLC. A couple of months pass and the watch comes back with a new gold back and reengraved initials. An expensive cost for JLC as the original back had been ruined. I'm sure they recovered the gold from the back but it was still an expensive exercise. That's why having a case refinished is always fraught with danger if the work is not done by an expert. And even an expert can make a mistake.

I don't have a pic of the first effort, but this is how it was redone. Pic taken 20 years after the engraving.

 

Thank you for the inside photos, looks nice

 

My 270.3.54 Reverso Duo was refinished at the Richemont Service Centre in London by the dedicated JLC polisher. In the pics below, the brown ostrich strap is before the work. The rear of mine had brushing both before and after and came back to me literally mint. As noted already, clearly some cases come polished and some come brushed, I'll be honest and say I think I prefer the brushed approach. Mine is also mid 1990s and is probably the most luxurious watch I have ever owned. It oozes quality and style. Unlike me.

 

That is well preserved for a 20 year old gold watch

 

Holy smokes, i had no idea that the dial on these is made of two pieces

 

Thanks for sharing super nice photos