Long before “personalization” became a big trend among watch enthusiasts, Jaeger-LeCoultre offered its clients unique possibilities of customization through the Reverso’s caseback, which served as blank canvases to be adorned with family crests, monograms, messages, paintings and more.
One of the most stunning enameled Reversos is from 1936. It features the beautiful portrait of the maharani of an Indian state, although her exact identity has never been confirmed. Then there is another vintage Reverso caliber 410 from 1949 with an enameled illustration of the Hindu deity Rama. This watch was part of an exhibition hosted by the Victoria & Albert Museum in 2009.
In the early 1990s, Hungarian watchmaker and enameler Miklos Merczel started to utilize the rear of the Reverso case for miniature enamel paintings. He launched the in-house enamel workshop at Jaeger-LeCoultre in 1996 with a set of watches that, from 1896.
