In this insightful owner's review, rnaden shares his detailed impressions after six weeks with the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Tribute Moon. His candid assessment delves into the watch's wearability, design nuances, and practical functionality, offering a valuable perspective for collectors considering this distinctive JLC reference. rnaden's experience highlights the subtle complexities and unique charm of a modern Reverso complication.
Probably about time to share my month long (actually about 6 weeks) with this watch and how it holds up and whether or not it meets my initial expectations. I’ve worn the watch almost 90% of the time, even to sleep.
To start with, the size - I initially had reservations about the size prior to purchase, as the 49.7mm height is above my usual comfort zone, but when I put it on the wrist at the boutique, I liked how it sat and that sealed the deal. I already loved how it looked, especially the recto side with the grained dial and the hand hammered moon phase. Well, the latter is only visible with a loupe, so it is something that only the wearer can appreciate but it’s not always easy to see without a magnifier. Still, knowing it’s there, and being able to admire under a loupe the texture of the moon is very nice and appealing. The strap and deployant is great, very comfortable, like all JLCs I’ve owned. I would dare say that JLC makes one of the best and most comfortable straps and deployants out there, especially for those like me with smaller wrists.
The watch is quite thick for what it is, giving quite a significant wrist presence, and it’s hard not to look at it, see it there in a way stating with a fact that it’s obvious. For some reason, it still flies under the radar when only a few people have commented on it in my daily use, and those only from those who are watch fans in a way. The AP RO garner way more attention than this one, despite that being smaller, grey and slimmer. I’ve found myself bumping this against doors and door posts more often than I’d like, but no major damage or scratches, which is interesting - maybe it’s the design and build or maybe the steel is harder than what 316L is, but I’m not complaining. A little thinner would be nice though.
On to other practical considerations - the date is quite useless for half the month, like only now I’m noticing on this picture that it has the wrong date. The little red crescent to mark the date is small, so are the date numerals, so it’s a challenge to see it, especially when there is the combination of dots and numerals. When the pointer hovers above the moon phase indicator, it completely “disappears” and searching for the date hand and crescent becomes a hide and seek exercise. Doesn’t bother me a whole lot since I have the date on every computer screen and phone in the home or office, but I can imagine how some might be annoyed with a complication that doesn’t really work well in the real world.
Legibility is great on the recto side with the blued hands and indices against the grainy white background, so no complaints there, but on the verso side, the polished hands against the blue background is not ideal. Unless you catch the light on the hands, the hands pretty much disappear into the dial. The advantage of the verso side is that my eyes are drawn to the day and night indicator a lot, so “missing” the hands can somewhat be forgiven….yes, for a watch to not tell the time can be a travesty!
All in, I’m very happy with this watch. It had to go in for a check because the minute hands on the recto and verso sides did not line up - they were about 2 minutes apart, but the JLC boutique got that rectified for me within a day which speaks volumes to their customer service! I’ve never heard of a single day turnaround for any repairs on a watch these days - try some of the bigger boys and you’ll know what I mean. 1 month is a bonus in most cases.
6 weeks, it’s run about 2 minutes fast, winding it at the same time each morning. I think that’s plenty good. Personally, I would have been happy to have either a power reserve indicator or running seconds, but that’s just me thinking out loud. This is a beautiful watch, and it’s definitely one that I’ll keep, despite the shortcomings I’ve listed out above. All in, there is much more to like than dislike about it, and the gripes is just me - never being fully satisfied with anything ;-)
