Jaeger-LeCoultre

Open Up, JLC Reverso!

 

The fantastic posts by Fred led me to this theme. Fred, thank you for the insider look at your watches.
And thank your watchmaker - as they rarely have the patience for amateurs hanging over their shoulders with cameras.

My story opens with a question - how to get a Reverso open? And if one did, what would one find there?

I didn't NEED to know these things, I just WANTED to know them. HOW DO YOU GET INTO A REVERSO?

Of course, round watches seem relatively easy to open: unscrew back - there are the innards.

But of course it's not always that easy. Sometimes it takes a special unscrewing tool (i.e. ROLEX).
Do you think they made those special tool requirements to keep US out?

Sometimes there are multiple tiny mismatched and ruined screws that foil an owner...





And occasionally one might need to pry a snap-back off, or carefully use a razor blade, or a special tool, or heaven forbid, a hammer.

Now this is a bench! I'll bet he can open anything!   (Ten points if you can tell us who normally sits here...)






But I digress.  Back to the question. HOW TO GET IN A REVERSO?
An experienced watchmaker opens cases as a matter of course. Round, square, rectangular, tonneau, no matter. See the picture below.






You may have heard about wild-fires threatening Southern California - people escaping from their homes, fleeing animals, etc.
Did you ever wonder what happens to a watchmaker when the fires come sweeping down out of the hills?
All the customer watches go into cases like this, the watchmaker drives at top speed to safety.
Other belongings, important papers, etc. have to fend for themselves!

Did I digress again? Whoops!

But opening the Reverso is something else again. There is no obvious point of entry from the back.
Because that's not really the "back" of the movement case.

Some Reversos have a window on the back of the movement, so you can see there IS something inside. But HOW TO GET IN?

Others are more difficult - as they have two dials!

Such as the Grande GMT. Is there even a movement in there?

As you might imagine, some Reversos are very complex watches.





If your watch is one of these, you should ONLY seek professional help in the Vallee de Joux,
where they know exactly what they are doing, and they have all the spares they need.





However, if you just have a simple watch with some basic needs, perhaps you could see an expert watchmaker closer to home.

Well, my local expert got a watch whose owner was looking to have some dirt removed - NO overhaul, just a bit of a clean-up.
By a lucky chance I was there to show him a new Grand Seiko, and it gave me a chance to observe the watchmaker pull the Reverso apart.

On the chance that many of you would be interested, here we go.

Soon you will know HOW TO GET IN A REVERSO!

Look down near the crown and you may see the specks of dirt that distressed the owner.
They are inside the crystal, on the glass and on the movement.





This is a gold Reverso, so the odds are not much swimming, diving, or gardening has been done with this watch.
But maybe some polo or cockail partying. There was lots of dirt in the watch.
Not obvious at a party on in this image, but very apparent when taking macro pictures!

PLEASE  DON'T DO THIS AT HOME.
First thing to do - remove screws on ends of the case. Voila - it comes apart. Easy. Just pull yours apart and see! No, No. Better not.

Notice the grunge in the tracks - this migrated into the watch movement!

Hmmm - looks bad out here. Notice dirt around pivot.






Here's we have taken off the back half, and the movement is in the front half of the case. We are looking at the back of the movement.

Notice dirt around the hinge. The small hole is for the case screw.

This shows the top where the hinge is. The holes are threaded to receive the screw that holds the case on

 



This o-ring in the case should keep things out. But in this watch it was unsuccessful.
Even though my Reverso manual says "bathing" is safe, I wouldn't want to do more than wash my hands wearing this watch.




Although perhaps the watch should have been completely serviced, the owner was taking charge and asked for cleaning out the dirt only.

So out came the dirt, the movement was checked and for its age it was running okay and keeping good time,.

so back together, a little polish here and there, and back home it went.



I hope you enjoyed the inside glimpse of a Reverso - in my estimation a VERY FINE watch.

Cheers

Mike

PS - in my next post we will overhaul one of these...

(just kidding!)