The Reverso is like a sexy and expensive magic trick. I could have boasted to my coworkers about the new Reverso Tribute’s Calibre 860 movement—visible on one side of the watch with a skeletonized dial, featuring intricate Côtes de Genève finishing—or the sharp design on the reverse side with a laser-engraved horizontal bar. But the Reverso doesn’t require any technical knowledge to induce awe. The watch is a crowd-pleaser at heart: This is the original reversible watch we’re talking about! The small herd of editors marveled as I flipped it back and forth, satisfyingly clicking it back into place. It’s a simple, primitive pleasure, no doubt, but one we shouldn’t take for granted: How many watches give you two faces for the price of one?
With super-complicated haute horologie on one side and a more classic-looking dial on the other, my Reverso took full advantage of its duality. I always imagined that if I ever owned a Reverso, I’d spend most of the time with it flipped to the plainer side—I am but a humble and simple man. In practice, however, doing so would really defeat the particular wow factor of this watch. While JLC has released a pink-gold Reverso before, what makes this new piece so special is that everything is made out of the precious metal. It’s not just the case, like on last year’s release—the movement itself is built from glimmering pink gold. The watch is outrageously pretty in person, like a supercar with a translucent chassis that allows you to see the engine underneath. If I’m going to wear a watch this spectacular, I want to see the pink-gold machinery at work.