Grande Reverso 1931 Seconde Centrale

In Context

At 27.4 mm this is jewellery scale — a watch sized to be worn as an ornament rather than read across a room. The sapphire crystal will resist everything short of deliberate abuse. Rated to 30 m, it is protected against rain and splashes and nothing beyond that.

The movement winds itself from the motion of your wrist. Its 38-hour reserve wants wearing most days; leave it off and it stops. At 28,800 vph the seconds hand advances 8 times a second.

381357J stands on its own in this catalogue — no other reference here shares its base number. It pairs a black dial with a white gold case.

An automatic developed specifically for the Grande Reverso 1931 Seconde Centrale, and unusual within the Reverso line for putting the seconds on a central hand rather than a subdial. 194 parts and a single barrel inside 4.2 mm of depth, shaped to the rectangular case. A pushed crown handles winding and setting, and the seconds stop for synchronising.