Jaeger-LeCoultre - Reverso Hybris Mechanica Calibre 185 Quadriptyque

Jaeger-LeCoultre released the most complicated Reverso watch ever created, the Hybris Mechanica Calibre 185 Quadriptyque. Price: €1,610,000/$1,350,000

Jaeger-LeCoultre celebrates the Reverso and its 90 years (you can read its amazing story here) by releasing the most complicated timepiece ever presented in this collection, the Reverso Hybris Mechanica Calibre 185 Quadriptyque.

More than six years of development were required to complete this impressive project, combining the skills of the most talented watchmakers and artisans of La Grande Maison, as the brand is often referred to.

The world’s first wristwatch with four functioning display faces, this creation brings together a total of 11 complications including perpetual calendar, minute repeater, indications of the synodic, draconic and anomalistic cycles. 12 patents were filed by Jaeger-LeCoultre.

By incorporating three displays of lunar information on the interior face of the iconic Reverso cradle (the synodic cycle, the draconic cycle and the anomalistic cycle), the Hybris Mechanica Quadriptyque can even predict the next global incidence of astronomical events such as supermoons and eclipses — the world’s first wristwatch to provide such a deep reading of the cosmos.

Thanks to the unique expertise of Jaeger-LeCoultre in the creation of complex mechanisms, the brand was able to contain the size of the watch to just 51 mm x 31 mm x 15 mm, which is really impressive. The case is crafted from white gold.

The tourbillon - or better, the flying tourbillon considering that it does not feature an upper bridge in order to offer an unobstructed view of the mechanism - is positioned at 7 o’clock on the recto face of the case making one rotation a minute. The balance beats at the frequency of 4 Hz (28,800 vibrations per hour) with an autonomy of 50 hours.

This dial face also displays the indications of the perpetual calendar, taking leap years into account so displaying a 29th day in the month of February every four years. The date is displayed at 5 o’clock while day of the week and month appears in the two apertures at 12 o'clock. All the perpetual calendar indications change instantaneously at midnight. 

The verso face of the Quadriptyque case is dedicated to the chiming mechanism that is activated by sliding the lever located just above the crown.

The first series of low notes corresponds to the number of hours. Then, we hear an alternating couplet of high and low notes, corresponding to the quarter-hours and, finally, a succession of high notes, indicating the number of minutes to be added to the elapsed quarters. 

The striking works of the Reverso Quadriptyque are completely exposed alongside a secondary time display, indicating the same time as the recto dial, but in a jumping-hours and peripheral-minutes format. 

Various elements of the chiming mechanism - including the silent chime governor created to eliminate the buzzing noise - are visible through apertures on the movement plate, beautifully hand-decorated with the guillochage motif known as clous de Paris.

The repeater gongs are directly attached to the sapphire crystal for optimal acoustic performance.

The chime of the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Hybris Mechanica Calibre 185 is uninterrupted, with no pauses in between the hours, quarters and minutes. Traditionally, minute repeater mechanisms use special pivoting racks that read the time off a series of cams and then proceed to activate each group of chimed notes in turn with the result of having silent gaps between the groups of chimed notes. By refining and inverting specific steps in this mechanical sequence, the Quadriptyque has succeeded in eliminating these gaps entirely.

Located on the interior face of the cradle of the Reverso Hybris Mechanica Calibre 185, we find an unprecedented combination of lunar information - the synodic cycle, the draconic cycle and the anomalistic cycle - allowing the user to determine eclipse events (both solar and lunar) and rare lunar phenomena such as supermoons.

The top half of the interior face of the cradle is occupied by a representation of the phases of the moon in the Northern Hemisphere. A laser-engraved moon is progressively covered and revealed by a mobile blue lacquer disc with gold glitter décor, corresponding to the age of the moon in the synodic cycle. While conventional displays of the moon phase accumulate one day of error after 32.5 months, the moon phase display of the Quadriptyque requires only one adjustment after 1,111 years.

Just below the moon phase display, on the left, is a counter with a three-dimensional micro-sculpted pink-gold sun orbited by a tiny hemispherical moon. This counter shows the draconic cycle, showing when the path of the Moon intersects with the orbit of the Earth around the Sun (known as the ecliptic). Such an intersection takes place twice in each cycle, indicated by the horizontal alignment on the counter of the moon and the sun. When this happens, based on some other conditions, an eclipse event might happen on Earth.

To the right of the draconic cycle counter is a domed representation of the Earth, micro-painted in enamel, with a hemispherical moon in eccentric orbit around it. This counter represents the anomalistic cycle, showing the varying distance between the Earth and Moon. When the Moon is in its full phase near or at the perigee, an event known as a supermoon occurs, in which the Moon can appear to be up to 14 percent larger than usual in the sky.

The Reverso Hybris Mechanica Calibre 185 the only watch ever made to provide such depth of information about astronomical phenomena.

The last face of the Quadriptyque, the exterior face of the cradle, offers an artistic representation of the phases of the Moon in the Southern Hemisphere. 

A star-flecked sky chart, engraved and lacquered in a gradient of blue shades forms the backdrop to the pink-gold moon, all of which are created in the Atelier des Métiers Rares of Jaeger-LeCoultre.

The secret to the Reverso Hybris Mechanica Quadriptyque’s four functioning display faces lies in a clever solution: every day at midnight, a pin extends out of the main case movement to activate a mechanical corrector in the cradle, which then advances the cradle displays. The mechanism driving the cradle displays is set directly into the cradle itself, without any additional movement plates that would increase the thickness of the watch. 

The Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Hybris Mechanica Calibre 185 comes in an exceptional presentation box with a built-in mechanism that allows the wearer to quickly and intuitively set all the calendar and astronomical displays of the watch after a period of being unworn.

A two-position crown on the side of the box is used to first set the number of days that have elapsed since the watch was last worn. With the Quadriptyque set within the correction support frame, the box corrector crown can then be extended to its second position and wound to rapidly bring the watch to the current date for all calendar and astronomical indications. 

There is no risk of overcorrecting the watch or damaging the movement, since the entire process is controlled by the box corrector mechanism.

One of the most impressive watches that we have seen in the last decade, the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Hybris Mechanica Calibre 185 Quadriptyque ref. Q7103420 is a limited edition of just 10 pieces with an indicative price of Euro 1,600,000 (including VAT) / US$ 1,350,000 (excluding sales taxes). jaegerlecoultre.com

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