Officially named “Les Folies,” this is the Reverso pushed as far into jewellery as Jaeger-LeCoultre has ever taken it: a genuine reversible case, small enough to sit on the wrist as a bracelet rather than a watch, built entirely around the calibre 101 — the movement JLC developed in 1929 and which still holds the Guinness World Record for the smallest mechanical watch movement ever made. At 14 × 4.85 × 3.4 mm and roughly one gram, its 98 parts are assembled by hand by only two watchmakers at the manufacture today, a job that takes a full month per movement; the same calibre, in the same era, powered the diamond-set watch Queen Elizabeth II wore to her own coronation. What sets Les Folies apart from an ordinary Calibre 101 wristwatch is that the idea of rotation doesn’t stop at the case: individual gem-set links of the bracelet itself also swivel through 360°, so the whole object can be reconfigured between a plain-faced bracelet and a fully jewelled one. Across the range, Jaeger-LeCoultre’s own catalogue cites 723 diamonds available across the various settings. Ten references are confirmed so far, spanning yellow, pink and white gold, integrated gem-set bracelets and black leather straps, plain diamond-set versions, ruby and emerald combinations, and one fully multi-gem “rainbow” bracelet mixing sapphires, rubies, emeralds and diamonds together. Other expressions of the same calibre 101 movement — a larger platinum “Grande Reverso 101,” a five-piece white gold Art Déco version, and even a Reverso built as a ring rather than a wristwatch — are catalogued separately in the Limited Editions and Pièces Uniques sections of this archive, since they don’t share the integrated swivelling-bracelet concept that defines Les Folies specifically.
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Yellow gold set with diamonds and emeralds, on a matching yellow gold bracelet also set with diamonds and emeralds.
Yellow gold set with diamonds, on a matching yellow gold bracelet also set with diamonds — the yellow gold counterpart to the plain pink and white gold diamond-only references elsewhere in this range.
White gold entirely set with diamonds, but on a black leather strap rather than an integrated gem-set bracelet — unlike most of the range, which pairs its gem-setting with a matching metal bracelet. Reference and precise diamond count not yet confirmed.
White gold with a partial rather than fully pavé diamond setting, also on a black leather strap — a more restrained sibling to the fully paved white gold strap version above. Reference not yet confirmed.
White gold set with diamonds and emeralds — the white gold counterpart to the yellow gold diamonds-and-emeralds reference above. Reference not yet confirmed.
The simplest expression in the range: 18k pink gold set with diamonds throughout, on a matching pink gold bracelet also set with diamonds — no coloured stones, letting the case’s own rotation and the bracelet’s articulated links carry the design.
Pink gold set with diamonds and rubies, paired with a crocodile strap rather than an integrated bracelet — the strap’s pink gold buckle is itself set with diamonds, carrying the gem-setting through to the clasp.
White gold, entirely set with diamonds — by one auction house’s count, 236 stones — on a matching white gold bracelet also fully diamond-set. Sold for roughly US$87,500 when new; the case and bracelet elements alike rotate through 360°.
The white gold counterpart to the pink gold diamonds-and-rubies piece above: a crocodile strap with a white gold, diamond-set buckle, the case itself set with diamonds and rubies together.
The most elaborate reference in the range: a white gold case set with diamonds, on a bracelet mixing baguette-cut sapphires, diamonds, rubies and emeralds together — a genuine multi-gem, multi-colour treatment rather than a single accent stone against a diamond field.