Jaeger-LeCoultre brings nine decades of horological theatre to Dubai Design Week

In the heart of the Dubai Design District, where mirrored towers and glass façades rise like an ode to modern craft, a small pavilion awaits you ticking with history. Step inside and you’ll find yourself in Jaeger-LeCoultre’s “Reverso Stories”, a pop-up exhibition celebrating 90 years of the maison’s most recognisable timepiece - the Reverso.

Running from 4 to 16 November 2025 as part of Dubai Design Week, the exhibition invites visitors into an immersive journey through nine decades of horological invention, cultural shifts and artistic collaboration.

When the Reverso debuted in 1931, it was a watch built for polo players - a smart, sturdy solution to shattered dials. Its case could literally flip over, hiding the delicate glass and revealing a sleek metal back, which soon became a canvas for enamel, engraving and jewels. Nearly a century later, that mechanical sleight of hand remains one of watchmaking’s most elegant design ideas.

At Reverso Stories, the tale is told in four acts - Story of an Icon, Story of Style & Design, Story of Innovation and Story of Craftsmanship. Visitors move through each chapter as if paging through a living catalogue: early Art Deco models, mid-century revivals and today’s iconic Haute Horlogerie editions, including the almost otherworldly Reverso Hybris Mechanica Calibre 185 Quadriptyque - the world’s first wristwatch with four working faces and 11 complications. It’s part technical flex, part art object.

Dubai will also host the debut of a fresh iteration of the Reverso Hybris Artistica Calibre 179, first launched in 2023. The 2025 edition, limited to just ten pieces, features black hand-lacquered dials set in 18-karat pink gold, giving it a moody, monochrome elegance that echoes its Art Deco origins.

Inside beats a marvel of miniaturisation - Jaeger-LeCoultre’s patented Duoface movement (allowing two time zones on each side) and the fourth-generation Gyrotourbillon, a dizzying multi-axis mechanism spinning within the confines of a mere 13.63mm-thick case. It’s an object that seems to collapse time itself: futuristic complexity wrapped in 1930s glamour.

In keeping with Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Made of Makers™ programme - a series of collaborations that extend the brand’s artistry beyond watchmaking - Reverso Stories also doubles as a multidisciplinary playground.

Filipino webcomic artist Olivecoat reimagines the Reverso through digital panels and interactive storytelling, transforming horological history into a new kind of visual narrative. Nearby, Emirati architect Abdalla Almulla unveils 30 Sunsets, an oak installation awash with gradients of gold and amber, inspired by the Golden Ratio - that same mathematical harmony guiding both classical architecture and the Reverso’s proportions.

And at the 1931 Café, the air is fragrant with pastry and invention. Award-winning French pâtissière Nina Métayer offers desserts inspired by the watch’s geometry: precisely layered, golden-toned creations that mirror the Reverso’s symmetry. Each bite - or so one hopes - ticks to its own rhythm.

Unlike most things with the Jaeger-LeCoultre name attached, entry to Reverso Stories is free. Open daily between buildings 9 and 10 at Dubai Design District, the exhibition runs from 10am to 11pm (4–9 November) and 12pm to 11pm (10–16 November). Visitors can pre-register online for timed entry.

For a brand founded in 1833 and still nestled in the quiet Swiss valley of Vallée de Joux, this Dubai detour feels surprisingly apt - a marriage of old-world craft and future-facing spectacle.

And if the Reverso once flipped its face to shield against polo mallets, today it turns to reveal something else entirely: a reflection of how design endures, adapts, and keeps perfect time with the world around it.