Jaeger-LeCoultre Takes The Reverso Virtual – Announcing The New On-Line Museum
Grande Reverso Ultra Thin Tribute to 1931 Steel – ©Jaeger-LeCoultre
Unless you live on another planet you would undoubtedly be aware by now that next year that storied watch-manufacturer Jaeger-LeCoultre will celebrate the 80th birthday of the Reverso, which was first conceived in Paris on March, 4, 1931 according to the official patent filed by Jaeger (although the piece was actually powered by a Tavannes movement the first year).
The iconic watch created by the legendary Le Sentier manufacture has cultivated a rich history deserving of no less than its own museum. Over the years, the production of Reversos has grown steadily bigger, and is now comprised of some 20 different official references (plus countless limited editions). In fact, while some versions benefited from incredible enhancements, such as tourbillons or Grande Date, others remained quite unchanged but for some minor refinements over the years, making it sometimes difficult for second hand owners to accurately to identify precisely the date of bitrh of their beloved timepiece. And our guess is that even Jaeger-LeCoultre lost track of some of the Reverso references, which has been confirmed to us by the Manufacture itself.
Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Museum – ©Jaeger-LeCoultre
A Temple Dedicated To A Legend
Like some of their Richemont cousins, the teams at Jaeger-LeCoultre are very active on the web: an interactive website, a Club, an active Twitter account, of course a facebook page, and, most importantly, a reactive team in each country. As we are highly expecting a real social management, Jaeger-LeCoultre made us an unexpected surprise with a dedicated museum for the Reverso. As far as we know, this is a unique initiative, based upon a simple idea : the manufacture displays, by decade, a whole range of references, and each and every guest to the museum is invited to upload (and this way register) a picture of any missing (or existing) reference that he or she might own.
Although it might sound a little simplistic at first, it is, in our opinion, the best way to :
- learn about missing / forgotten models;
- create priviledged access to Reverso owners; and most importantly,
- interact with its audience.
The last bullet point will remain on hold for the time being, however, as the initiative has only been launched officially a few days ago and a little time is needed to ensure any unexpected bugs can be ironed out. It will be interesting to see how the brand manages its miscelleanous web initiatives together, however, the brand has already given us some insight into this latest project with this video posted on YouTube :
The Final Word
We have already underlined how important it is to go where your clients are using original ideas – not (just) controversial advertisements, for instance. The example of the Omega travelling museum is a great initative allowing for real-time interaction. The Virtual Museum by Jaeger-LeCoultre is similar in the sense that it also doesn’t allow any real contact with watches (much like a real museum), however, it accessible from anywhere in the world. Blancpain’s latest idea to gather together the most significant Fifty Fathoms in a given city is another example (inspired by Stephan Ciejka) of how brands rely on their own customers to build up public exhibitions. These great ideas provide a way for the brands to involve both owners and consumers -”prospective owners”, in their marketing projects, therefore increasing the likelihood of success.
What really needs to be highlighted about Jaeger-LeCoultre’s unique idea, however, is that they have found a great way to turn a typically passive communication tool – a museum – into a 2.0 initiative. In other words, to switch from communication to conversation.
Want to see how it works ? Click here.
Category: Watch News
