Reversos and small wrists

Hopefully this short post with pictures can help anyone else with small wrists thinking about getting a Reverso.

There's nothing worse than lusting after a watch only to try it on for the first time and find it is either too big or does not sit perfectly. This is even worse if you have already purchased it online before the watch has ever even approached your wrist. Needless to say I did this with a Grande Reverso Ultra Thin Tribute to 1931. Super excited to open the box when it finally arrived, I threw it on and was very quickly borderline-regretting buying something without first trying it on. The size looked fine but as I'm sure all of you know (and I did not), Reverso straps come with small plastic end 'blockers' where they meet the lugs. Having not done my research before splurging thousands of pounds on something I planned to keep for the rest of my life, they took me by suprise.

The upshot of these meant that the strap can, in certain positions, loop slightly outward and resist fitting snug against the wrist (almost like a bangle would). This is designed so that the lugs don't point out too far and keep a more curved and smooth transition between lugs and strap. I have tried to capture the effect here on my small wrist (for reference, my wrist is 6.3" and fairly flat.).



Not content with this fit and having it get caught under a few cuffs, I thought the problem would resolve itself by simply changing the stock strap for something else. A black calfskin looked great.. but as i'm sure all of you know (and I again did not), Reverso cases have particularly low drilled lug holes. The resulting look and fit appeared even worse than the stock strap, with it sitting very close to the case and the lugs protruding further out, you are left with a pointy box that belies the sleek form that Reversos usually exude!



At this point, I reluctantly returned the watch to the standard strap and placed it in the watch box where it sat for about two months. It bugged me so much I was thinking about selling it. As luck would have it I noticed a thread on the Watchuseek forums discussing the Casa Fagliano strap for the Tribute to 1931 limited edition version of the same watch. Apparently they are available for the standard TT1931 if you mail them directly and pay $500.

Because I loved this watch so much I had to try everything to make it work. So I took the (expensive) plunge and ordered a dark brown strap at the beginning of January. It arrived on the first day of February and I've included some pictures below of me attempting to fit it to the watch :-). The reason this strap works is due to the extra thick folderover at the lugs. It was designed specifically for the Grande Reverso Ultra Thin models and so works much better than anything else. The fold helps eliminate the "lug overhang" and has transformed the watch completely. I have other straps from Camille Fournet, ABP and Hirsch but this is in a different league in terms of feel, fit and quality. If anyone is having doubts I am sure you won't be disappointed to pull the trigger, even at the high price of $500. It's worth every penny. They do a variety of colours and also have a 'small' size which is pictured here and is 110/65mm (the regular is 120/80mm).



Keep in mind it comes with no spring bars or buckle so you will need to canabalise another strap :-) I used the JLC buckle from the stock strap. Also, the spring bars are very hard to push in.



Lug overhang gone!









And lastly, here is a really grainy wrist shot!

Attached Images