Review: IWC Portofino Automatic 37mm, Rolex Oyster Perpetual Date-Date 40, Jaeger Le-Coultre Reverso One Monoface

Classic glamour, a platinum update, and making it easy to be green. This is all rather perfectly reflected in these watches.

The Jaeger Le-Coultre Reverso One Monoface Green, the IWC Portofino Automatic 37mm and the Rolex Oyster Perpetual Day-Date 40.

From celebrities bringing back the lost art of airport arrival hall glamour, to the return of the martini, elegance is back. This is all rather perfectly reflected in IWC Schaffhausen comprehensively adding to its classic Portofino collection, the allure of the green dial in a new Jaeger LeCoultre Reverso reference and the crisp and endless appeal of the Rolex Day-Date.

-

IWC Portofino Automatic 37mm

The IWC Portofino Automatic 37mm. Photo: Supplied

Judging by the Venice Film Festival airport arrivals earlier this year, celebrities may be returning to the glorious heyday of glamorous air travel.

Meanwhile, elegant gloves were spotted on the fashion runways this season and martinis have made a triumphant, potent comeback. All of which are ideal circumstances for IWC Schaffhausen to comprehensively add to its classic Portofino collection.

First launched in 1984 and inspired by classic round watch shapes and jetsetting holiday locales of the ’50s and ’60s, the updates include additions to the 37mm line-up such as a moon-phase complication and reconfigured diamond settings.

All of the new 37mm timepieces run on the 32000 calibre and come with sapphire glass case backs so you can see it in action. The leather strap versions are made in fully traceable leather and feature the brand’s quick-change system to switch things up if you wish. And speaking of celebrities, earlier this year the manufacture announced supermodel turned philanthropist and environmental activist Gisele Bündchen, a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Environmental Program since 2009, as its first environmental and community project adviser. $17,000

-

Rolex Oyster Perpetual Day-Date 40

Rolex Oyster Perpetual Day-Date 40

The Rolex Day-Date might be more famous in its 36mm incarnation – and to be sure, it is very famous. After all, the brand once advertised it as “the presidents’ watch”, and since its launch in 1956 it has been worn by everyone from assorted American presidents to golfer Arnold Palmer, Roger Federer and filmmaker Martin Scorsese.

However, the 40mm version, debuted in 2015, has a certain and unequivocal heft. This becomes especially so, and is undeniably striking, in this new platinum reference.

Thanks to some serious savoir-faire, it’s also the first time a Day-Date has featured a fluted bezel in this material. The ice-blue dial with a sunray finish is the finishing touch.

It’s fitted with the Rolex caliber 3255 and has a 70-hour power reserve. This watch’s place in history is par for the course.

POA

-

Jaeger Le-Coultre Reverso One Monoface

Reverso One Monoface Green.

Perfectly comparable to that dress worn by Keira Knightley in the film Atonement is this elegant deep emerald green addition to the Reverso One Monoface collection from Jaeger Le-Coultre.

Despite what a famous frog once lamented, it’s easy to be green these past few seasons – indeed fashion designers can’t get enough of the hue, from zesty lime to forest green and yes, deep emerald.

With its guilloché and lacquered dial and 40mm rectangular shape, the elegant timepiece stays true to the Art Deco lines of the original Reverso (which debuted in 1931 with polo players in mind).

The dial is set with two rows of brilliant-cut diamonds. It runs on Jaeger Le-Coultre’s in-house caliber 657 quartz movement, and while the leather strap is interchangeable, a more compelling hue might prove quite the ask.

$9750