Strap Check: The Casa Fagliano Leather Strap That Convinced Me To Buy A Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso

Dear Fratelli, can you relate to this? You look at a new watch for quite some time, and it climbs higher and higher on your wish list. And then, suddenly, you see it in a video or a picture in a way that you hadn’t seen it before. Or, you see it on a certain strap for the first time, and you immediately know you’ll be adding it to your collection. For me, that was the case with the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso. As soon as I saw it on this brown calfskin strap by Casa Fagliano, I knew a Reverso would be mine very soon.

A quick disclaimer to start off with, though — I just picked up this watch a week ago, and I’m still very much honeymooning with it. So, please excuse the wave of positivity as you read on. And today, it won’t be about the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso itself. Since this is Strap Check, I’ll try to focus as much as I can on the strap it came on. But of course, it’s all about the combination of the two, and that’s exactly what makes this strap so good. It was specifically designed to work with the Reverso. Even better, it was designed by Casa Fagliano, a renowned manufacturer of polo boots. This very much connects to the Reverso’s own sporty roots.

Just the right amount of ruggedness

It’s funny when you think about it… Those sporty roots are often forgotten when people talk about the Reverso. It’s regularly described as one of the more dressy watches out there. Heck, even Jaeger-LeCoultre usually offers the Reverso on fancy black crocodile and orange ostrich leather straps. It becomes such a dressy piece that way that I didn’t even really consider the Reverso to be an option for me. But then I saw it for the first time on this Casa Fagliano strap, and at that moment, it was like love at first sight!

I mean, this is still a chic leather strap. But to me, the extra piece of leather folded over at the lugs gives it just the right amount of informality that it needed. This is complemented by the tone of the leather, which already looks a bit aged straight out of the box. You don’t notice it in the press pictures, but when you see one up close, it gives off a very nice effect. The designers also chose not to let the strap taper too much. Mine goes from 19mm at the lugs to 18mm at the deployant clasp. Altogether, the folded parts, the worn-in leather, and the minute taper add a slightly more rugged feel to the Reverso. It’s a perfect match for my more casual clothing style. But it’s not just the added ruggedness that I like about it.

It complements the Reverso’s shape so well

When I started trying on different sizes of the Reverso, I noticed that it could quickly feel like you had a Lego brick attached to your arm. This is especially true when you go for the Reverso Duoface, as I did. And I must say, it isn’t a very nice feeling at all. Of course, it’s important to find the right case size, but the right strap can also help a lot in mitigating that feeling.

The fact that the extra leather parts on the Casa Fagliano strap fold over at the lugs means that the strap is thicker where it meets the case. That thickness works great with the Reverso’s lugs because they slope down to your wrist but are still quite thick at the end. The added thickness of the strap makes the transition from the case to the strap more gradual. As a result, it makes wearing the Reverso feel a lot more natural. But what also adds to that more natural feel is the comfort of the strap on the wrist.

It’s oh-so-soft and supple!

I got my Reverso brand new from an AD, and I already noticed in the store how soft and supple the leather was. I have and have had many kinds of leather straps in the past. Some of them needed a bit of time to break in, while others needed a whole year to break in! Well, that’s not the case with the Casa Fagliano strap. As soon as you touch it, you can already imagine how comfortable it will be on the wrist. And boy, is it comfortable indeed! I have some Saffiano leather straps from Autodromo that are also very soft, but the Casa Fagliano strap is truly next-level! We’ll have to see how it will hold up over time. But for now, this strap is a strong contender for the most comfortable strap in my entire collection.

So, what’s next?

It will obviously be very difficult to find another suitable strap for my Reverso. The one from the Casa Fagliano Collection simply sets the bar so high! And the fact that my medium-size Reverso has a 19mm lug width also doesn’t help. I might try to find one of the straps from the same collection that combines leather ends with textile on the main part. They seem to be hard to find, especially in 19mm, I imagine, but the search is half the fun. Other than that, I might actually ask Matteo Torre from Torre Straps to make me a custom strap. I’ve seen that he has tried to recreate the same construction, and he has some great leathers to choose from.

But until I find another suitable option, I’m actually very happy to wear my Reverso on its original strap. Now that I think of it, I can’t say that for any of my other watches, as I usually find that I have a better option available. It’s admirable that Jaeger-LeCoultre, together with Casa Fagliano, has been able to create such a well-matching strap.

By the way, I think it’s worth noting here that some of the straps on the more exclusive Reverso Tribute models are actually (hand)made by Casa Fagliano in Argentina. But many others, like mine, have actually been made in France and Italy and are part of what JLC calls the “Casa Fagliano Collection”. I believe they’re being made by a company called Camille Fournet and possibly others as part of an agreement with Casa Fagliano. There’s nothing wrong with that at all, but just so you know.

What do you think of the Casa Fagliano-style strap? Are you as excited about it as I am? Or would you pick a different one for the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso? Let me know in the comments!

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