Jaeger-LeCoultre paired with billionaire-philanthropist Bruce Wayne for two decades but it's not Wayne’s only slick partner. SPYSCAPE runs through the favorite timepieces of Gotham City’s playboy crime solver. 

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Batman Forever (1995)

Val Kilmer was in Africa’s Kalahari Desert when his agent asked if he'd be interested in playing Batman should Michael Keaton bow out. Kilmer, who happened to literally be in a cave full of bats on the same day the studio had a meeting about his future, thought the idea was serendipitous.

When the Batman Forever star slipped on Bruce Wayne’s limited edition Jaeger-LeCoultre (JLC) Reverso Grande Taille for the 1995 action-adventure film, Kilmer didn’t realize he was starting a trend with Wayne's new watch collection. 

Kilmer’s Bat-watch wasn’t just telling time, however. The Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso - much like Bruce Wayne and Batman - has two sides to its sleek personality. On the flip side of the watch’s timepiece, Bruce Wayne had a Bond-like LCD screen so he could hold face-to-face conference calls with Alfred.

The classic timepiece wasn’t something Kilmer’s alter ego, Batman, would consider wearing, however. Kilmer pulled a thermometer out of his Bat Utility Belt during filming one day and discovered the temperature inside his Batsuit was 142 degrees F. There was only one thing Kilmer said he could possibly wear aside from the suit: Vaseline.

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The Dark Knight Trilogy (2005-2012) 

While all things Bat - cave, suit, and cowl - have changed over the years, Bruce Wayne’s watch initially remained the same after Kilmer’s departure. In Batman Begins (2005) and The Dark Knight (2008), Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne once again slips on Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Grand Taille (which is French for ‘large size’). 

Bale’s Bruce Wayne required an elegant, durable watch to move seamlessly between his dueling worlds of glamor and grit. Luckily, the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso is designed for flexibility, with a dial that can flip and with a back that is an almost indestructible steel shell originally designed to withstand the smack of a polo mallet.

In The Dark Knight Rises (2012), Bale switches to a JLC Reverso Grande Date, which features a large dual date window aperture. The characteristic Art Deco design with two sides to it perfectly reflects Wayne’s dayside-industrialist and nighttime-vigilante personas.

While Wayne’s JLC partnership remained a constant, the character was evolving, Bale said. By 2008, Batman/Bruce was still ‘warring’ within himself but now had more power and needed to find an exit plan so he didn’t spend the rest of his life fighting villains: “He’s attracting freaks, a different breed of criminal to the city.” 

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Limited-edition Reverso Tribute

JLC also created a limited-edition Reverso Tribute which had a bespoke engraved image of a bat filled with black lacquer on the caseback. It was a nod to the original Batman Reverso in Batman Forever. This 10-piece limited edition was presented to Warner Bros. executives and not offered to the public.

The ‘90s and 2000s were a golden period for Reverso. In addition to Kilmer and Bale’s characters, former 007 Pierce Brosnan wore a JLC watch in a remake of The Thomas Crown Affair.

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Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)

According to Forbes, Ben Affleck switched tacks. For Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Affleck wore a Breguet Tradition Tourbillon - specifically the Ref. 7047PT Tradition Fusee Tourbillon - a large platinum timepiece that reportedly came with a heavyweight price tag of $190,000.

The Tradition features a hand-wound movement with power reserve displayed on the barrel drum, and an off-centered silvered gold dial, hand-engraved on a rose engine and a sapphire caseback. It is also available in 18-carat rose gold (just in case you’re in the market).

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In February 2019, Affleck told talk show host Jimmy Kimmel he was done with the role of Bruce Wayne - even the bling watches couldn’t convince him to stay with the franchise: "I tried to direct a version of it and worked with a really good screenwriter, but couldn't come up with a version - couldn't crack it - and so I thought it was time to let someone else take a shot at it."

Never say never, however. Affleck and Michael Keaton are both reportedly reappearing as Batman in The Flash.

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Pennyworth’s watch

It seems Bruce Wayne isn’t the only character with a soft spot for luxury watches. Alfred Pennyworth (Jeremy Irons), Bruce Wayne’s right-hand man, flashes a Breitling For Bentley 6.75 Midnight Carbon Limited Edition in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice.

Irons had his eye on another hunk of metal during filming, however: “The first time I saw the Batmobile I was extremely excited… There it was, sitting in the Batcave. It has a clever design and you can believe you are there in Wayne Manor.” 

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The Batman (2022) 

Robert Pattinson’s The Batman Tourbillon was released publicly as a limited-edition luxury timepiece in 2022 with a design inspired by the reimagined Bat Signal and a price tag suitable for a man of Bruce Wayne status: $100,000. Just 10 of the watches from Kross Studio are being sold, and each comes paired with a special Bat Signal art piece, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Before you pull out your plastic, you’ll also want to know that the Tourbillon is a 45mm hand-wound timepiece with a five-day power reserve and is water resistant to 30 meters, made of grade 5 titanium with black DLC coating and features a one-revolution-per-minute tourbillon in the center with a bat emblem on the louvered tourbillon cage. (A tourbillon is a rotating, caged mechanism engineered to combat the effects of gravity on a watch’s accuracy.)

Pattinson wasn’t wearing the Tourbillon when he auditioned for the role, however. Instead, the Warner Bros. costume department fitted him with a Batsuit, a mix of costumes from previous Batman films.

“The body fit on Val Kilmer’s one and the head fit on George Clooney’s one. So I Frankenstein-ed it,” Pattinson recalled. “And you have three costume workers trying to squeeze your legs into this 30-year-old foam costume that is disintegrating - and you’re boiling hot.”

Pattinson grew up watching Adam West as Batman but West’s silky Batman costume wasn’t an option. Unfortunately, his favorite suit didn’t fit: “Tim Burton's [Michael Keaton’s] one. That was the one that really captured me.”