Val Kilmer wears a Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso

Joel Schumacher took over the Batman franchise from Tim Burton in 1995 and made exactly the film you would expect: louder, brighter, and less interested in shadows. Val Kilmer plays Bruce Wayne in Batman Forever, facing Jim Carrey's Riddler and Tommy Lee Jones's Two-Face at once while processing his parents' murder for what the script treats as the first time. Nicole Kidman plays the psychologist love interest, and Chris O'Donnell appears as Robin.

Bruce Wayne wears a Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso, a more interesting choice than the obvious Patek Philippe or Rolex. The Reverso was designed in 1931 for British polo players in India who kept smashing their watch crystals during matches, and its swiveling case lets the wearer flip it face-down to protect the dial. JLC builds every component in-house at Le Sentier, and the Reverso has long been the watch of people who know watches rather than people who want others to notice theirs.

The Batman Forever Reverso is a Grande Taille special edition with the Batman logo engraved and lacquered onto the solid caseback. Jaeger-LeCoultre announced a 100-piece run timed to the film, though only 35 were ultimately produced, 30 in stainless steel and 5 in 18-karat yellow gold, each individually numbered. The flip was the design's whole point: worn dial-up, Wayne is the playboy industrialist; rotated, the Batman logo is revealed, a literal flip from one identity to the other.

The prop department took it further. Kilmer's on-screen version is rigged so that when Wayne flips his wrist, a screen in the caseback shows Alfred's face, turning the Reverso into a Bond-style wrist communicator.