Three new Reverso Tribute Enamel timepieces, limited to 10 pieces each, pays tribute to Venice by marrying fine watchmaking with the art of guillochage, enamelling and miniature painting
It was fall in 1908 when Claude Monet and his wife arrived in La Serenissima. The architecture and the light in Venice that autumn was “too beautiful to paint”, in Monet’s words. Eventually, his ten-week stay culminated in the prolific ‘Venice Series’ paintings that magically capture the changing light at different times of the day across various spots in the city. Three of the 37 images he painted are now miniaturised onto the caseback of the latest Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Tribute Enamel timepieces, down to every detail of Monet’s work.
A showcase of La Grande Maison’s in-house Métiers Rares™ (Rare Handcrafts) Atelier mastery of miniature painting, enamelling and guillochage, the limited-edition Reverso Tribute Enamel timepieces also pay homage to the host city of the Homo Faber Biennial exhibition held in Venice this September. Homo Faber’s mission to honour and promote crafts of all forms align with Jaeger-LeCoultre’s dedication to watchmaking and the artistic crafts associated with Haute Horlogerie.
Reproducing Monet’s original works measuring more than 65x92cm onto a surface of just 25x20mm is a feat accomplished by the Métiers Rares™ Atelier. The enameller had to overcome the challenge of manifesting the dreamy atmosphere of the originals by creating an illusion of the impasto – the textured effect achieved with thicker paint that Monet applied when finishing the canvases. The intensity and depth of colour required 14 layers of enamel to achieve: three base layers, four layers of painting and seven layers of translucent ‘fondant’, separately fired at up to 800°C, up to 15 times.
This process alone takes eight or nine hours of work for each dial. Each of the three dials are then decorated with hand-guilloché patterns beneath the translucent coloured enamel to achieve the intended visual effect. Finally, the application of the indexes had to be flawless: tiny holes are drilled through the pristine enamel, and the chemin de fer minutes transferred thereafter. The simplicity of the Reverso Tribute design codes are unmissable in the faceted appliqué hour-markers and Dauphine hands.
San Giorgio Maggiore at Dusk
Monet’s San Giorgio Maggiore, where the Homo Faber Biennial is held, is painted with the sunset behind the island. The emphasis on light, colours and reflections present the buildings in silhouette, anchoring the composition. To reproduce this celebrated painting in miniaturisation took about 70 hours: Blue grand feu enamel complements the colours of the sky on the caseback painting while the herringbone guilloché pattern echoes the geometric lines of the Reverso’s Art Deco design.
The Grand Canal Venice
The church of Santa Maria della Salute appears to be afloat the Grand Canal, its architectural details taking on a dreamy effect from the hazy afternoon light. The caseback faithfully reproduces Monet’s masterpiece to capture the depth and movement of this remarkable view, amplifying the visual effect of the waves is using layers of green translucent grand feu enamel to depict the water. The wavy hand-guilloché pattern on the dial reiterates the reflections on the water seen in the painting.
The Doge’s Palace
Monet’s mastery in the depiction of the effect of light on water at different times of day is exemplified in his painting of the Doge’s Palace. In Monet’s own words, “the palace…was just an excuse for painting the atmosphere”. This view of the palace with the morning light shimmering on the water surface was painted from a gondola in the middle of Grand Canal at 8.00am. The lozenge guilloché pattern on the dial enables the change in light and shadows at different angles. Rich layers of translucent blue grand feu enamel amplify the geometric lines, 981 in total, each of which requires five passages of the lathe. A work of art in itself, it takes 8 hours to complete the total of 4,905 passages of hand-operated lathe.
Images courtesy of Jaeger-LeCoultre, artwork by Curatedition. All rights reserved.
Related links:
Jaeger-LeCoultre: The Artistry of Time
Jaeger-LeCoultre: Look Back to Look Forward
Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Tribute Enamel Hokusai ‘Amida Falls’: A Work of Art
