The Reverso Tribute Enamel "Venezia Series"

On the occasion of its participation in the biennial Homo Faber exhibition in Venice this September, Jaeger-LeCoultre pays tribute to the city with three new limited edition Reverso Tribute Enamel watches . Each model is embellished with a caseback decorated with a miniature of one of Claude Monet's famous paintings dedicated to Venice, reaffirming the Reverso as the perfect canvas for artistic expression.

 

 

Created at the end of his career, the paintings of Claude Monet's "Venice Series" beautifully capture the architecture and exceptional light of the city, which impressed the artist since his arrival in the autumn of 1908 with his wife. Although he initially declared that Venice was "too beautiful to be painted", Monet immediately set to work, choosing a dozen different locations and painting them at various times of the day to capture the changing shades of light. During his 10-week stay, Monet completed 37 works.

 

 

Homo Faber's mission to celebrate and promote craftsmanship aligns perfectly with Jaeger-LeCoultre's commitment to preserving and enhancing not only watchmaking expertise, but also the arts associated with Haute Horlogerie. With the new Reverso Tribute Enamel "Venezia Series", the Maison showcases the exceptional craftsmanship of the Atelier des Métiers Rares™, which combines miniature, enamelling and guillochage techniques, in homage to the mission shared with Homo Faber.

 

 

One of the main challenges was to reduce the size of the original paintings by more than 65 x 92 cm to a surface area of just 25 x 20 mm. This feat of miniaturization required extraordinary precision to replicate every detail of Monet's paintings, even recreating the illusion of impasto, the master's signature texture. To achieve the desired intensity and depth of color, 14 layers of glaze were applied: three of basecoat, four of paint and seven of translucent glaze, with up to 15 separate firings at temperatures reaching 800°C.

 

 

The dials of the timepieces are embellished with hand-guilloché motifs under a layer of translucent colored enamel, artistically mirroring the miniaturized paintings on the caseback. Each dial requires eight to nine hours of work, with up to five layers of glaze and six or seven separate firings at 800°C. One of the final challenges was the precise application of the indexes, which required drilling through the enamel without imperfections, and the transfer of the "chemin de fer" small parts. The essential design of the Reverso Tribute, with applied hour markers and "Dauphine" hands, highlights the beauty of the decoration.

 

 

The three famous paintings enriched by Jaeger-LeCoultre's artistic vision are: 'San Giorgio Maggiore at dusk', 'The Grand Canal' and 'The Doge's Palace'. Available in a limited edition of 10 pieces each, the Reverso Tribute Enamel "Venezia Series" represent a refined tribute to the city of Venice and an exclusive fusion of haute horlogerie and the decorative arts of guillochage, enameling and miniature.