To emphasize the craftsmanship and engraving process, the Jaeger-LeCoultre workshop has given the Reverso two dials watch a new design that highlights the craftsmanship. The front is a beautiful hand-made enamel dial with a translucent large open dial. On the back is a miniature version of the miniature painted by enamel. For the first time, Jaeger-LeCoultre has applied three superb skills to the miniature paintings, and carefully selected three famous characters to present them: Georges Seurat, Xu Beihong and Katsushika Hokusai.
The iconic Art Deco style of the Reverso Tribute has become a special watch for these three paintings. In order to present the miniature paintings, a white gold case was specially created for it. Each watch is limited to 8 pieces and is only available at the Jaeger-LeCoultre boutique.
Reverso Tribute Enamel Georges Seurat of A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte Limited Edition
A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte was created between 1884 and 1886 and is one of the finest point paintings of Georges Seurat (1859-1891). As a new French impressionist painter, Seurat is a pioneer in the 19th century painting world. The paintings are located on the banks of the Seine in the suburbs of Paris, depicting scenes where locals come to enjoy the breathtaking scenery and happy hours of the river. The dot painting method replaces a large area of the brush with a small spotted color spot, and the various colors naturally blend with the viewer’s eye movement.
In order to present this miniature painting, Jaeger-LeCoultre has won over many challenges. First, it needs to shrink a painting that is more than 3 meters wide on a surface that is only 3 square centimeters. The micro-painters need to create their own “dot-painting” techniques. And invented a variety of tools for himself, such as a brush that needs to be replaced frequently, fine and hard. The creation of dot painting on the surface of the enamel is extremely complicated. After the painting is completed, the multi-layered protective enamel surfaces must be superimposed on each other to adjust the saturation of the color, for which it is necessary to use a darker color than the original. This is a very long process and it takes more than 70 hours to complete the process, not including the time it takes to initially select the color.
Reverso Tribute Enamel a Horse Painting by Xu Beihong of China
Jaeger-LeCoultre wants to explore the art of ink painting with this watch. The dial is embellished with a delicate long geometric pattern, covered with creamy white enamel, and the color is comparable to mother-of-pearl.
Xu Beihong (1895-1953) was one of the most famous painters of China in the 20th century. He is known for his oil paintings, drawings, crayon drawings and calligraphy. And he is widely known in China as his horse painting. This original painting of more than 5 meters wide depicts the image of ten horses galloping across China’s vast land. The creation of the enamel micro-painter was inspired by the gestures of two running horses in the painting.
Creating this miniature painting is equally challenging. In order to realistically interpret the dynamic, smooth and lightweight image of the ink painting technique, it is necessary to solve the influence of the multi-layered protective surface on the natural color of the picture. Similarly, our craftsmen spend hours searching for expressions that best reflect the dynamics of running horses. In addition, the presentation of tiny details such as the horse’s mane is extremely challenging.
Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Tribute Enamel of The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Katsushika Hokusai of Japanese
Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) is a Japanese painter known for his wood painting series “Fuji Mount 36 Scenes”. For the first time, this series incorporates the perspective paintings of Western painting into the theme of traditional Japanese paintings, and is still regarded as a classic. “The Great Wave off Kanagawa” is one of the works of this series. It is this piece that makes Katsushika Hokusai a world-renowned. Jaeger-LeCoultre draws inspiration from this painting and presents it on this Reverso Tribute Enamel watch.
It also needs to be pre-designed to present the ideal picture color and the tiny elements that reflect the waves and water, thus restoring the characteristics of the painting and the power of the painting. In the face of such a huge project, the perfect treatment of the details is definitely a challenge! It is very difficult to reproduce the calm and cloudless sky and make every stroke unobtrusive. Completing this painting also needs to overcome the same difficulties as the previous two works.