1039Σ︎
Jaeger-LeCoultre
Ref. Q39334H1, 214.3.62
Reverso Tribute Enamel, "Lake Geneva with Mont Blanc in Morning Light"
An extremely rare artistic limited edition white gold rectangular-shaped reversible wristwatch with grand feu grey enamel guilloche dial and miniature painting after a painting by Ferdinand Hodler, certificate and presentation box, numbered 8 of a limited edition of 8 pieces
Full-Cataloguing
- Reverso Tribute enamel series launched in 2018 to pay homage to 100th anniversary of Swiss artists Ferdinand Hodler
- Each limited to 8 and cased in 18K white gold featuring 3 different miniature enamel paintings
- Numbered 8 of 8 and complete with its original accessories
- Featured painting: Lake Geneva with Mont Blanc in Morning Light
In 2018, Jaeger-LeCoultre marked the centenary of Ferdinand Hodler’s death with a trio of Reverso Métiers Rares enamel watches, each translating one of the artist’s most atmospheric Alpine landscapes into miniature form. The present example is the grey version: Lake Geneva with Mont Blanc in Morning Light (1918), limited to just eight pieces in 18K white gold.
Painted in the final months of Hodler’s life from the window of his apartment on Geneva’s Quai du Mont-Blanc, the work captures the mountain at the precise instant when first light begins to claim it. Mont Blanc does not yet blaze; instead it emerges in soft golds and rose pinks, its mass dissolving into the pale sky while the still surface of the lake answers with the same delicate colours. The scene is neither dramatic nor theatrical. It is a quiet recognition of permanence, the greatest peak of the Alps receiving the day with the same composure it has shown for millennia.
Reproducing this subtlety on a surface barely two centimetres square demanded exceptional control. The enameller worked with the finest brushes, laying colour in almost pointillist touches so that the morning light would appear to breathe rather than sit flat. Because the Grand Feu process fires the enamel above 800 °C, every hue had to be anticipated rather than simply applied; the final balance of gold, rose and cool grey could only be confirmed after the kiln. Beneath the translucent grey enamel of the dial side lies a finely executed guilloché pattern, cut on a century-old rose engine, that lends the surface a soft, inner luminosity in perfect harmony with the painting.
The case holds the manually wound Calibre 822A/2 providing 38 hours power reserve. This example, numbered 8 the edition of eight is offered as a complete set and appears fresh to the market.
Jaeger-LeCoultre
Swiss | 1833Not all companies in the watchmaking field have been able to stand the test of time quite like Jaeger LeCoultre, also known as the "watchmaker's watchmaker." Founded in 1833 by Antoine LeCoultre and originally named LeCoutre, the firm provided watchmaking's top brands, such as Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin and Audemars Piguet, the high-grade, unfinished mechanical movements with which they completed their watches.
In the early 1900s, Cartier's watch supplier Edmond Jaeger sought out LeCoultre's help in creating the world's thinnest watches. The collaboration resulted in the creation of Cartier's earliest Tank and Santos watches, all housed with LeCoultre movements. The duo decided to merge in 1937, and the firm officially became the Jaeger-LeCoultre brand by which collectors know and adore it today. Some of the firm's most significant and important timepieces include the Reverso, the Memovox, the Atmos clock and, among modern watches, their Master Complications.