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Jaeger-LeCoultre - Yearbook Six at the top of the circle
This year, the cycle that began in 2007 leads to the circle.
While geometrical reality, as Franco Cologni reminds us in his preface, makes the circle "a flat shape, marked out by a line called the circumference, all points of which are situated equidistance from the central point", the symbolism is simultaneously both far greater and more profound.
When cycles and circles merge into one, life, nature and time become a round of changing seasons and changing hours, on a spherical earth spinning around the sun in endless circumvolutions. Is not infinity itself represented by the symbol of a double circle?
While the round shape is dominant in watchmaking, notably featured on cases, bezels, dials, crowns and gearwheels, in 2013, Jaeger-LeCoultre has decided to entrust its Yearbook with the mission of exploring all the facets of the circle in art, and above all, in the world around us.
An invitation to turn the pages to circumnavigate the circle…
Turn of the dial
The circle is first expressed through a portfoliode dicated to pocket watches from yesteryear, with their delightfully refined round shapes that were so pleasing to hold in the palm of the hand, as much to revel in their softness as to view the time. These horological curves are matched by other circles born of magnetic, physical and electrical phenomena photographed by Berenice Abbott.
Turning around the circus ring
The circle is also an artistic, fun expression in a universe in which this geometrical shape makes perfect sense: the circus. A thousand talents and graceful gestures, tirelessly repeated during long hours of training, enter the ring to make heads turn in wonderment.
Turning wheels
The circle is the wheel that makes China go round and allows bicycles to populate the lives of billions of Chinese, both in towns and in the countryside. An overview in black and white, by day or night, between shadows and light, through the lens of Wang Wenlan.
Turning to the Tour de France
The circle is the eye of photographer, Joachim Bonnemaison. To paint a picture of women, men and passions, he has created a special piece of equipment. Breaking free of the customary confines of traditional photography, he opens new - round - windows on fragments of life.
Turning a trick
The circle is time reinvented by Jaeger-LeCoultre and photographed in an exceptional manner: in performing a three-dimensional rotation, the tourbillon in the Duometre Spherotourbillon release this exceptional watch from the effects of gravity in order to achieve peaks of precision.
Turn of a handle
The circle is the aesthetic choice regularly staged during the 1930s both on Broadway and in Hollywood, through films, musical comedies, shows and dance performances resembling enchanted round dances
Turning all eyes
The circle is of course embodied through one of its mots symbolic expressions: the eye. Close-up views of fascinating, moving and entrancing animal gazes…
Turning to new horizons
The circle is also a long journey to Shanghai and its Film Festival sponsored by Jaeger-LeCoultre. In the glow of the city and its nightlights, the eye of the camera offers us a Rendez-Vous with a magnificent woman ... and a new watch.
Turning on the charm
The circle is at last the shape of everyday objects that make the world go round and punctuate the hours of our daily lives. Metaphors or flashes of humour, geometrical chemistry and the final take in a roundly applauded photo shoot by Chema Madoz…
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Jaeger-LeCoultre - 69th Venice International Film Festival
Immortalising time and rendering it unique: such is the obsession governing any cinematographic or horological accomplishment. These two worlds whose mission is to push the frontiers of dreams are uniting for the eight consecutive year at the Venice International Film Festival. As partner of the event since 2005, Jaeger-LeCoultre presents its exceptional models, adorns the stars on the red carpet and rewards the prizewinners. From August 29th to September 8th, the "Mostra" sets the stage for the finest creations and provides visitors with an opportunity merging the fundamental experience of film viewers and of all devotees of fine mechanisms: when time suspends its flight and all that remains before one's eyes is a mesmerising object of stunned admiration. Lights! Camera! Action!
Movie theatres and watchmaking workshops share a common denominator: they are pervaded by the same hushed silence. These are places where dreams spring to life, where wonderinducing creations are born. They imply accurate, meticulous and almost obsessional attention to details, as well as great passion. From the film reel that captures emotions to the artisan who immortalises the moment, history is in the making. The fact that Jaeger-LeCoultre has always sensed its affinities with the 7th Art is doubtless because it is all about two worlds infused with creative effervescence and with a longstanding, inspirational tradition. From the Shanghai Film Festival to the Abu Dhabi Film Festival which it has been partnering for the past two years, to the Mostra where it is present for the eight year running, the brand symbolises a way of regarding the watchmaking art as a free and inventive space. Just as in filmmaking, each second bears the imprint of a moment of eternity.
A precious presence
How can one best ensure an intense Mostra experience? From August 29th to September 8th, Jaeger-LeCoultre will be playing a key role in the stellar events: rewarding prizewinners, supporting an operation it holds dear, and adorning celebrities on the red carpet. Since 2005, the brand has consistently displayed the full measure of its attachment to the 7th Art at the Venice International Film Festival, where it hosts journalists, actors and scriptwriters for unique encounters. Once again this year, many of them will enjoy this chance to discover the finest creations highlighting the multiple talents of watchmaking artisans.
The magic of time
Glamour will reach new heights at the opening ceremony of the Venice International Film Festival, where a whole host of beautiful stars will once again grace the red carpet. Many celebrities are expected in the City of the Doges, adorned with the noblest creations from Jaeger-LeCoultre.
Among the finest models on show will be two timepieces from the Rendez-Vous collection. Admirably reflecting its ambassadress Diane Kruger, the Rendez-Vous line embodies a free-spirited and spontaneous personality that constantly reinvents itself in order to spring new surprises. For the Venice International Film Festival, Jaeger-LeCoultre presents two Rendez-Vous Art Haute Joaillerie creations spectacularly paved using the snow-setting technique: one with diamonds and the other with blue sapphires and rubies. The meticulously hand-crafted gem-setting surrounds the models with an incomparably luminous glow.
Since its founding, the Grande Maison has associated mechanical perfection with the most attractive and complex gem-setting techniques. Created thanks to the expertise of exceptional artists, they celebrate an alliance between beauty and precision. The decoration using the snowsetting process is performed directly on the watch case. The gem-setter places the diamonds individually, nestling against each other and harmoniously combining stones of various sizes so as to entirely cover the metal of the watch. Such creative freedom requires considerable knowhow and an extremely keen sense of observation.
And to lend an additional touch of charm, Jaeger-LeCoultre designers and Valextra have created the Rendez-Vous clutch bag - a new way of wearing a watch like an indispensable, ultra-trendy accessory.
One rose, one child
Jaeger-LeCoultre's participation in the Venice Film Festival takes on a particularly human dimension thanks to its support for Emergency, a humanitarian association founded in 1994, present in over 16 countries and dedicated to helping civilians who are victims of armed conflict and of poverty. Throughout the duration of the festival, Jaeger-LeCoultre will be funding the maternity centre that Emergency has opened in Anabah, Afghanistan. Artists will also make their contribution by wearing Reverso models engraved with a rose - a task specially performed for the occasion by the artisans of the Manufacture. This major project will be celebrated on Thursday August 30th with a dedicated red carpet ceremony at which all guests will wear a rose as a symbol of hope for all children.
Exceptional filmmaking
The Venice Biennial and Jaeger-LeCoultre are pleased to announce that the famous American director, scriptwriter, actor and producer Spike Lee will be awarded the 2012 Jaeger-LeCoultre "Glory to the Filmmaker" prize at this year's edition of the Venice International Film Festival. For the past five years, this prize has annually rewarded individuals having made a significant contribution to the development of contemporary cinema: Takeshi Kitano (2007), Abbas Kiarostami (2008), Agnes Varda (2008), Sylvester Stallone (2009), Mani Ratnam (2010) and Al Pacino (2011).
Closing ceremony
If one were to recall just one image of the festival, it would doubtless be the handing over of the Golden Lion. The worlds of cinema and of fine watchmaking both aspire to create an ongoing relationship with those who support them. What finer distinction could there be for an actor, an actress or a director than to be rewarded for their talent? Jaeger-LeCoultre will be on hand to salute the best actor and actress, as well as the laureates of the best director and best film awards. Each of the winners will be gifted a personalised Reverso bearing a lacquered engraving of the lion that symbolises Venice, crafted by hand in the finest tradition of hand workmanship, along with the inscription "69th Mostra". An eloquent means of confirming that people must believe in their passion, be bold, and above all never give up on anything. As global epicentres of dreams and challenges, filmmaking and watchmaking both advocate exactly that.
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Watch Selection - Le Pont des Amoureux by Van Cleef & Arpels
WORLDTEMPUS - 23 December 2010
"In effect, it is the dial that is the determining factor at Van Cleef & Arpels," Dominique Baron, the gifted master enameler that Van Cleef & Arpels collaborates with on its Poetic Complications line, told me earlier this year. "The creations by Van Cleef & Arpels effectively give another dimension to time because its representation across the Poetic Complication watches is above all an aesthetic one approaching more of an artistic oeuvre telling a story that one wears on the wrist rather than a watch."
This statement could not be more true. For most connoisseurs of fine watchmaking, however, this plays a minimal role. For such clients, it is exactly the other element that the brand has done so well in the line that makes this timepiece one of the (subjective) best to come out this year. The truly unique mechanics added to a caliber manufactured by Jaeger-LeCoultre can be attributed to Agenhor's Jean-Marc Wiederrecht — who is something of a mechanical poet at heart himself and an original specialist in the art of retrograde.
The Pont des Amoureux timepiece revisits the ideal of Paris already graphically seen in 2009's Journee a Paris: the fine lady on the left side of the dial counts the hours, while the gentleman on the right counts retrograde minutes. At midnight they meet for a brief kiss before the retrograde systems part them, immediately taking each back to the beginning of their respective scales.
This model differs from Van Cleef & Arpels's other Poetic Complications in that its dial makes one revolution in a 24-hour period, thus simulating one day rather than one year. This watch was justifiably voted the ladies' watch of the year at the 2010 Grand Prix d'Horlogerie last month.
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Jaeger-LeCoultre - Reverso Turns 80
Worldtempus - 6 December 2010
The story of the Reverso's birth is the stuff of legends: colonial India was so polo-crazy that by the end of the nineteenth century 175 polo clubs had sprung up around the country. The wristwatch - which had become all the rage in the early twentieth century - was not something that well-to-do polo players wanted to take off while playing their favorite sport. Naturally, many timepieces suffered broken mineral crystals. This substance could in no way stand up to the trials and tribulations of a polo match, during which well-trained polo ponies can obtain speeds of up to 60 km/h and the balls and mallets fly fast and hard.
Cesar de Trey, a close associate of Jacques-David LeCoultre, had recently become involved in distributing luxury Swiss wristwatches. Upon visiting in India in 1930, he witnessed a game that inevitably included some smashed crystal and the Swiss countryman took the problem to heart. He set engineer Alfred Chauvot to the task of inventing a case that would be suitable for polo. Chauvot filed a Paris patent on March 14, 1931 for a case that turned on its own axis to protect the fragile crystal. De Trey knew that there was only one manufacture in Switzerland to make the mechanical heart for such a watch, and he turned to LeCoultre to create the custom-shaped mechanism for the art deco-inspired timepiece.
The rest, as they say, is history. It was a brilliant principle involving a simple mechanism comprising two spring-mounted spurs that fit into grooves on either side of the watch's frame. Eighty years later, the Reverso case constitutes a full 55 components - reaching a unique complexity that few, if any, other manufacturers can match. "The Reverso is the epitome of function and style," says CEO Jerôme Lambert as he counted the "secrets" of the Reverso's longevity this week in Argentina, which include a perfectly proportioned case, good transition between lugs, strap and case, and functional design. This functional design has also remained as fresh in a daisy in its art deco style for eight full decades, over the course of which 42 calibers have been created to fit into this case. "The emotion of today remains the emotion of tomorrow," he says.
New Reverso Models
On the occasion of this momentous anniversary, Jaeger-LeCoultre introduces several new models to the collection, beginning with the Grande Reverso Ultra Thin, which is housed in the thinnest Reverso case ever made, available in rose gold or stainless steel: 7.2 mm. Lambert revealed that this ultra-svelte size is "a tribute to the 1931 spirit."
Even more of this spirit is displayed by the Grande Reverso Ultra Thin 1931, which is additionally outfitted with a replicated vintage dial from the era: the dial is not marked Jaeger-LeCoultre, but rather "Reverso" as it was fully inspired by a model the brand found in its archives. "The purity of the style was reinterpreted here," Lambert said of the two hand-wound limited edition models.
A third member of this new ultra-thin family powered by a hand-winding caliber is the Grande Reverso Ultra Thin Email, which is characterized by a grand feu enamel dial fired at about 850°C. This version is limited to 100 pieces and comes in a rose gold case.
The new Grande Reverso Duo is based on the original Duo model that first came out in 1994; its claim to fame is "one movement, two time zones on two faces," as Lambert explains. "Back then, a watchmaker had an epiphany," he jokingly explained of the first "practical" use of the Reverso's flip side. Manually wound Caliber 986 with synchronized date also sports a new dial design: white on one side, black on the other.
The SIHH, which begins on January 17, promises the introduction of other new models, including a full set of ladies' Reverso models and a highly innovative and complicated Reverso repeater model that boasts a completely new element never seen before in the watch industry. Stay tuned to Worldtempus for the full story as it unfolds.
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Jaeger-LeCoultre - £12'600 reached at the online auction
£12,600 was the winning bid in the online auction which was the warm-up act for the "Green Auction".
All proceeds to support UNESCO World Heritage conservation.
This year, the chosen timepiece was a 1958 Geophysic Chronometer, E168 model, which scaled the summit of Mount Antoine LeCoultre on the wrists of renowned mountaineers.
Between March 18 and March 24, Jaeger-LeCoultre received nearly 50 bids from 18 countries. The winning bid, received at the very last second of the auction, was £12,600 The victorious bidder will now have the pleasure of being the new owner of a remarkable timepiece steeped in history.
Jaeger-LeCoultre will donate the entire proceeds from the auction for the preservation of Sundarbans National Park, which has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1987.
In the context of its "Making Time More Beautiful" approach, which endeavours both to preserve the exceptional natural environment of the Vallee de Joux and to support ambitious projects on an international scale, Jaeger-LeCoultre has a long-term partnership with the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and the International Herald Tribune to help defend and protect outstanding marine sites that require immediate intervention to be saved.
"A Bid to Save the Earth":
Jaeger-LeCoultre invites you to follow the next charity sale organised by Christie's in New York to raise funds for four environmental associations. A Master Compressor Extreme W-Alarm "Tides of Time" will be up for bids in the silent online auction which will run from April 8 to May 6 2010.
This "Green Auction" by Christie's is a tribute to the 40th anniversary of Earth Day on April 22 2010, which will also be celebrated at a charity gala in New York.
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Jaeger-LeCoultre - Two versions of the legendary Memovox
Jaeger-LeCoultre waited until the first decade of the 21st century to issue a contemporary version of the Master Memovox, one of its most emblematic creations and symbolic of an action-oriented world. The Grande Maison in the Vallee de Joux also proposes a second model inspired by this landmark watch: the Master Memovox International, introduced for the brand's 125th anniversary in 1958 and also known as the Memovox Worldtimer. This timepiece, which has an alarm disc featuring different towns and regions, is produced in two limited editions in 18-carat pink gold and in steel. And in keeping with the traditions that have guided Jaeger-LeCoultre since its foundation, these new versions of the legendary watch are fitted with the company's Calibre 956, which is the direct descendant of the first automatic alarm watch movement introduced in 1956. Constantly improved, it still represents the ultimate in accuracy, robustness and reliability.
The man of action's watch
The Memovox was born in the early 1950s, when people were trying to forget the trauma of World War II and to build new societies. As the world was looking towards the conquest of space, to go ever higher and faster became the slogan. In this context, time became increasingly valuable and mankind in every sphere of activity was required to control it and every other aspect of existence.
The invention of the first automatic movement with alarm function, the Jaeger-LeCoultre Calibre 815, was part of this historical context and it's not a coincidence that it bears the signature of the company that has consistently perceived and expressed the signs of the times. This inherent quality of Jaeger-LeCoultre is accompanied by an extraordinary long-term vision, and as incredible as it might seem in an era characterised by fleeting trends, the 2010 Master Memovox models are fitted with a descendant of this legendary movement which has been unremittingly improved by the factory's engineers and watchmakers to meet the latest technical requirements. This is a rare example of a movement that's still in production more than 50 years after its creation. Under the changing designations marking each improved version, it has contributed to the success of such iconic round watches of the Master Control product line as the Master Grand Reveil and the Memovox Deep Sea.
The latest generation of Jaeger-LeCoultre's automatic alarm movement, Calibre 956, constitutes the mechanical heart of these two models. Introduced in 2008, it demonstrates all the qualities required of a mechanical movement of the 21st century in terms of accuracy, reliability and robustness. It has a large free-sprung balance and a winding rotor on ceramic ball bearings that needs no lubrication or maintenance. Its gear wheels have a new kind of tooth profile that ensures smoother transmission. Calibre 956 has a frequency of 28,800 vph and a power reserve of 45 hours. Finally, it is equipped with a rapid date-change mechanism.
The automatic alarm-watch
From the early 1950s, Jaeger-LeCoultre considered that rapidly changing lifestyles in which success meant wasting no time demanded an alarm function that was utterly reliable. Minds focused on reaching business objectives had to rely on a mechanical memory that would provide timely - and audible - reminders.
The Memovox or "voice of memory" thus set out to conquer the public in 1950. It was fitted with a Jaeger-LeCoultre Calibre 489. The success of this revolutionary model encouraged the company's watchmakers to pursue the development that in 1956 resulted in the Jaeger-LeCoultre Calibre 815 - the first automatic movement with an alarm function. From that moment on, the pioneers of modern civilization could concentrate on their missions, for even the winding of their watches was taken care of by a mechanism they could rely on completely. All they had to do was to wear the watch. This was when parking metres first appeared in city streets, and in some of the alarm-watch models the letter P replaced the alarm hand while a discreet ring announced it was time to feed the meter. Winning unanimous public approval and eagerly sought after by collectors several decades later, this remarkable invention led the way for numerous improvements and new features.
In 1959, the Jaeger-LeCoultre Calibre 825 added a date aperture at 3 o'clock. In 1970 the Calibre 916 replaced its swinging weight by a 360° winding rotor and increased the balance frequency from 21,600 vph to 28,800 vph, which has become the norm for precision watches. In 1989, the company introduced its first movement featuring an alarm function along with a perpetual calendar: Calibre 919 comprised no fewer than 350 parts, including a bronze gong, which is unique in watchmaking. In 2005, the Master Grand Reveil was fitted with two types of alarm. The wearer could choose between an audible ring, or, when in a meeting, a more discreet vibration. And since 2007, the Master Compressor Extreme W-Alarm, powered by Calibre 912, has featured a world time function as well as a digital display of the hour and minute to which the alarm has been set.
A face of timeless beauty
While the movement has retained its essential mechanical characteristics, the styling has remained true to the watchmaking expression of supreme elegance. The flowing lines of the 40mm case, the refinement of the lugs, the choice between pink gold or steel combine to highlight the absolute purity of the silvered dial where graceful hands point to the hours, minutes and seconds. The numerals 6, 9 and 12 enliven the face of the watch, while the 3 gives way to the date aperture. The alarm disc of the Master Memovox carries the arrow pointing to the alarm time, whereas in the Master Memovox International, the disc shows the representative cities and regions of our planet, just like the International model created for the 125th anniversary of the company. The solid case-back, struck with the new Master Control logo, ensures water resistance at a pressure of five atmospheres.
Representing watchmaking in its purest form, the two Master Memovox models are available in 18-carat pink gold or steel, with the International version being issued in strictly limited series of 250 and 750 respectively. After all, such long-held dreams deserve to carry the inimitable scent of genuine exclusivity.
[Rating: 5 / 5 stars]
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