The Homo Faber Biennale is a cross-discipline exhibition taking place in Venice throughout September, 1st – 30th, that celebrates craftsmanship in all of its forms from watchmaking to ceramics, furniture, jewellery and beyond. As part of their participation in the show, Jaeger-LeCoultre has produced a series of Metiers d’Art Reversos inspired by J.M.W. Turner’s paintings of Venice. It’s titled the Reverso Tribute Enamel ‘Turner Series’ and it’s the spiritual follow up to JLC’s Hokusai Waterfalls series from spring, which was also dedicated to a legendary artist.
With these watches, the specs of the watch feel secondary to the unbelievable execution of the micro-painting present on the case, so let’s speed through them. Each of the four watches in the series measures 45.6mm x 27.4mm x 8.51mm in white gold and house the calibre 822 with 42-hour power reserve. They have the classic Reverso structure with a reversible case so that you can hide or reveal the soleil guilloché dial with hour and minute display. As with the previous micro-painting editions, they are limited to 10 pieces each at price on request.
The first of the watches in the collection is ‘Venice, the Dogana and San Giorgio Maggiore’: the site of the Homo Faber exhibition on San Giorgio Maggiore island – painted by Turner in 1834. The soft green of the water painted on top of the enamel base mirrors the green alligator strap and the dial on the reverse side.
Second is ‘Venice, from the Porch of Madonna della Salute’: based on the 1835 artwork, the water of this image (and indeed all four watches) uses the paillonage technique where strips of silver foil are applied beneath the enamel to create a more realistic texture before it is painted.
Third is ‘Bridge of Sighs, Ducal Palace & Custom House, Venice’: Turner’s first oil painting of Venice and a tribute to artist Giovanni Antonio Canaletto who is depicted in the original image but is cut out of this picture because of the portrait orientation of the Reverso.
Finally there is ‘Venice, the Bridge of Sighs’: Turner’s decision to foreground the people of Venice against the landscape in the background is believed to be commentary on the social and economic decline of the city at the time.
Jaeger-LeCoultre have really been treating me with their micro-painted Reversos this year, including with the Reverso Tribute Enamel ‘Turner Series’. Hokusai and Turner back to back are two of my personal favourite artists and it’s incredible how faithfully JLC has been able to reproduce the artworks even at such micro scale. It’s also frankly impressive how they’ve managed to master two very different styles from the far east and Europe. Are there any artists you would like to see Jaeger-LeCoultre tackle next?
Price and Specs:
More details at Jaeger-LeCoultre.
