Introducing Reverso Tribute Enamel, Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Artistic Homage to Venice

To coincide with its participation in the Homo Faber Biennial exhibition in Venice this September, Jaeger-LeCoultre pays homage to the host city with three new limited-edition Reverso Tribute Enamel timepieces. The case-back of each piece features a miniature reproduction of one of Claude Monet’s paintings of Venice, reaffirming the Reverso as an ideal canvas for artistic expression. This fusion of art and craftsmanship is not new for the Maison; we’ve previously seen the Reverso One 'Precious Flowers' series and the exceptional artisanal craftsmanship it showcased.

Claude Monet (1840–1926), a leading French Impressionist painter, created his 'Venice Series' in 1908, capturing the city's architecture and light. Initially finding Venice "too beautiful to paint," Monet eventually depicted various sites at different times of day to portray its changing light.

Homo Faber’s mission to honor and promote craft in all its forms closely mirrors Jaeger-LeCoultre’s commitment to supporting not only the craft of watchmaking but also the artistic crafts associated with Haute Horlogerie. With the new Reverso Tribute Enamel ‘Venice Series’ timepieces, La Grande Maison showcases the talents of its in-house Métiers Rares™ (Rare Handcrafts) Atelier—bringing together the crafts of miniature painting, enameling, and guilloché.

The three watches are housed in 18K white gold cases measuring 45.6 x 27.4 mm and 9.73 mm thick. One of the challenges in decorating the case-back was reproducing original works measuring over 65 x 92 cm onto a surface of just 25 x 20 mm. Fourteen layers of enamel were required to achieve the desired intensity and depth of color.

The dials, adorned with hand-guilloché patterns beneath translucent colored enamel, offer a beautiful artistic response to the miniature paintings on the case-backs. Each dial takes eight or nine hours to complete, requiring up to five layers of enamel and six to seven firings at temperatures reaching 800°C. The final challenge involves the precise application of the indices, which requires tiny holes to be drilled through the enamel, and the transfer of the minutes railtrack. The simplicity of the Reverso Tribute design, faceted hour indices and Dauphine hands serves to highlight the beauty of the decoration.

San Giorgio Maggiore at Dusk: The island of San Giorgio Maggiore, captivated Monet. Painted as the sun set behind the island, the miniaturized reproduction of this celebrated painting required approximately 70 hours of meticulous work. The dial, featuring grand feu enamel in a shade of blue, perfectly complements the colors of the sky on the case-back. 

The herringbone guilloché pattern, echoing the geometric lines of the Reverso’s Art Deco design, comprises 120 separate lines, each requiring three passages of the lathe, resulting in a total of 360 lines.

The Grand Canal, Venice: This view, painted in the afternoon, captures a spellbinding scene across the Grand Canal, with the church of Santa Maria della Salute appearing to float on the water. The case-back reproduction of this masterpiece required nearly 70 hours of enameling work. 

The wavy hand-guilloché pattern on the dial, which took eight hours to create, mimics the reflections on the water’s surface. Layers of translucent grand feu enamel in soft green enhance the visual effect, matching the water's hue.

The Doge’s Palace: Painted from a gondola on the Grand Canal at 8:00 a.m., this view of the Doge’s Palace captures the morning light reflecting off the water. Jaeger-LeCoultre’s enameller spent nearly 70 hours recreating this work.

The lozenge guilloché pattern on the dial produces changing effects of light and shade as the watch is turned, mirroring Monet’s fascination with light’s play on water. Rich layers of translucent blue grand feu enamel amplify the geometric pattern, which consists of 981 lines, each requiring five passages of the lathe. In total, this intricate work involves 4,905 passages of the hand-operated lathe and takes eight hours to complete.

Powering the watches is the manually-wound Jaeger-LeCoultre Caliber 822, composed of 134 parts. It beats at 21,600 vibrations per hour and offers a 45-hour power reserve.

Each watch comes with a black alligator strap and is offered in a limited edition of 10 pieces, with prices available upon request.

For more information visit the official website of Jaeger-LeCoultre.