The world's first Reverso, featuring masterpieces including Hokusai Katsushika's ukiyo-e prints, painted on its case back | Jaeger-LeCoultre

Jaeger-LeCoultre

Savior-faire Revealed When the Case is Flipped.
The Reverso Tribute Enamel, Housing Rare Works of Art

Jaeger-LeCoultre has unveiled the "Reverso Tribute Enamel," a limited edition featuring masterpieces including Hokusai Katsushika's ukiyo-e prints and other Western artworks painted on its case back. Three models, showcasing the brand's exceptional craftsmanship, have been released, each in a limited run of eight pieces.

Text by TOMOMI YANAKA

Recreating Worlds of Art in Just 3cm²

The Reverso makes its debut with enamel decoration and engraving, a first for Jaeger-LeCoultre.

The base model is Jaeger-LeCoultre's icon, the "Reverso Classic Small," with its striking Art Deco style. Furthermore, the 18KWG case, specially created for this limited edition, acts as a frame, designed to harmonize the front and back.

The artworks chosen for the case back are Hokusai Katsushika's ukiyo-e print "The Great Wave off Kanagawa," Georges Seurat's "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte," famous for its pointillism, and a painting of two horses inspired by the ink wash paintings of Chinese artist Xu Beihong. While incorporating different techniques and symbolic styles—ukiyo-e, pointillism, and ink wash—the world of each painting is beautifully rendered through highly detailed enamel miniatures.

In Hokusai Katsushika's "The Great Wave off Kanagawa," the dynamic swells and splashing water, the very lifeblood of the work, are recreated within the 3cm² space. For Georges Seurat's "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte," unique tools were crafted to achieve the pointillist effect, realizing the painting over a considerable period.

Meanwhile, the dial, meticulously finished with hand-crafted guilloché, is covered in translucent Grand Feu enamel, displaying an expression that embodies the Maison's identity, including the Art Deco codes inherited from the first Reverso model of 1931.

This is a piece of art that encompasses not only the dial but also the surprise of the painting on the case back, revealed when the case is flipped. All are limited editions of eight pieces each.