SIHH 2009: PRESS RELEASE: Art in enamel with Jaeger-LeCoultre: World exclusive personalization

PRESS RELEASE: Art in enamel with Jaeger-LeCoultre: World exclusive personalization

In an unprecedented challenge, Jaeger-LeCoultre has made in enamel one of the most exclusive piece of art on the case of a Reverso watch, which can be worn on the owner's wrist as part of a watch!  The swivel case of the reverso allowed its owner to decorate it and gives him the absolute assurance of possessing the most complete artistically decorated work one could imagine.

A private British art collector who owns an incredibly valuable Lord Leighton original oil painting called ‘Pavonia’ wanted to personalize his Jaeger-LeCoultre reverso watch. This piece of art, one of his most precious paintings, as part of his private collection, is rarely seen in public. (The last time was at the Royal Academy in celebration of Lord Leighton’s work over a decade ago.) He asked to the Manufacture if it was possible to have a duplicate of the painting recreated on the case of his favorite watch with an Enamel. This is an incredibly challenging task with only a handful of artisans in the world being able to create such a feat. It took 120 hours for our master enamellers to complete it. In order to celebrate this truly unique item’s arrival the new owner has agreed to let exhibit both the watch and the original Painting in the George Tarratt show room in Leicester for one week in June.

With his enamel’s specialists, Jaeger-LeCoultre is nowadays one of the rare watches Manufacture to offer one of the oldest techniques applied to watch decoration.

Frederic,Lord Leighton  (1830-1896)

Frederic, Lord Leighton was - and still is - an important and influential Victorian artist. During the Nineteenth century, Leighton reigned as one of the most fashionable and significant painters of his time. Indeed, he was so well regarded as a painter that he was made President of the Royal Academy in 1878. He was also the first English painter to be given a peerage.

And the reason that Lord Leighton was so successful during his lifetime is simple: his paintings brilliantly captured the Victorian nostalgia and longing for the glorious "Golden Age" of ancient Greece and Rome.

Combining a flawless painting technique with a keen sense for color and composition, the artist created some of the most beautiful - and memorable - images made during the Nineteenth century.

His work is on Display in major museum all over the world (included the Metropolotan Museum of Art, New York City; The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; The Royal Academy of Arts Collection, London; etc.)