The Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Enamel Hokusai exhibits a watch as a literal murals

Tom Austin

• Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Reverso returns with an beautiful homage to Nineteenth-century Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai.
• Painstakingly reproduced in micro-proportions, two of Hokusai’s famed artworks are miniaturised in 14 layers of grand feu enamel.
• Restricted to 10 items every, each artworks required over 80 hours of labor to breed on each watch case by hand, utilizing Hokusai’s precise colors in a completely totally different means.

All too typically we hear watches being known as “artistic endeavors”, an expression frequently utilized to technically spectacular watches, maybe the newest unobtainium, six-figure, multi-tourbilloned piece from an obscure model you’ve by no means heard of. Artwork is after all, subjective and open to interpretation, and to not take something away from these manufacturers, however in actuality, some issues match into the class higher than others. A model can spend numerous hours designing a very stunning complication, or push the boundaries when it comes to materials know-how, however in some ways, if computer systems and CNC machines are concerned, this isn’t actually artwork as we envision it. The brand new, limited-edition Reverso Tribute Enamel Hokusai are artwork, within the conventional sense.

The Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso has one thing that plenty of watches don’t. Sure, it has a dial, a (swivelling) case, a strap, and motion, however there’s a byproduct of that function, that you simply see if you flip the dial in in direction of the case. On most models, flicking the case over reveals a clear floor, which is an ideal canvas, typically utilized by family members to engrave particular messages. Over the close to century of its existence, JLC has discovered a extra inventive use for it, utilising their artisanal enamel workshop to create made-to-order rear case designs, comparable to household crests, monograms, maps, and among the most illustrious artworks in modern culture.

In 2018, JLC turned to its enamel workshop to provide the Reverso Tribute Enamel, a easy time-only piece, intricately decorated in grand feu enamel with a miniature depiction of three totally different artworks, one in every of which was The Nice Wave off Kanagawa. This immediately recognisable Nineteenth-century woodblock print by Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai depicts a cresting wave with Mount Fuji within the background. Then in 2021, the Tribute Enamel returned as soon as extra, once more with one other enamelled depiction of Hokusai’s work, this time it was Kirifuri Waterfall, painstakingly recreated with over 70 hours of enamel work, together with a number of journeys out and in of the kiln for firing. Now for 2023, capturing Hokusai as soon as extra, Jaeger-LeCoultre returns to indicate the world its prowess within the enamel workshop.

At 27.4mm by 45.5mm, the case design is Reverso in its most modern form. The acquainted rotating case meeting with quick, flowing lugs is completed in white gold, doing an ideal job not distracting from the principle focus, which doesn’t come into sight till you flip over the case. The canvas talked about earlier than is adorned with a fired enamel depiction of Hokusai’s paintings, lovingly reproduced in miniature scale to perfection. Every bit required over 80 hours of handwork, not solely to miniaturise the paintings, but additionally to breed the artist’s color palette, utilizing his signature method to recreate the graduated bokashi impact seen within the works. One thing to contemplate right here is that these methods have been initially mastered for Nineteenth-century Japanese woodblock prints, so JLC’s ingenious enamel artisans have developed their very own model, with the intention to obtain the proper color gradients. This stage of element is past comprehension, and it doesn’t cease there – they even reproduced the artist’s intricate signature at round a tenth of its authentic measurement, in fired enamel.

Accessible in two totally different kinds, these Reverso Tribute Enamels offers you some troublesome selections to make. Firstly now we have The Waterfall at Ono, which exhibits a small Shinto shrine on a rocky precipice close to the waterfalls, with onlooking travellers at its foot. The waterfalls historically signify places the place Shinto gods can reside. The second paintings depicts the piece referred to as The Waterfall at Yoshino, which captures an episode from the lifetime of Normal Minamoto no Yoshitsune, who stopped to relaxation and wash his horse whereas fleeing resulting from an accusation of treachery. Each items not solely signify a few of Hokusai’s most well-known works, at the moment on show on the Met, but additionally mirror Japanese historical past and tradition.

The enamel work doesn’t cease at simply the casebacks, nonetheless, as a result of the dials are additionally handled with some unbelievable craftsmanship. Each function beautiful hand-guilloché sample work, with the Waterfall at Ono getting a traditional barleycorn design, and the Waterfall at Yoshino model making use of a lozenge sample, each requiring round eight hours and 4,000 passes of the lathe. On prime of this, an extra eight hours of enamel work and firing is required to provide the dials their deep inexperienced end.

The simplicity of the watch itself helps in direction of its attraction, as there are not any bells and whistles right here. It’s powered by the Calibre 822 time-only motion, which is manually wound and full with a 42-hour energy reserve. Encased in that traditional Reverso design, with Artwork Deco grooves on both finish of the case, and the photo voltaic sample behind the rotating case meeting, it’s a timeless traditional. The actual present right here is the magnificent use of the Reverso’s double life, its means to be not solely a particularly trendy and wearable timepiece but additionally to have that hidden show of utmost ranges of expertise that can’t be replicated by a machine.

It takes a decades-long skilled hand to provide enamel work like this, and in an period the place machines, synthetic intelligence and digitisation are giving us trigger for concern, it’s great to know that on the planet of wristwatches, there’s something that a pc can’t reproduce, and that’s the creativity and skillfulness of artisanship. The Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Tribute Enamel is certainly a real murals, in each sense of the phrase.

Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Tribute Enamel Hokusai worth and availability

The JLC Reverso Tribute Enamel is out there now by way of enquiry by way of the Jaeger-LeCoultre web site, with each editions restricted to 10 items. Worth is on request.