Jaeger-LeCoultre is paying tribute to three artistic pioneers of painting with the release of its Enamel Hidden Treasures Collection. Celebrating Gustave Courbet, Vincent Van Gogh, and Gustav Klimt, they are shining examples of the watchmaker’s commitment to craftsmanship. The timepieces resemble Jaeger-LeCoultre’s 1930s originals and continue in a tradition from 1996, in which artisans recreate masterpieces on the watches’ Reverso case backings. The artworks chosen to be recreated for this collection were assumed to have been lost forever—hence the collection title “Hidden Treasures—until they were recovered and authenticated in recent years.
Gustave Courbet, View of Lake Léman (1876), Courtesy Jaeger-LeCoultre
The Courbet-inspired timepiece, taking direction from his 1876 painting, View of Lake Léman, is set in a gleaming white-gold case, with a misty gray-blue dial in a delicate herringbone guilloché texture. The cool tones of Courbet’s landscape scene come to life in a timepiece that embraces tradition.
Vincent Van Gogh, Sunset at Montmajour (1888), Courtesy Jaeger-LeCoultre
Inspired by Van Gogh’s ability to evoke emotion from nature in new and exciting ways, the Sunset at Montmajour (1888) timepiece captures the artist’s vision of stunning gold light and lush vegetation in Provence just before sunset. Mimicking his impasto technique, wherein painting is raised up off the canvas, and a strong sense of perspective, the Van Gogh piece is set in a luscious green enamel for Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Hidden Treasures collection.
Gustav Klimt, Portrait of a Lady (1917), Courtesy Jaeger-LeCoultre
Capturing a dreamy quality that Klimt expressed so well in Portrait of a Lady (1917), Jaeger-LeCoultre’s miniature interpretation reproduces the subject’s pose, dress, and background with depth and elegance. The timepiece’s green dial is decorated with grand feu enamel over a fine barleycorn guilloché pattern, giving the watch a luminescent quality.
