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Lot Essay
This exceptional and glamorous Reverso à Éclipses is an ultra-exclusive piece featuring an exquisitely hand painted ‘Grand Feu’ enamel erotic scene reproduced from the Kama Sutra concealed beneath the retractable dial. One of the ultimate examples of the Reverso à Éclipses collection, only three examples of this design were made in platinum. The present watch is number 2 of 3, it is offered in extremely good condition and accompanied by the full set of accessories.
The form of the Reverso provides a natural canvas for decoration with its usually empty rectangular case back and therefore the company offers a multitude of personalization options for that reason. However, the Reverso à Éclipses is much more complex and exclusive, instead it is enamelled on the dial which can be hidden at will by a rolling shutter. Whilst still functioning as a Reverso in the traditional sense with swivelling case, the shutter mechanism allows the wearer three different views of the hand-painted dial. Jaeger LeCoultre is one of the few Swiss manufacturers with their own in-house enamel workshop. Each painting is a unique and an entirely hand-painted work of art which was painstakingly reproduced using the technique of miniature enamel painting which is fired at high temperatures, a technique perfected at Jaeger-LeCoultre by its master enameller Miklos Merczel.
Jaeger-LeCoultre said of this series: “The Reverso à Éclipses is in harmony with the grand tradition of ‘secret’ watches. It is the first watch to have a truly twin-level dial, one composed of shutters that can be viewed at any time, and the other which is enamelled and may remain the owner’s personal secret.”
Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Reverso à Éclipses was introduced in 2006 to celebrate the 75th birthday of the original Reverso. This icon of design celebrates its 93rd birthday in 2024. The design has barely changed since it was first tested in 1931. Created as an ingenious solution to protecting the glass of a watch from getting smashed on the polo field, it allowed the players to turn or ‘reverse’ the dial side to the back so the glass was not exposed.
The form of the Reverso provides a natural canvas for decoration with its usually empty rectangular case back and therefore the company offers a multitude of personalization options for that reason. However, the Reverso à Éclipses is much more complex and exclusive, instead it is enamelled on the dial which can be hidden at will by a rolling shutter. Whilst still functioning as a Reverso in the traditional sense with swivelling case, the shutter mechanism allows the wearer three different views of the hand-painted dial. Jaeger LeCoultre is one of the few Swiss manufacturers with their own in-house enamel workshop. Each painting is a unique and an entirely hand-painted work of art which was painstakingly reproduced using the technique of miniature enamel painting which is fired at high temperatures, a technique perfected at Jaeger-LeCoultre by its master enameller Miklos Merczel.
Jaeger-LeCoultre said of this series: “The Reverso à Éclipses is in harmony with the grand tradition of ‘secret’ watches. It is the first watch to have a truly twin-level dial, one composed of shutters that can be viewed at any time, and the other which is enamelled and may remain the owner’s personal secret.”
Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Reverso à Éclipses was introduced in 2006 to celebrate the 75th birthday of the original Reverso. This icon of design celebrates its 93rd birthday in 2024. The design has barely changed since it was first tested in 1931. Created as an ingenious solution to protecting the glass of a watch from getting smashed on the polo field, it allowed the players to turn or ‘reverse’ the dial side to the back so the glass was not exposed.