'The Watchmaker of Watchmakers' Jaeger-LeCoultre's Manifesto of Excellence

This autumn, Jaeger-LeCoultre adds a new film to the series that celebrates the values of patience, humility, hard work and dedication to excellence – the values that have guided La Grande Maison throughout its 190 years of history. Within the walls of its Manufacture in the Vallée de Joux, generations of engineers, watchmakers and craftsmen have built an exceptional legacy of know-hows encompassing 180 different skills – a remarkable array of savoir-faire that opens almost limitless fields of possibility.

 

Paying Tribute to the Genesis of Excellence

At Jaeger-LeCoultre, we believe that, in watchmaking as in any creative endeavour, mastery comes from patience and dedication. Greatness is achieved by turning talent into skill, day after day, one small achievement after another. Passion is channelled into focus and commitment. Moments of inspiration are fuelled by years of learning. Expertise is built from countless small increments practised and perfected over time. Excellence evolves step by step. As in music, art, performance, literature, design, so it is in watchmaking. This is the Jaeger-LeCoultre Manifesto.

For Autumn 2023, Jaeger-LeCoultre unites the talents of Global Ambassadors Nicholas Hoult and Anya Taylor-Joy in a new film that reflects on the true source of success – an homage to the work that is done when nobody is watching; the years of practice it takes to perfect a gesture, a movement, a word spoken to camera.

The new short film that anchors the campaign has – like the previous video, which starred Lenny Kravitz with Anya Taylor-Joy – been directed by French visual artist and creative director Quentin Deronzier. It picks up where the previous film left off, with the Reverso continuing to serve as a cornerstone of the visual narrative. Celebrated for his dreamscape settings that play with the notions of real, unreal and surreal, Deronzier also designed the sets and the evocative lighting. The minimal backdrop, dominated by a huge, backlit cube, focuses the viewers’ attention on Nicholas Hoult and Anya Taylor-Joy as their stories are woven together. The narrative builds into a powerful message about the unseen work that makes their creativity appear so effortless – a natural analogy to the art and craft of watchmaking.

Metaphors for Mastery

For the new film Nicholas Hoult wears the technically sophisticated Reverso Tribute Chronograph in steel, while Anya Taylor-Joy wears the refined and feminine Reverso Duetto Small in pink gold. The film is enriched by powerful and beautifully lit portraits of the two ambassadors, captured by the Canadian photographer Richard Phibbs. The portraits are complemented by close-up images of the movements of the two watches, underlining the creative passion and technical savoir-faire embodied within every Jaeger-LeCoultre timepiece.

The Reverso Tribute Chronograph turns from its discreet Art Deco-style sunray-brushed front dial to askeletonised and intricately decorated reverse dial, where a second display of the time complements the chronograph registers. The movement, Calibre 860, is an elegant and highly creative answer to the challenge of housing circular chronograph timing indications within a rectangular case; it features a large chronograph seconds display in the upper part of the dial complemented by a retrograde 30-minute indicator on an arc at the base of the dial.