• Reinventing the 12^th Art: challenging preconceptions of a polarizing ingredient, cheese

• Gilles Varone: an exclusive collaboration with a two-Michelin star Swiss Chef, who unveils the true character of cheese, elevating it from rustic to refined

• Precise journey of sensations: unexpected flavours, unconventional textures and intriguing visual presentations

At Watches and Wonders Geneva 2026, Jaeger-LeCoultre unveils the latest collaboration under its Made of Makers^TM programme: an experimental gastronomic journey into the world of Swiss cheese with two-Michelin-starred Chef Gilles Varone.

The 2026 theme ‘The Valley of Inventions’ traces back Jaeger-LeCoultre's origin-story in the hidden valleys of the Swiss Jura. This challenging place shaped the character of the people whose inventions shaped the course of watchmaking history. By paying homage to the Swiss terroir with his culinary creations around cheese, Gilles Varone offers his perspective on the Maison’s annual theme.

PUSHING FURTHER THE BOUNDARIES OF CLASSICAL ARTS

The Made of Makers™ programme draws a parallel between the worlds of horology and art, fostering collaborations with artists, designers, and craftsmen from disciplines outside watchmaking, who share the Maison’s values of creativity, expertise, and precision. The programme challenges the perception of classical arts as static or bound to the past, instead emphasising their continuous reinvention and honouring them as a leading source of creativity today. Just as today’s classics were once seen as radical at their inception, the Made of Makers™ programme explores how traditional forms and techniques can be reinvented through new materials and media, offering a fresh perspective on the dialogue between past and present. Like the watchmakers of La Grande Maison, these artists respect tradition as a foundation for creativity, while pushing boundaries and exploring new horizons, highlighting how both watchmaking and classical art express human creativity, reflect the culture of an era and trigger emotions.

To date, the Made of Makers™ community has embraced the worlds of contemporary visual art, gastronomy, music and perfumery – with artists including Zimoun (Switzerland), Michael Murphy (USA), Guillaume Marmin (France), lettering artist Alex Trochut (Spain/USA), pastry chef Nina Métayer (France), mixologist Matthias Giroud (France), digital media artist Yiyun Kang (Korea), musician TØKIO M¥ERS (UK), multi-media artist Brendi Wedinger (USA), Chef Himanshu Saini (India), street light-painter Roy Wang (China), perfumer Nicolas Bonneville (France), designer Khalid Shafar (UAE), chef-chocolatier Mathieu Davoine (France/Switzerland), and animation film director Jackie Wang (China) and webcomic designer Lily May Catan/Olivecoat (Philippines). This new collaboration with Gilles Varone (Switzerland) adds another fresh interpretation of gastronomy to the Made of Makers^TM portfolio.

A GASTRONOMIC CHALLENGE ON A CONTROVERSIAL INGREDIENT: CHEESE

A cornerstone of culinary heritage, cheese stands as one of gastronomy’s most expressive and divisive ingredients. Shaped by centuries of tradition yet open to perpetual reinvention, it embodies both Swiss excellence and a world challenge. Revered as elitist and refined in some countries, it can inspire apprehension - perceived as smelly, overpowering, intimidating, or even too cheesy in other cultures.

Demanding absolute respect for its origin, cheese rewards only those who master its raw intensity. From fresh tomme to raclette and Maréchal, each selection is deliberate. Through cream, foam, melt and crust, the ingredient is continuously transformed, guided by texture, temperature and time.

This pursuit of precision, ingenuity and transformation finds its contemporary expression in the vision of renowned chef Gilles Varone. Paying homage to Jaeger-LeCoultre’s ‘Valley of Inventions’, Gilles Varone’s creations will be revealed during Watches and Wonders Geneva and offered to Jaeger-LeCoultre’s invited guests at Le Chalet, within the Maison’s booth. Sourcing only from artisanal producers, complemented by local and seasonal ingredients that he forages himself, the chef presents cheese not as familiar, rustic fare but as a symbol of creativity and transformation.

THE CHEESE COMPOSER

Born and raised in the village of Savièse, in the Valais canton of Switzerland, the Cheese Composer Gilles Varone lets his love of terroir speak through every dish that he crafts:  the delicacy and harmony of flavours, matched by a restrained yet surprising beauty on the plate, all a testament to the precision, purity and respect with which he approaches every ingredient.

For Chef Gilles Varone, local sourcing is the best way to express a place, and tell a story – his return home to Savièse during the Covid lockdowns proved to be a great gift, “after the excitement and intense lifestyle of London, it was amazing to rediscover this place – its beauty, the high quality of life, the mountains... There's something magical here that we'll never find anywhere else. Now, I am grounded in my terroir and creating from the source. It makes me truly happy to go out into the mountains and forage for wild herbs, berries and other ingredients, create something beautiful with them and serve it to guests. To say, ‘that's what we picked this morning, and this is what we made with it’, is so rewarding.”

REVEALING CHEESE’S TRUE CHARACTER

By defying conventions, the cheese bites commissioned by Jaeger-LeCoultre to Chef Gilles Varone aim to reinvent the classical notion of a cheese board:

ELEVATING A CULINARY CLASSIC: The four bites guide guests through a structured tasting experience, starting with softer flavour notes and gradually building intensity: from sweet to salty, young to aged, light to strong.

UNCONVENTIONAL TEXTURES AND FORMS: presenting cheese in many guises – creamy, crisp, foamy, solid and liquid – textures both familiar and unconventional add an exciting sensory twist to the tasting experience, while the visual presentation surprises and delights with unexpected proportions, shapes and surface finishes.

VALLÉE DE JOUX INGREDIENTS: Elevating fine cheese by incorporating Vallée de Joux cheeses and other ingredients such as pine, honey and mountain herbs to create surprising harmonies, with layers of skillfully blended and balanced flavours that evolve in the mouth.

CHALLENGING PRECONCEPTIONS AND SENSATIONS

Crafted for Jaeger-LeCoultre, the four cheese bites exemplify the essence of melting tradition, precision and innovation:

‘PERLE D’HIVER’: Sensual, creamy and light, the savoury note of white tomme cheese is balanced by the sweetness of honey and subtle acidity of fresh pear.

‘MACARON FORESTIER’: Transforming a well-known sweet macaron into a savoury surprise that balances the subtly herb-infused roundness of Maréchal cheese, with the woody note of fir powder.

‘QUICHE DU CHALET’: a burst of robust flavour and deft aromatic balance unite mountain herbs and turmeric with fresh tomme cheese, elevating traditional quiche to a gastronomic discovery.

‘COEUR DE NEIGE’: The tasting finishes on a strong note that reinvents classical fondue in a hot canapé that blends breaded bread, pepper, fir spices & wild garlic buds with raclette and Gruyère cheese.

To complement the four gastronomic treats, Gilles Varone has created two special beverages based on fresh apples – one non-alcoholic and the other with alcohol. Sipped between bites, the fresh, lightly tangy and mildly sweet taste of the chosen drink acts as a palate-cleanser and an additional layer of flavour, emphasising or counterbalancing certain notes in the cheese bites. A rare white wine, Lafnetscha made from an ancient variety of grapes endemic to Gilles Varone’s home in the Valais, will be offered as a third option.

“We are honoured to collaborate with Chef Gilles Varone,” says Jérôme Lambert, Chief Executive Officer of Jaeger-LeCoultre. “As a craftsman of the highest order, his approach to his art embodies many of the values inherent in high watchmaking and underlines our Maison’s belief in the convergence of craftsmanship across many disciplines. The originality and purity of his creations add depth and richness to our Made of Makers^TM programme, and his passion, humility and dedication to craftsmanship make him a natural partner for us.”

• Reinventing the 9^th Art: breathing new life into comics by transforming traditional storytelling into immersive webcomic design

• Olivecoat: showcasing an exclusive collaboration with a rising Filipino webcomic designer, known for blending imaginative narratives, tender character interactions, and self-aware humour, paired with a distinctive pastel palette and carefully crafted panels

• Reverso: reimagining a classic Western tale of Jaeger-LeCoultre heritage through an Eastern lens, creating an archive-inspired watchmaking webcomic

Jaeger-LeCoultre unveils the latest collaboration under its Made of Makers™ programme: a retelling of the origin story of the Reverso by The Webcomic Designer Olivecoat.

PUSHING FURTHER THE BOUNDARIES OF CLASSICAL ARTS

The Made of Makers™ programme draws a parallel between the worlds of horology and art, fostering collaborations with artists, designers, and craftsmen from disciplines outside watchmaking, who share the Maison’s values of creativity, expertise, and precision. The programme challenges the perception of classical arts as static or bound to the past, instead emphasising their continuous reinvention and honouring them as a leading source of creativity today. Just as today’s classics were once seen as radical at their inception, the Made of Makers™ programme explores how traditional forms and techniques can be reinvented through new materials and media, offering a fresh perspective on the dialogue between past and present. Like the watchmakers of La Grande Maison, these artists respect tradition as a foundation for creativity, while pushing boundaries and exploring new horizons, highlighting how both watchmaking and classical art express human creativity, reflect the culture of an era and trigger emotions.

To date, the Made of Makers™ community has embraced the worlds of contemporary visual art, gastronomy, music and perfumery – with artists including Zimoun (Switzerland), Michael Murphy (USA), Guillaume Marmin (France), lettering artist Alex Trochut (Spain/USA), pastry chef Nina Métayer (France), mixologist Matthias Giroud (France), digital media artist Yiyun Kang (Korea), musician TØKIO M¥ERS (UK), multi-media artist Brendi Wedinger (USA), Chef Himanshu Saini (India), street light-painter Roy Wang (China), perfumer Nicolas Bonneville (France), designer Khalid Shafar (UAE), chef-chocolatier Mathieu Davoine (France/Switzerland) and animation film director Jackie Wang (China). This new collaboration with Olivecoat (Philippines) adds the art of webcomic design to the Made of Makers™ portfolio.

REINVENTING THE 9 TH ART

While comic strips are widely assumed to be a modern pop-culture phenomenon – originating in the mid-20^th century with Francophone bandes dessinées, American superheroes and Japanese manga – the art of narrating stories through sequences of images can be traced back to prehistoric cave paintings, relief sculptures on Roman monuments and medieval illustrated manuscripts. The acknowledged father of modern comic strips is Rodolphe Töpfer, a Swiss schoolteacher, author and caricaturist, who in the mid-19^th century published sequences of sketches in boxes with the first use of speech balloons and onomatopoeia (invented words that represent sounds, such as Bam!). In 1964, the French critic Claude Beylie coined the term “9^th Art” (neuvième art) to place comics within the canon of the fine arts. This cultural recognition was later affirmed when the Louvre Museum dedicated an exhibition to “The 9^th Art” in 2009. 

Today, webcomics (also called webtoons, after the name of the leading hosting platform) are reinterpreting the art through digital screens, with serialised, vertical-scrolling comics optimised for mobile devices.

THE WEBCOMIC DESIGNER

Based in Cebu, Philippines, The Webcomic Designer Olivecoat blends classical comic codes, such as hand-drawing, symbolism and storytelling, with contemporary digital collage and experimental visuals. As a rising talent in the webcomic world, Olivecoat stands out for her blend of imaginative narratives, tender character interactions, and self-aware humour, paired with a distinctive pastel palette and carefully crafted panels.  

For Olivecoat, storytelling transcends craft – it is a means to connect, reflect, and reveal subtle human truths. Her work is deeply rooted in authentic character dynamics, inspired by stories where characters feel like real people. “I love watching shows where the character dynamics feel fleshed out, like real humans rather than characters on a page, and I think that's what drives me,” she explains. “I’m always reading feedback about how I connect with readers and make them feel seen through narratives in my work. Comments like: ‘Oh, I didn't think this was a universal experience, but it touched me deeply.’ That really motivates me as a creator.”

A TIMELESS ICON TOLD THROUGH A NEW LENS

Bringing together heritage, innovation, and artistic fusion, the Reverso webcomic commissioned by Jaeger-LeCoultre to Olivecoat aims to offer a fresh perspective on one of the Maison’s most iconic timepieces. Through the lens of contemporary visual storytelling, this digital project captures the essence of the Reverso’s creation while engaging new audiences across cultures and platforms.

AN ARCHIVE-INSPIRED FICTIONAL NARRATIVE: Drawing from the rich historical legacy of the Reverso, the webcomic dramatises its origin story – transforming archival facts into a compelling fictional narrative that invites broader audiences into the world of fine watchmaking.

AN EASTERN TAKE ON A WESTERN TALE: With a graphic style influenced by Eastern visual traditions such as manga, the Reverso story is reinterpreted through a fresh visual language. This East-meets-West approach creates a dynamic dialogue between two cultures, two aesthetics, and two storytelling tempos.

A WATCHMAKING WEBCOMIC: As a serialised, vertical-scrolling comic tailored for mobile platforms, the project brings the craftsmanship of watchmaking into the realm of digital-native storytelling – reviving the classical codes of the 9^th Art in a modern format.

Through this innovative blend of narrative, visual culture, and digital media, the Reverso webcomic celebrates the legacy of a watchmaking icon while speaking to a new generation of readers – one scroll at a time.

THE MAKINGS OF A GREAT STORY

Created by Olivecoat for Jaeger-LeCoultre, the Reverso webcomic exemplifies the essence of compelling storytelling, elegantly echoing the classical unities of time, place, and action.

A MOMENT IN TIME: Set against the vibrant backdrop of the roaring twenties and the landmark year 1931 – the birth of the Reverso watch – it captures a pivotal moment in history.

A SENSE OF PLACE: The narrative seamlessly transports audiences to two defining locations: the polo fields of India, where the watch’s innovative reversible case was inspired, and the renowned workshops of Le Sentier, where craftsmanship and precision bring the vision to life.

DEFINING CHARACTERS: Anchored by compelling characters – César de Trey, the visionary entrepreneur, and Jacques-David LeCoultre, the master watchmaker – the webcomic tells a timeless tale of creativity, collaboration, and enduring legacy.

This fusion of icon, narrative, and heritage creates a storytelling experience that honors both the art of comics and the spirit of the Reverso.

Olivecoat’s webcomic REVERSO will be published online for the public on October 17, 2025, and will be reproduced in printed book format to be offered by Jaeger-LeCoultre as a gift to selected clients and collectors.

“We are delighted to collaborate with The Webcomic Designer Olivecoat,” says Jérôme Lambert, Chief Executive Officer of Jaeger-LeCoultre. “She is a perfect fit for the Made of Makers™ programme, as she brings instinctive, self-taught mastery to her craft, reimagining classical techniques through a contemporary lens. Her commitment to timeless aesthetics and refined storytelling resonates deeply with our values at Jaeger-LeCoultre’s – making her a natural creative voice for the programme and its celebration of craftsmanship and innovation.”

• Inspired by the 7^th Art: reviving the earliest spark of cinema by reinterpreting the ‘phenakistiscope’ through contemporary animation and poetic symbolism 
• Jackie Wang: an exclusive collaboration with the Chinese animation film director, known for blending hand-drawn animation with emotional nuance, cross-cultural depth, and refined visual storytelling
• ‘Drawn in Time’: a curated series of five intricately crafted discs, each depicting a unique narrative of feminine strength and evolution and paying tribute to the Rendez-Vous collection

Jaeger-LeCoultre showcases the latest artistic collaboration under its Made of Makers™ programme at ‘The Dream Shaper’ exhibition in Shanghai. Commissioned from Chinese independent animation director Jackie Wang, the hypnotic artwork ‘Drawn in Time’ pays homage to Jaeger-LeCoultre’s iconic Rendez-Vous collection, embodying feminine elegance and craftsmanship through a mesmerizing choreography of stars and precision mechanics.

PUSHING FURTHER THE BOUNDARIES OF CLASSICAL ARTS

The Made of Makers™ programme draws a parallel between the worlds of horology and art, fostering collaborations with artists, designers, and craftsmen from disciplines outside watchmaking, who share the Maison’s values of creativity, expertise, and precision. The programme challenges the perception of classical arts as static or bound to the past, instead emphasising their continuous reinvention and honouring them as a leading source of creativity today. Just as today’s classics were once seen as radical at their inception, the Made of Makers™ programme explores how traditional forms and techniques can be reinvented through new materials and media, offering a fresh perspective on the dialogue between past and present. Like the watchmakers of La Grande Maison, these artists respect tradition as a foundation for creativity, while pushing boundaries and exploring new horizons, highlighting how both watchmaking and classical art express human creativity, reflect the culture of an era and trigger emotions.

To date, the Made of Makers™ community has embraced the worlds of contemporary visual art, gastronomy, music and perfumery – with artists including Zimoun (Switzerland), Michael Murphy (USA), Guillaume Marmin (France), lettering artist Alex Trochut (Spain/USA), pastry chef Nina Métayer (France), mixologist Matthias Giroud (France), digital media artist Yiyun Kang (Korea), musician TØKIO M¥ERS (UK), multi-media artist Brendi Wedinger (USA), Chef Himanshu Saini (India), street light-painter Roy Wang (China), perfumer Nicolas Bonneville (France), designer Khalid Shafar (UAE) and chef-chocolatier Mathieu Davoine (France/Switzerland). This new collaboration with animation film director Jackie Wang (China) adds the art of animated artwork to the Made of Makers™ portfolio.

THE ANIMATION FILM DIRECTOR

Jaeger-LeCoultre invites guests to embark on a mesmerizing visual odyssey through its collaboration with The Animation Film Director Jackie Wang. A graduate of both the Central Academy of Fine Arts and London's Royal College of Art, Beijing-based Jackie Wang masterfully blends traditional hand-drawn techniques with contemporary storytelling. Drawing from her unique East-meets-West perspective and distinctly feminine sensibility, she captures ephemeral emotions through fluid brushstrokes and ethereal palettes. Her work sits at the intersection of reality and fantasy, creating narratives that combine visual impact with emotional depth.

For Jackie Wang, animation is more than a medium: it is a language that transcends borders, blurring the lines between memory and imagination. "Animation allows me to explore the unseen, the subtle, and the transformative," she says. "When Jaeger-LeCoultre invited me to revisit the origins of motion pictures, I saw an opportunity to breathe new life into the ‘phenakistiscope’, the very spark that ignited cinema."

Encapsulating Jackie Wang’s signature style, the artwork that she has created exclusively for La Grande Maison reinvents the classic of the 7^th art by pushing the limits of kinetic art.

'DRAWN IN TIME’

With ‘Drawn in Time’, Jackie Wang reimagines the earliest spark of cinema: the ‘phenakistiscope’, through the lens of contemporary animation and poetic symbolism. Inspired by the circular illusion that gave birth to motion pictures, she creates a hypnotic choreography of hand-drawn forms, brought to life only through movement. Birds in flight, moons, suns and blooming flowers orbit in a celestial dance: timeless symbols of freedom, renewal, and brilliance. Her animation is not only visual. It is tactile. Crafted with textures that echo watchmaking, from mother-of-pearl reflections to guilloché-inspired patterns, the piece bridges ancestral craftsmanship and digital imagination. More than a tribute to origins, ‘Drawn in Time’ is a meditation on time itself: how art moves, how emotion circulates, and how beauty emerges in motion.

Jackie Wang’s artwork comprises five intricately designed ‘phenakistiscope’ discs, each telling a distinct and artistic story of feminine strength and evolution.

THE ENCOUNTER: A peony transforms into a bird in flight, symbolizing a woman’s liberation and rebirth. Set against a starry sky with shooting stars and moon phases, it reflects the endless possibilities of unexpected moments.

THE HAND OF CREATION: Meteors burst from a woman’s palm, embodying the heritage of craftsmanship passed through generations. The design echoes Jaeger-LeCoultre’s guilloché patterns, celebrating precision and artistry.

HARMONY OF ORDER: Gears and constellations intertwine, representing the harmony between rationality and creativity. A woman’s voice, visualised through a trumpet, sings of confidence and grace.

TIMELESS SHELL: A mother-of-pearl dial, unique as every woman’s journey, captures the delicate yet resilient nature of femininity.

ETERNAL BLOOM: A golden peony blossoms endlessly, embodying everlasting vitality while honouring the Rendez-Vous collection.

Each disc rotates at 0.75 revolutions per second to create an illusion of movement. The installation alternates between static and dynamic states, inviting viewers to witness the metamorphosis of time and form. ‘Drawn in Time’ is an invitation to witness the alchemy of tradition and innovation, engaging with both centuries-old craftsmanship and contemporary animation.

“Jackie Wang’s talent, expertise and her poetic perspective add an exciting new dimension to our Made of Makers™ programme,” says Jérôme Lambert, Chief Executive Officer of Jaeger-LeCoultre. “Her works reveal masterful delicacy, creating perfect harmony with the feminine strength embodied in our Rendez-Vous collection. At Jaeger-LeCoultre, we strongly believe in the convergence of craftsmanship across many disciplines, and working with an artist like Jackie Wang allows us to explore uncharted territories where the worlds of kinetic art and watchmaking intersect.”

• Challenging preconceptions: by pushing the boundaries of flavour
• Four chocolate delights : paired with a specially created beverage
• Unconventional textures: daring blends of contrasting flavours and surprising visual presentations

At Watches and Wonders Geneva 2025, Jaeger-LeCoultre unveils the latest collaboration under its Made of Makers programme. An experimental gastronomic journey into the world of chocolate with Chef Chocolatier Mathieu Davoine pays homage to the origins of the iconic Reverso.

PUSHING FURTHER THE BOUNDARIES OF CLASSICAL ARTS

The Made of Makers programme draws a parallel between the worlds of horology and art, fostering collaborations with artists, designers, and craftsmen from disciplines outside watchmaking, who share the Maison’s values of creativity, expertise, and precision. The programme challenges the perception of classical arts as static or bound to the past, instead emphasising their continuous reinvention and honouring them as a leading source of creativity today. Just as today’s classics were once seen as radical at their inception, the Made of Makers programme explores how traditional forms and techniques can be  reinvented through new materials and media, offering a fresh perspective on the dialogue between past and present. Like the watchmakers of La Grande Maison, these artists respect tradition as a foundation for creativity, while pushing boundaries and exploring new horizons, highlighting how both watchmaking and classical art express human creativity, reflect the culture of an era and trigger emotions.

To date, the Made of Makers community has embraced the worlds of contemporary visual art, gastronomy, music and perfumery – with artists including Zimoun (Switzerland), Michael Murphy (USA), Guillaume Marmin (France), lettering artist Alex Trochut (Spain/USA), pastry chef Nina Métayer (France), mixologist Matthias Giroud (France), digital media artist Yiyun Kang (Korea), musician TØKIO M¥ERS (UK), multi-media artist Brendi Wedinger (USA), Chef Himanshu Saini (India), street light-painter Roy Wang (China), perfumer Nicolas Bonneville (France) and designer Khalid Shafar (UAE). This new collaboration with Mathieu Davoine (France/Switzerland) adds the art of chocolaterie to the Made of Makers portfolio.

THE CHOCOLATE CRAFTSMAN 

This year, Jaeger-LeCoultre invites guests to enjoy a unique gastronomic experience based on chocolate through its collaboration with The Chocolate Craftsman, Mathieu Davoine. The Geneva-based chef chocolatier’s experimental approach to chocolate-making combines time-honoured craftsmanship with avant-garde techniques and exceptional creative imagination to explore a new realm of flavour and artistry. A craftsman at heart, he unites artistic talent and bold imagination with great technical skill, combining a fascination with flavour and texture with a sculptor’s approach to visual presentation. Taking inspiration from sources as varied as a painting seen in a museum or something observed in the natural world, he spends a great deal of time testing and playing with new ideas in his laboratory.

For Mathieu Davoine, chocolate provides a perfect outlet for his creativity, enabling him to dive deep into the complex process of transforming cacao beans into exquisite creations that capture the magic of chocolate. It allows him to combine gastronomy with artistic imagination and craftsmanship. “For me, discovering chocolate was a revelation,” he says. “I cannot think of any other single ingredient that offers so much artistic possibility, thanks to all of the forms it can take – powder, liquid, cream, foam, jelly, crunchy solid and more. And when you are willing to experiment with flavours and go beyond the conventional blends, there’s almost no limit to the possibilities.” 

Encapsulating Mathieu Davoine’s signature style, the chocolate delights that he has created exclusively for La Grande Maison challenge preconceptions and push the limits of what chocolate can be.

PRALINE, TRUFFLE, FUDGE: using chocolate in all its forms, he has combined familiar and unconventional textures to add an exciting sensory twist to the tasting experience.

OLIVE, MUSHROOM, POLLEN: with ‘impossible’ blends of flavours and ingredients, he has challenged the boundaries of chocolate gastronomy to create new and surprising harmonies, with layers of skilfully blended and balanced flavours that evolve in the mouth.

MICRO BALLS, SCULPTURES, TROMPE-L’OEIL: in the visual presentation of the delights, he has employed trompe-l’oeil techniques, harnessing unexpected proportions, shapes and surface finishes to create optical illusions that surprise and delight, elevating the experience of biting into the chocolate.

CHALLENGING THE PRECONCEPTIONS OF CHOCOLATE GASTRONOMY

With the four chocolate delights that will be offered to Jaeger-LeCoultre’s guests at the 1931 Café, Mathieu Davoine pays homage to the origins of the Reverso by taking visual inspiration from the world of polo, and to the home of Jaeger-LeCoultre by incorporating ingredients from the Vallée de Joux.

“The creative direction that Jaeger-LeCoultre gave me was a very interesting challenge,” says Mathieu Davoine. “While the visual richness of polo provided many ideas, I also wanted to express the feeling of polo, so I have combined literal and conceptual references to different aspects of the game. To include ingredients from the Vallée de Joux, I had to think beyond the obvious nuts and berries that are traditionally associated with chocolate and combine them with other, very unconventional flavours and scents from the valley.”

‘HARMONIE DE CHOCOLAT’ celebrates the multi-faceted character of chocolate, its swirling shape symbolising the energy and movement of players and horses on the polo field. A chocolate sablé biscuit is topped with dark chocolate mousse, which conceals the surprise of crisp cacao ‘pearls’, and finished with a milk chocolate ganache sprinkled with hazelnuts.

‘GALOP DES BOIS’ combines the textures of crisp praline, airy mousse and soft sponge cake in the form of a polo ball surrounded by the letters of Jaeger-LeCoultre’s name executed in dark chocolate. Its perfectly balanced flavour profile combines white chocolate and vanilla with Vallée de Joux ingredients: forest fruits, hazelnuts and – unexpectedly – porcini mushrooms.

‘ÉCLAT DE CAVIAR’ unites the flavours of black olives and chocolate, complemented by an infusion made from the delicate young shoots of Vallée de Joux fir trees. Presented in a metal tin evoking the shoe polish for the polo players’ boots, the crisp coating of the shiny chocolate ‘caviar pearls’ delivers a sensory surprise, as they give way to an unctuous chocolate cream, airy olive tapenade and crunchy biscuit.

‘DOUCEUR DU CAVALIER’ elevates the petit écolier – a classical chocolate-coated biscuit beloved by every French school child – into a sophisticated chocolate treat for the players returning from the polo field. The crisp sablé biscuit is made to a special recipe incorporating Vallée de Joux pollen; it is topped with an unctuous chocolate ganache and meadowsweet jelly, the whole ensemble being coated in milk chocolate.

The tasting experience is amplified by the guest’s participation: in each case, the person can increase the dosage of the respective Vallée de Joux ingredient before tasting the delight. To complement the four delights, Mathieu Davoine has created a special beverage made from the fleshy pulp – also known as baba or mucilage –  that surrounds the beans inside a ripe cacao pod. With a mildly sweet and tangy ‘tropical fruit’ flavour, the pulp is essential to the natural fermentation process that the beans must go through before being dried and eventually roasted. Sipped between each of the bites, it acts as a palate-cleanser and an additional layer of flavour.

“We are delighted to collaborate with Chef Chocolatier Mathieu Davoine,” says Jérôme Lambert, Chief Executive Officer of Jaeger-LeCoultre. “His talent, expertise and originality add an exciting new dimension to our Made of Makers programme, and the values that he shares with our Maison – passion, humility and a dedication to craftsmanship and innovation – make him a natural partner for us. At Jaeger-LeCoultre we strongly believe in the convergence of craftsmanship across many disciplines, and working with a maestro of chocolate like Mathieu Davoine allows us to explore uncharted territories where the worlds of art, gastronomy and watchmaking intersect.”

• Pushing the boundaries of contemporary design: blending traditional Emirati craftsmanship with modern aesthetics
• An exclusive art installation: embracing the rhythm of the lunar cycle during the month of Ramadan
• Celebrating the passage of time through celestial movements: using celestial inspiration, subtle design and dual perspective
• Conceptualisation of La Grande Maison’s expertise: a profound fascination with the lunar cycle and the mastery of the guilloché decorative technique by the atelier des Métiers Rares™

Jaeger-LeCoultre unveils its latest collaboration under the Made of Makers programme – an exclusive art installation, curated by Emirati designer Khalid Shafar. Through this collaboration, Khalid Shafar has interpreted the Maison’s celestial movements through Ramadan’s lunar cycle.

PUSHING FURTHER THE BOUNDARIES OF CLASSICAL ARTS

The Made of Makers programme draws a parallel between the worlds of horology and art, fostering collaborations with artists, designers, and craftsmen from disciplines outside watchmaking, who share the Maison’s values of creativity, expertise, and precision. The programme challenges the perception of classical arts as static or bound to the past, instead emphasising their continuous reinvention and honouring them as a leading source of creativity today. Just as today’s classics were once seen as radical at their inception, the Made of Makers programme explores how traditional forms and techniques can be  reinvented through new materials and media, offering a fresh perspective on the dialogue between past and present. Like the watchmakers of La Grande Maison, these artists respect tradition as a foundation for creativity, while pushing boundaries and exploring new horizons, highlighting how both watchmaking and classical arts express human creativity, reflect the culture of an era and trigger emotions.

To date, the Made of Makers community has embraced the worlds of contemporary visual art, gastronomy, music and perfumery – with artists including Zimoun (Switzerland), Michael Murphy (USA), Guillaume Marmin (France), lettering artist Alex Trochut (Spain/USA), pastry chef Nina Métayer (France), mixologist Matthias Giroud (France), digital media artist Yiyun Kang (Korea), musician TØKIO M¥ERS (UK), multi-media artist Brendi Wedinger (USA), Chef Himanshu Saini (India), street light-painter Roy Wang (China) and perfumer Nicolas Bonneville (France). This new collaboration with designer Khalid Shafar (UAE), adds a new dimension to the Made of Makers portfolio – celebrating Middle Eastern artistry through a dialogue between contemporary design and celestial timekeeping.

THE NARRATIVE DESIGNER

Known for his fusion of Emirati cultural heritage and contemporary design elements, Khalid Safar’s creations transcend mere aesthetics, embodying a profound connection between form and function.

Born in the United Arab Emirates, Khalid Shafar is a pioneering Emirati artist and designer known for his unique approach to furniture and object design. While he initially pursued a career in business, spending nearly seven years in marketing and communications, his passion for design eventually led him to change direction. In 2005, he fully embraced this calling, undertaking formal studies in Fine Arts with a specialisation in Interior Design. His growing interest in furniture and object design then took him to Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design in London and the Centre for Fine Woodworking in New Zealand, where he refined his craft, helped shape contemporary design in the UAE and gained international recognition for his work.

In 2011, Khalid Shafar established his own design studio in Dubai, followed by a dedicated showcase space in 2012. His work is characterised by a seamless fusion of cultural heritage and contemporary aesthetics. He places strong emphasis on storytelling through design, believing that every object carries a narrative that resonates with its audience. His creations often feature clean lines, rich textures, and fine materials, combining an avant-garde-inspired aesthetic with a modern sensibility.

With a commitment to honouring and evolving Emirati design, Khalid Shafar continues to push the boundaries of creativity, bringing a fresh perspective to the global design industry. His work not only preserves tradition but also refines it by setting a new benchmark for contemporary craftsmanship, ensuring that Emirati design is recognised on the international stage.

CELEBRATING THE PASSAGE OF TIME THROUGH CELESTIAL MOVEMENTS

Inspired by the sacred rhythms of Ramadan, this unique collaboration blends celestial observations with fine craftsmanship, reflecting the deep connection between watchmaking and the passage of time.

During the month of Ramadan, tracking the precise moments of sunrise and sunset is essential, as they dictate the daily rhythm of fasting and prayer. This reverence for time aligns seamlessly with Jaeger-LeCoultre’s rich watchmaking heritage, where the measurement of time has always been intrinsically linked to the movements of celestial bodies. Since the Maison’s founding in 1833, the moon, the sun, and the stars have inspired its watchmakers, reflecting the fundamental role of astronomical cycles in the evolution of horology. This celestial inspiration is beautifully expressed in Jaeger-LeCoultre’s timepieces, particularly in the poetic moon-phase complications found in the Rendez-Vous and Duometre collections. The Rendez-Vous Moon, with its delicate depiction of the lunar cycle, captures the ever-changing beauty of the night sky, and the Duometre Quantieme Lunaire showcases the precision of astronomical timekeeping. Through these creations, the Maison pays tribute to the enduring influence of the cosmos on the art of watchmaking.

‘Crescent To Crescent’ is an evocative art installation, spanning six metres in width and three metres in height, embodying the passage of time through the evolution of the moon. Featuring 29 intricately designed moons representing each day of the lunar cycle, the installation highlights the passage of time throughout the month. Subtle design details honour the Maison’s craftsmanship, expressed through delicate engravings that mirror the guilloché decorative technique mastered in the Manufacture’s Métiers Rares^TM atelier.

The installation offers two unique viewing experiences – one side showcases a stunning colour gradient, reflecting the moon’s daily evolution across the month of Ramadan, while the other immerses viewers in a dynamic play of light, illuminating each moon as they move through the space. This dual perspective invites viewers to engage with time in an immersive way.

“The moon. This celestial body is a powerful force, influencing tides, guiding natural cycles and inclining countless aspects of life on earth. For centuries, the sight of the new crescent moon has heralded the beginning of Ramadan,” says Khalid Shafar. “When Jaeger-LeCoultre invited me to create an art installation in honour of this sacred time, I sought to capture the profound rhythm of time itself, drawing inspiration from the lunar cycle. I immersed myself in La Grande Maison’s enduring fascination with celestial phenomena – a passion nurtured by the enchanting night sky of La Vallée de Joux and brought to life in watchmaking masterpieces.”

“This installation, Crescent to Crescent, is a tribute to the sacred rhythms of Ramadan, where time becomes a contemplative practice. As we track each hour, we learn to appreciate the cadence of time, encouraging reflection and mindfulness,” Khalid Shafar explains.

By merging artistic vision with horological mastery, this collaboration between Khalid Shafar and Jaeger-LeCoultre underscores the profound relationship between time, tradition, and transformation. The exclusive installation will be unveiled on February 28 at the Dubai Mall Grand Atrium, where it will remain throughout the month of Ramadan, before travelling to select locations across the city engaging the art, design, and creative communities.

“We are delighted to collaborate with Emirati Designer Khalid Shafar,” says Jérôme Lambert, Chief Executive Officer of Jaeger-LeCoultre. “At La Grande Maison, we celebrate the artistry of time – not only through our timepieces but also through collaborations that explore time’s deeper significance. Khalid Shafar’s ‘Crescent to Crescent’ installation beautifully embodies this philosophy, drawing on the celestial rhythms that have inspired watchmaking for centuries. His ability to translate the passage of time into a powerful visual and emotional experience makes him a natural partner for our Made of Makers programme. With this collaboration, we are honoured to welcome an Emirati artist into our creative universe, further strengthening our dialogue between craftsmanship, design, and cultural heritage.”

• Blending artistic creativity with the precision of science
• Three exclusive olfactory signatures expressing Jaeger-LeCoultre’s identity
• Short formulas with high concentrations of noble ingredients leaving distinctive and sophisticated trails

Jaeger-LeCoultre unveils its latest collaboration under the Made of Makers programme – three exclusive olfactory signatures for La Grande Maison created by acclaimed French perfumer Nicolas Bonneville. Through this collaboration, the Scent Artist has interpreted the Maison’s olfactory identity with a portfolio of original fragrances offered in different formats.

Pushing Further the Boundaries of Classical Art

The Made of Makers programme draws a parallel between the worlds of horology and art, fostering collaborations with artists, designers, and craftsmen from disciplines outside watchmaking, who share the Maison’s values of creativity, expertise, and precision. The programme challenges the perception of classical art as static or bound to the past, instead emphasising its continuous reinvention and positioning it as a leading source of creativity today. Where today’s classics were once seen as radical at their inception, the Made of Makers programme explores how traditional forms and techniques can be  reinvented through new materials and media, offering a fresh perspective on the dialogue between past and present. Like the watchmakers of La Grande Maison, these artists respect tradition as a foundation for creativity, while  pushing boundaries and exploring new horizons, highlighting how both watchmaking and classical art express human’s creativity, reflect the culture of an era and trigger emotions.

To date, the Made of Makers community has embraced the worlds of contemporary art, gastronomy and music – with artists including Zimoun (Switzerland), Michael Murphy (USA), Guillaume Marmin (France), lettering artist Alex Trochut (Spain/USA), pastry chef Nina Métayer (France), mixologist Matthias Giroud (France), digital media artist Yiyun Kang (Korea), musician TØKIO M¥ERS (UK), multi-media artist Brendi Wedinger (USA), Chef Himanshu Saini (India) and street light-painter Roy Wang (China). This new collaboration with Nicolas Bonneville (France) adds perfumery to the Made of Makers portfolio.

Captured by the Power of Scent

Recognised as one of the most talented perfumers of his generation, Nicolas Bonneville continually breaks new ground with distinctive fragrances that blend traditional and avant-garde techniques, rare essences and age-old natural ingredients.

Born and raised in France, he fell in love with perfume during a holiday in Grasse, the cradle of French perfumery, when he was 12 years old. The experience had a profound impact on him: he began to teach himself the art of blending fragrances by designing his own experiments with scent at home, developing his innate gifts and growing skills as a self-taught ‘nose’. At the beginning of his professional career, he was mentored by the perfumer Jacques Maurel and, later, by Francis Kurkdjian.

In his approach to perfumery, Nicolas Bonneville combines creativity, imagination and innovation, together with an exceptional understanding of sensory perceptions. His work is notable in the way he explores new associations of scents and ingredients beyond classical codes and cultural borders. “In perfumery, just as in painting, maintaining the purity of blends is essential,” Nicolas Bonneville explains. “Similarly, when creating perfumes, it's crucial to dose raw materials carefully to preserve their unique olfactory character without excessive dilution. The principle of 'less is more' ensures that your fragrance retains its clarity and depth; you achieve a unique scent with real character and distinction.”

Blending Artistic Creativity with the Precision of Science

The creation of an olfactory identity for Jaeger-LeCoultre explores the natural affinity between the world of perfumery and that of watchmaking: both art forms are intricate disciplines that share a deep sense of artistry, balance tradition with innovation and rely on precision and detail.

The purpose of each timepiece extends far beyond mere functionality—a watch is not a simple tool but an expression of personality, style, and even emotion. In the same way, a fine fragrance is intensely personal, evoking memories, moods, and feelings. Both crafts create something that emotionally resonates with the wearer.

In addition to their emotional depth, both fields embody a delicate balance between tradition and innovation. Watchmakers often draw upon centuries-old techniques, yet seamlessly incorporate cutting-edge materials and technology. Similarly, perfumers honor traditional methods while exploring modern extraction processes and novel ingredients, continually pushing the boundaries of what is possible.

Precision and attention to detail lie at the heart of both disciplines. In horology, every gear, spring, and component must fit perfectly for the watch to function. In perfumery, the same principle applies—each ingredient must be measured and balanced with exacting care, as even the smallest variation can compromise the entire composition.

Ultimately, both watchmaking and fine perfumery blend craftsmanship, precision and creativity to offer objects that are not only functional but deeply meaningful and personal.

Three Original Fragrances: the Precision of Fine Watchmaking Expressed through Scent

The three olfactory signatures crafted by Nicolas Bonneville for Jaeger-LeCoultre represent the highest practices that distinguish haute perfumery from all other fragrances.

• Short formulas – the use of fewer ingredients allows for a clearer, more refined olfactory profile, in which each raw material plays a crucial role. This minimalist approach highlights the unique characteristics of each ingredient and ensures a harmonious balance. The result is a pure, uncluttered scent that evolves beautifully over time.
• Noble Ingredients – many of them rare and prestigious, these ingredients have been enhanced by modern extraction methods that preserve their properties. Blending tradition and modernity, these fragrances combine age-old raw ingredients from as far afield as Central Asia, the Arabian Peninsula, the Philippines, Haiti and South America.
• High Concentrations – the elevated concentration of one key ingredient in each formulation translates the willingness to build balanced nuances around a single, potent scent. This approach provides clarity, ensuring a distinctive and authentic character for each fragrance.

These three factors combine to create olfactory signatures that evolve beautifully through top, heart, and base notes, revealing layers of complexity and depth at each stage. The initial impression transitions seamlessly into a rich and enduring core, finally settling into a deep, memorable base. This meticulous composition results in a rich and sophisticated sillage, leaving an evocative trail that captivates and lingers elegantly, even when its wearer leaves the room.

THE TIMELESS STORIES is inspired by the iconic Reverso watch, a legend born from the challenge to create a wristwatch that could withstand the rigours of polo matches. Its woody and leathery character reminisces the redolence of stables and saddles, while its opening note of Violet Leaves evokes the freshness of meticulously trimmed grass on a polo field. The heart of the fragrance is enveloped by the preciousness of Orris, representing the dual nature of the Reverso watch—resilient and durable on the outside, yet refined and delicate on the inside – and finally, it settles into a base of Leather Accord. The Orris rhizome – one of the most noble ingredients in haute perfumery – must dry for almost two years under carefully controlled conditions before it releases its unique scent through natural enzymatic reactions, reflecting the meticulous craftsmanship that defines Jaeger-LeCoultre.

THE CELESTIAL ODYSSEY is an ambery and spicy fragrance that pays tribute to the moon, the sun and the stars, the three celestial bodies that have always captivated watchmakers. It opens with the diaphanous, lunar light of Heart of Patchouli. Then, in warm and mineral waves, Amber Woods reinvent the sensuality of Ambergris – a product of nature born from the depths of the ocean that symbolises the nights when ancient navigators guided their journeys by observing the  starry skies. At its base, as sensual and captivating as an incandescent star, Vanilla spreads its solar attraction. The scent of the Vanilla Tahitensis is captured using a high-tech CO2 extraction method called Superfluid Critical Extraction  – a waterless extraction achieved by a neutral gas that evaporates at the end of the process, revealing the preserved olfactory properties of the ingredient.

THE PRECISION PIONEER is woody and spicy in character, inspired by the heart of the Manufacture. It opens with warm notes of Incense that represent the Maison’s origins through the intense heat of the blacksmith’s fire, where raw materials are transformed into masterpieces of precision. It is then magnified by the powerful scent of Vibrant Wood, evoking the watchmaker’s bench. The distinctive scent of Vibrant Wood is obtained by blending many characteristics of different woods to create a unique wood, tailor-made specifically for this fragrance. Drawing its modernity from a millennia-old tradition, the noble essences of Cedar, Guaiac, and Oud Wood meld into the Amber Accord, serving as a bridge between ancestral craftsmanship and cutting-edge innovation.

“Like watchmaking, the art of perfumery stands at the intersection of creativity, science and precision, and we are delighted to welcome Nicolas Bonneville to our Made of Makers programme,” says Matthieu Le Voyer, Chief Marketing Officer of Jaeger-LeCoultre. “With his self-taught talent and artistic vision, Nicolas Bonneville brings an exciting new dimension to the programme, which celebrates the convergence of craftsmanship across many disciplines and cultures. As he continues to explore new territories in the world of fine perfumery, he epitomises the strong affinity that exists between the artistic world and our Maison.”

Destined to become an additional signature of La Grande Maison, the three fragrances crafted by Nicolas Bonneville will be offered as a special treatment to clients and will be used in a variety of other initiatives in the future.

• A modern twist to ancient traditions: the collision of light and photography
• Three exploratory photographs and one stop-motion video made with light-painting
• The challenge of scaling down a life-sized format to the tiny size of a wristwatch

Jaeger-LeCoultre unveils the latest collaboration under its Made of Makers programme – a series of artworks created by Chinese street light-painter Roy Wang. In tribute to the pursuit of precision that has been a central value of La Grande Maison since its founding almost 200 years ago, the commissioned works – three light-painting photographs and a stop-motion video – will make their public debut on the opening day of ‘The Precision Pioneer’ exhibition in Dubai, which runs from 7–19 May. 

Expanding the Dialogue Between Watchmaking and the Arts

Through a series of collaborations with artists, designers and craftsmen from disciplines outside watchmaking, Made of Makers explores and extends the dialogue that naturally exists between horology and art. The programme focuses on artists who share Jaeger-LeCoultre’s values of creativity, expertise and precision, exploring new forms of artistic expression through different and often unexpected materials and media. Like the watchmakers of La Grande Maison, these artists and innovators have a deep respect for the past as their creative foundation and a springboard for their trailblazing work. To date, the Made of Makers community has embraced the worlds of contemporary art, gastronomy and music – with artists including Zimoun (Switzerland), Michael Murphy (USA),  Guillaume Marmin (France), lettering artist Alex Trochut (Spain/USA), pastry chef Nina Métayer (France), mixologist Matthias Giroud (France), digital media artist Yiyun Kang (Korea), musician Tøkio Myers (UK), multi-media artist Brendi Wedinger (USA) and, in 2024, Chef Himanshu Saini (India) and Roy Wang (China).

The Street Light-Painter: ephemeral moments captured for posterity

Rapidly gaining international recognition for his dynamic and visually arresting works, Roy Wang is breaking new ground in the use of light and movement in photography. Born in Beijing, his unusual career path has provided the life experiences that inform his work: after completing university in 2009 he left China to become a professional rugby player in Japan. Travelling around his new country, he began to carry a camera everywhere and taught himself the techniques of photography through constant practice.

One day, he chanced upon a black-and-white photograph from the 1949 collaboration between Pablo Picasso and the pioneering Life magazine photographer Gjon Mili, in which Picasso uses a small flashlight to sketch in mid-air, captured by Mili using a slow shutter speed. The image had a profound impact on Roy Wang and that very night, he went out with a flashlight and made his first attempt at light-painting.

Unlike in traditional photography and figurative art, in which the artist endeavours to capture the effect of light falling on the subject, for Roy Wang, light is the medium that creates the subject out of dark nothingness. Often set against urban backgrounds, his light-paintings combine references from Chinese culture and mythology with pop culture iconography and elements of calligraphy.

The Pursuit of the Unknown at the Intersection of Technology and Art

Since the dawn of time, people have been fascinated by the effect of light against the dark night sky – picking up burning sticks from a fire and sketching patterns against the void. However, it wasn’t until the advent of photography that it became possible to create enduring works of art in this way. In essence, light-painting is the art of ‘drawing’ images with a moving light, and capturing the process on camera with a single, long exposure – usually a minute or more.

Working at night, Roy Wang uses darkness as his canvas and light as his paintbrush, facing the camera and shaping his images in the air with no visual guidance. (He sees what he has created only in the resulting photograph.) Rather, he must rely on spatial memory, muscle memory and imagination. He credits his years as a professional sportsman for helping to develop the deep muscle memory that he employs in his art. The artist dresses in black while creating the work, becoming absorbed by the surrounding darkness and invisible in the finished image.

“I describe my art as the pursuit of the unknown because I must work towards an imagined result – I can’t see what I’m making until after it has been captured by the camera,” says the artist. “The process is very fast; it takes only a minute or two, but the planning is very lengthy. I must envision the image, the exact gestures that I will make to ‘paint’ it, the invisible ‘frame’ that must contain those gestures, and the perfect positioning of my body and the light source in relation to the frame and camera. Part of the magic of light-painting is that the light effects vanish as soon as they are created, yet they live forever through the photographs.”

Four Hypnotic Artworks: the precision of fine watchmaking expressed through light

The four art pieces that Roy Wang has created for Jaeger-LeCoultre – a stop motion video and three experimental photographs – presented even greater challenges. Asked to scale his work down to the tiny dimensions of watchmaking, required major technical adaptation. First, to create patterns of the desired finesse, he had to develop completely new, miniaturised light-tools – most of which are as small as a movement component. Second, he had to develop entirely different gestures: rather than the sweeping arm movements and whole-body motion that he normally uses, the artist had to master tiny movements of the hand and wrist – more akin to those of a watchmaker – with every gesture perfectly judged and precisely controlled. Along with meticulous planning this required a great deal of practice, until the new gestures became almost second nature. In many ways, the artistic process mirrors the preparation and precision, the technical knowledge and artistic sensibility inherent in every Jaeger-LeCoultre timepiece.

For the three photographs and stop-motion video, Roy Wang has combined elements drawn from Chinese tradition with his experience of visiting the Manufacture in the Vallée de Joux and discovering watchmaking in depth – particularly the different aspects of precision that he observed. In his signature style, he plays with shape, colour and dynamic lines to create visually captivating, one-of-a-kind works.

•  龘 (dá – Flying Dragon) pays tribute to the iconic Reverso
• 叒 (ruò – All the Best) celebrates the intricacies of the Duometre watch calibre
• 燚 (yì – Burning Flame) pays homage to a 19^th-century Jaeger-LeCoultre pocket watch

For the stop motion video, The Dragon of Time ( 时光绘龙 ), the artist combines his light-painting skills with stop motion animation – the technique in which the subject is manipulated between photographs shot at dozens of frames per second, to give the appearance of movement once the frames are spliced together. The Dragon of Time employs one of Roy Wang’s signature motifs, the dragon, which takes viewers on a fantastical journey through the Jaeger-LeCoultre Manufacture in the Vallée de Joux.

“With his light-painting, Roy Wang brings an original and exciting dimension to our Made of Makers programme,” says Catherine Rénier, CEO of Jaeger-LeCoultre. “Founded on our deep belief in the convergence of craftsmanship across many disciplines and cultures, Made of Makers celebrates the strong affinity that exists between the artistic world and our Maison. To collaborate with an artist like Roy Wang, who is constantly expanding his artistic vision, allows us to explore uncharted territories where precision, creativity and passion intersect.”

Continuing to expand its cultural universe, Jaeger-LeCoultre announces the latest instalment in its Made of Makers programme: a new collaboration with Brendi Wedinger, a Los Angeles-based multi-media artist recognised for her work in 3D digital arts, sculpture and floristry. 

Expanding the Dialogue Between Watchmaking and the Arts

Through a series of collaborations with artists, designers and craftsmen from disciplines outside watchmaking, Made of Makers explores and extends the dialogue that naturally exists between horology and art. The programme focuses on artists who share Jaeger-LeCoultre’s values of creativity, expertise and precision, with nature at its core, exploring new forms of artistic expression through different and often unexpected materials and media. Like the watchmakers of La Grande Maison, these artists and innovators have a deep respect for the past as their creative foundation and a springboard for their trailblazing work. This year, Jaeger-LeCoultre further explores the world of contemporary art with an unexpected new collaboration.

A Distinctive Artistic Vision that Unites Nature with Technology

Based in Los Angeles, Brendi Wedinger is a multi-disciplinary artist and designer whose three-dimensional, digital artworks blur the boundary between real life and fantasy. Taking inspiration from nature as her primary theme – with an emphasis on biodiversity, sustainability and renewal, and a particular love of flowers – she combines various elements to form a new and surreal visual reality that is almost tangible, occasionally abstract, often highly sculptural, and always emotionally captivating.

While the virtual world of Brendi Wedinger’s art and the technical tools employed to create it, appear to be the antithesis of the organic world that she portrays, a strong affinity with traditional craftsmanship underpins her creative process. “Rather than using a computer programme to design the work from the outset, I always begin by using the technical tools to hand-sculpt the larger three-dimensional elements, such as the petals of a flower, and hand-draw the fine details. Once I have completed this stage, I use a lot of mathematical equations to create textures, transparency and layering effects,” she explains. “What drew me to the digital medium is that it gives me more tools to play with and a wider scope for experimentation, so that my work becomes a more expressive homage to nature rather than a literal representation of it.”

New 3-D Artworks Inspired by the Flora of the Vallée de Joux

For each Made of Makers collaboration, Jaeger-LeCoultre commissions an original work, inviting the artist to express a theme of interest to the Maison through their particular craft. Given Brendi Wedinger’s deep affinity with the natural world it was self-evident that the theme of the new work would be nature – one of Jaeger-LeCoultre’s core values – and flowers, specifically.

Like all Made of Makers collaborators, before starting work on the commission Brendi Wedinger spent time at Jaeger-LeCoultre’s home in the Vallée de Joux, discovering the crafts of watchmaking and exploring the natural world that surrounds the Manufacture. She combined elements from every aspect of the visit to create her new work – a series of three surrealistic flowers.

“Everything about that visit – from the wildflowers in the fields, to the incredible complexity and tiny scale of the watch components and the patience and skill of all the different craftsmen in the Manufacture – was like a romantic fantasy world, so far from the lightning-fast pace of modern life,” says Brendi Wedinger. “Aside from the natural beauty of the valley, I felt very inspired by the high-complication watches and the unique details you find in them. I wanted the flowers to be complex and one-of-a kind, like the watches, with all of the beauty and immense detail that can be found in both.”

Each of the three creations is an idealised homage to a variety of flowers found in the Vallée de Joux throughout the changing seasons, rather than a particular species that exists in nature. “When people look more deeply at each work, they will see that every element is recognisable and traceable to a natural flower, but I remixed and layered the details to emphasise their surreal nature,” Brendi Wedinger explains. Another important element of the commission was that the flowers should be (digitally) rendered in one of the precious metals used at Jaeger-LeCoultre, which creates a hyper-realistic illusion of the shadows and reflections created by light falling on polished gold, further amplifying the surreal effect. In creating this work, the artist has deliberately played with contrasting notions – the opposition between the organic softness of nature and the cold solidity of metal, the digital and the physical, the ephemeral and the static – adding subtle layers of tension and intrigue that heighten the emotional impact of each piece.

From Nature to Art…and Back to Nature

In a play on botanical tradition, the flowers have each been given official Latin names with formal English counterparts. Linking them back to the Maison’s history, Jaeger-LeCoultre has added an official name to each flower, which pays tribute to the Reverso’s year of origin. Thus, elements of poppy, alpine pasque and grass of parnassus have been combined to create Flos Montis Fluit (Flower of the Mountain Flows), known as the 1931 Golden Poppy. Poet's daffodil, red hemp nettle and late spider orchid are blended to create Gemma Vallis (The Jewel of the Vallee), known as the 1931 Golden Orchid. For the third flower, water mint, scabious and fringed pink have been combined to create Rhapsodia Petalorum Alpinorum (The Rhapsody of Alpine Petals), known as the 1931 Golden Thistle.

Further blurring the lines between the real and surreal, Jaeger-LeCoultre commissioned a French plant breeder to identify a flower that closely resembles the form of the 1931 Golden Orchid and to breed a hybrid exclusively for the Maison. Named the 1931 White Orchid, it is a natural and physical representation of Brendi Wedinger’s art piece. The flowers – in both their physical and virtual forms – will become part of Jaeger-LeCoultre’s visual identity and seen in a wide variety of initiatives in the future.

Created by the Swiss fine watchmaking Maison as part of its mission to expand the cultural conversation around design and watchmaking, the immersive sound-and-light show tells the story of the Golden Ratio, the unique mathematical formula that defines aesthetic harmony. Open free of charge to the public, it is an invitation to discover the elemental links between the beauty found in nature and in the most pleasing of man-made objects – from art and architecture to fine watches, and in particular the timeless Art Deco design of the Reverso, which was created in 1931.

A spectacular digital show projected onto a giant screen of falling water overlooking the River Thames, The Golden Ratio Musical Show is amplified by a spellbinding soundtrack composed by the ground-breaking British musician TØKIO M¥ERS and commissioned by Jaeger-LeCoultre through its Made of Makers programme of artistic collaborations.

On the evening of 14 September, Jaeger-LeCoultre hosted a private gala dinner, during which TØKIO M¥ERS gave a live performance of his soundtrack during The Golden Ratio Musical Show, accompanied by the renowned Bourne Orchestra – a collaboration between musicians from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the London Chamber Orchestra. He followed this with a concert of other selected works, complete with the special effects that make his live performances so compelling.

Among the guests were the award-winning actor Nicholas Hoult, Ambassador for Jaeger-LeCoultre, actors Mimi Keene, Finn Cole, Sonoya Mizuno, Freya Allan and Gregg Sulkin. The British filmmaker and television presenter Reggie Yates was Master of Ceremonies for the evening.

The 1931 Cinema, located at Battersea Power Station on the south bank of the River Thames, and The Golden Ratio Musical Show offered the public the opportunity to experience design, craft and watchmaking in an entirely new cultural context.

WITH AN ORIGINAL SYMPHONY COMPOSED BY TØKIO M¥ERS

From 14^th – 17^th September 2023, Jaeger-LeCoultre will have the pleasure of welcoming guests to The Golden Ratio Musical Show in London. Presented at the 1931 Cinema, a specially created venue at the newly restored Battersea Power Station, the inspiring sound-and-light show celebrates the Golden Ratio – the unique mathematical formula that defines the aesthetic harmony that we humans are instinctively drawn to. The ground-breaking British musician, TØKIO M¥ERS, has composed a new soundtrack especially for the show, commissioned by Jaeger-LeCoultre through its Made of Makers programme.

Presenting Design in a New Cultural Context

With The Golden Ratio Musical Show and 1931 Cinema, Jaeger-LeCoultre continues to expand the cultural conversation around design and watchmaking, exploring their elemental links through the lens of the Reverso watch, which is widely acknowledged as an icon of 20^th century design. Taking its name from the year that the Reverso was born, the 1931 Cinema offers guests a deep immersion in the style and ambience of that period. Enhancing the experience, refreshments will be provided by the 1931 Café. The outdoor cinema concept also pays homage to the world’s first drive-in movie theatre, which opened in 1933 and spawned a new form of entertainment that was to become embedded in popular culture.

The Art Deco-inspired design of the 1931 Cinema will be enhanced by its location at Battersea Power Station, one of London’s most spectacular Art Deco buildings and a new retail, leisure and cultural destination for the capital. Originally conceived as a purely functional and box-like structure, its beautiful exterior is the work of British architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, who was commissioned to redesign it, adding Art Deco glamour and the four iconic chimneys, which are synonymous of the London skyline. Construction of the Power Station began in 1929 with the first half, Station A completed in 1933, and the second half, Station B in 1955. At its peak Battersea Power Station produced a fifth of London’s electricity. 

An Enthralling Sound-and-Light Show

The centrepiece of the 1931 Cinema is The Golden Ratio Musical Show, a spectacular sound-and-light show projected onto a giant screen of falling water. The 10-minute show tells the story of the Golden Ratio in four chapters: tracing the path from the observation of nature and the hidden harmonies that connect its most beautiful forms, to the scientific examination of the mystical properties of beauty and the quest to define their geometry, which led to the discovery of the mathematical formula 1.618, also known as Phi (φ). It continues by exploring how this ‘golden number’ or ‘divine proportion’ has marked European cultural history, architecture and art ever since it was identified, and concludes by presenting the Reverso, created at the height of the Art Deco movement, which expresses the spirit of the Golden Ratio with utmost eloquence.

A Specially Commissioned Soundtrack by TØKIO M¥ERS

For The Golden Ratio Musical Show, Jaeger-LeCoultre commissioned a soundtrack from the British musician and composer TØKIO M¥ERS, who is gaining worldwide recognition as one of the most original artists to emerge in recent years. A graduate of the Royal College of Music, celebrated for his experimental fusions of classical music with cinematic, hip-hop, dance, ‘90s soul and other influences, TØKIO M¥ERS is also a gifted pianist and percussionist, and a performer of immense range and dynamic power. Through compositions that transcend time and genres, he creates dialogues between the past and present, redefining what classical music can be.

Having taken inspiration from time spent at the Jaeger-LeCoultre Manufacture in the Swiss Jura mountains, TØKIO M¥ERS says that he wrote the piece “with the explicit intention of amplifying the emotional impact of the digital projection”. He describes the new work as “a short symphony in four chapters, or movements, that takes the listener on a powerful journey”. Reinforcing the Golden Ratio theme, he translated the number 1.618 into a tempo of 161.8 beats per minute. “I incorporated the Golden Ratio as the driving tempo throughout the piece. I’ve never written in this tempo before and it’s a wonderful tempo to write in,” he says.

London Dates on a World Tour

Following its debut during Shanghai International Film Festival in early June, The Golden Ratio Musical Show and 1931 Cinema began a world tour in Los Angeles. The London season runs from 14^th – 17^th September at Battersea Power Station and it will be open to the public, free of charge, offering the opportunity to experience design and watchmaking in an entirely new cultural context.

On the night of the 14^th September, at an invitation-only gala, TØKIO M¥ERS will give a live performance of his soundtrack. He will be accompanied by The Bourne Orchestra, a collaboration between musicians from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the London Chamber Orchestra. This will be followed by a concert of his other work, accompanied by the signature lighting that make his solo performances so dynamic.

The 1931 Cinema will be open free of charge to the public from the 14^th September to the 17^th September, with The Golden Ratio Musical Show running all day on a 20-minute cycle.

Following its London season, the 1931 Cinema and The Golden Ratio Musical Show will travel to Dubai.

The Golden Ratio Musical Show

Battersea Power Station, London, SW8 5BN

Opening day on 14^th September from 11am to 6pm

From 15^th – 16^th September from 11am to 10pm

17^th September from 11am to 9pm

Open to public. Free of charge. 

Register on https://online-booking.jaeger-lecoultre.com/atelier/58

WITH AN ORIGINAL SYMPHONY COMPOSED BY TØKIO M¥ERS

From June 22–25 in Los Angeles, Jaeger-LeCoultre will have the pleasure of welcoming guests to The Golden Ratio Musical Show. Presented in an inspiring open-air venue, the spectacular sound and light show celebrates the Golden Ratio – the unique mathematical formula that defines the aesthetic harmony that we, as humans, are instinctively drawn to. The ground-breaking British musician TØKIO M¥ERS has composed a new soundtrack especially for the show, commissioned by Jaeger-LeCoultre through its Made of Makers programme.

Presenting Design in a New Cultural Context

With The Golden Ratio Musical Show, Jaeger-LeCoultre continues to expand the cultural conversation around design and watchmaking, exploring their elemental links through the lens of the Reverso watch, which is widely acknowledged as an icon of 20^th-century design. The 1931 Cinema, the show’s specially designed setting, offers guests a deep immersion in the style and ambience of the Art Deco period, when the Reverso was created. Enhancing the experience, refreshments will be provided by the nomadic 1931 Café. Constructed in an open-air setting at Westfield Century City on Santa Monica Boulevard, the outdoor concept also pays homage to the world’s first drive-in movie theatre, which opened in 1933 and spawned a new form of entertainment that was to become deeply embedded in American popular culture.

An Enthralling Sound-and-Light Show

The centrepiece of the 1931 Cinema is The Golden Ratio Musical Show, a spectacular sound-and-light show projected onto a giant screen of falling water. The 10-minute production tells the story of the Golden Ratio in four chapters, tracing the path from the observation of nature and the hidden harmonies that connect its most beautiful forms, to the scientific examination of the mystical properties of beauty and the quest to define their geometry, which led to the discovery of the mathematical formula 1.618, also known as Phi (φ). It continues by exploring how this ‘golden number’ or ‘divine proportion’ has marked cultural history, architecture and art and concludes by presenting the Reverso, created at the height of the Art Deco movement, which expresses the spirit of the Golden Ratio with utmost eloquence.

A Specially Commissioned Soundtrack by TØKIO M¥ERS

For The Golden Ratio Musical Show, Jaeger-LeCoultre commissioned a soundtrack from the ground-breaking British musician and composer TØKIO M¥ERS, who is gaining worldwide recognition as one of the most original artists to emerge in recent years. A graduate of the Royal College of Music, celebrated for his experimental fusions of classical music with cinematic, hip-hop, dance, ‘90s soul and other influences, TØKIO M¥ERS is also a gifted pianist and percussionist, and a performer of immense range and dynamic power. Through compositions that transcend time and genres, he creates dialogues between the past and present, redefining what classical music can be.

Having taken inspiration from time spent at the Jaeger-LeCoultre Manufacture in the Swiss Jura Mountains, TØKIO M¥ERS says that he wrote the new piece “with the explicit intention of amplifying the emotional impact of the digital projection”. He describes the work as “a short symphony in four chapters, or movements, that takes the listener on a powerful journey”. Amplifying the Golden Ratio theme, he translated the number 1.618 into a tempo of 161.8 beats per minute. “I incorporated the Golden Ratio as the driving tempo throughout the piece. I’ve never written in this tempo before and it’s a wonderful tempo to write in,” he says.

First Stop on a World Tour

The Golden Ratio Musical Show begins a world tour in Los Angeles, following its debut in Shanghai. The event opens on June 22 with an invitation-only gala, during which TØKIO M¥ERS will give a live performance of his soundtrack. He will be accompanied by the acclaimed L.E.Orchband, a Los Angeles-based collective of world-class musicians from leading orchestras on both sides of the Atlantic. Following this, TØKIO M¥ERS will perform a concert of his other work, complete with the signature lighting that makes his solo performances so dynamic.

During its Los Angeles season, the 1931 Cinema will be open free of charge to the public from June 22-25, offering the opportunity to experience design and watchmaking in an entirely new cultural context. The space will be open throughout the day from 10 am–10pm, with The Golden Ratio Musical Show beginning at 7pm and running on a 20-minute cycle until 10pm.

Following its Los Angeles season, the 1931 Cinema and The Golden Ratio Musical Show will travel to London and Dubai during 2023.

MADE OF MAKERS PROGRAMME TO CELEBRATE THE DESIGN OF REVERSO

Continuing to expand its cultural universe, Jaeger-LeCoultre announces the latest instalment in its Made of Makers programme: a new collaboration with the ground-breaking British musician TØKIO M¥ERS.

Expanding the Dialogue Between Watchmaking and the Arts

Through a series of collaborations with artists, designers and craftsmen from disciplines outside watchmaking, Made of Makers explores and extends the dialogue that naturally exists between horology and art. The programme focuses on artists who share Jaeger-LeCoultre’s values of creativity, expertise and precision, with nature at its core, exploring new forms of artistic expression through different and often unexpected materials and media. Like the watchmakers of La Grande Maison, these artists and innovators have a deep respect for the past as their creative foundation and a springboard for their trailblazing work. To date, Made of Makers has embraced the worlds of contemporary art and gastronomy and, through the new collaboration with TØKIO M¥ERS, adds music to the portfolio.

A Rising International Star with a Unique Style

A pianist, multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer, TØKIO M¥ERS has become celebrated for his experimental approach to classical music. An artist of immense range and dynamic power, his highly original approach to creating and performing music has established him as one of the most exciting artists to emerge in recent years. A musical alchemist, TØKIO M¥ERS fuses the classics with cinematic, hip-hop, dance, ‘90s soul and other influences to create his own inimitable sound and shatter the boundaries between genres.

His approach to his work has close parallels with that of Jaeger-LeCoultre’s watchmakers: using tradition as his creative foundation, he harnesses the craft and discipline of his classical music training in order to take it in new directions. As with watchmaking at La Grande Maison, TØKIO M¥ERS’ work is highly sophisticated, and anchored in deep technical complexity. He designs and produces his own live performances, capturing the visual potential of music and pushing it to new limits with lighting and pyrotechnics. Visually spectacular and emotionally absorbing, his work is redefining what classical music can be.

“Music has never been static; it's in constant evolution,” says TØKIO M¥ERS. “For me, it starts with mastery of the basics, then breaking free from the norms and composing my own story – constantly searching for the balance between the voices of the past and my own. Composing for Jaeger-LeCoultre was so natural for me because we're looking for the same thing; there's a common goal: to reinvent the classic and find what is universal and timeless.”

A New Composition inspired by the Spirit of the Manufacture

Under the aegis of Made of Makers, Jaeger-LeCoultre has commissioned TØKIO M¥ERS to compose a soundtrack exclusively for the Maison’s Golden Ratio Musical Show. The spectacular 10-minute sound-and-light show – projected onto a giant screen of falling water – tells the story of the Golden Ratio in four chapters, from its presence in nature, to the scientific examination of its mystical properties; and from its ubiquity in timeless architecture and art to its impact on contemporary design. TØKIO M¥ERS says that he wrote his new piece “with the explicit intention of amplifying the emotional impact of the digital projection” and describes the work as “a short symphony in four chapters, or movements, that takes the listener on a powerful journey”.

Like all Made of Makers artists, TØKIO M¥ERS has visited the Jaeger-LeCoultre Manufacture in the Vallée de Joux, absorbing the natural beauty of the surrounding landscape, and spending time with the watchmakers and artisans. “Being in Le Sentier, seeing first-hand how Jaeger-LeCoultre operates, experiencing the atmosphere in the Manufacture, seeing all the skills, hearing all of the different sounds, enjoying the calm surroundings of the Vallée de Joux – that gave me a lot of inspiration to draw on,” he says. “And the Golden Ratio theme gave me the idea of translating that mathematical formula of 1.618 [Phi] into a tempo of 161.8 beats per minute.”

A Shanghai Debut followed by a World Tour

TØKIO M¥ERS will give the first performance of his new composition at a private event hosted by Jaeger-LeCoultre during the Shanghai International Film Festival on June 9. The show will then travel to Los Angeles on June 22, London in September, followed by Dubai at the end of the year.

Conceived by Jaeger-LeCoultre as part of its wider mission to bring inspiring and original experiences of the world of watchmaking to audiences around the world, The Golden Ratio Musical Show is an opportunity to discover the story of the Reverso in entirely new ways. The show will be staged in the 1931 Cinema, a specially designed setting inspired by the world’s first Drive-In Cinema, which – like the Reverso – was created at the height of the Art Deco period. The 1931 Cinema follows the creation two years ago of the 1931 Café, which is a feature of Jaeger-LeCoultre’s major events and exhibitions around the world.

MADE OF MAKERS PROGRAMME TO CELEBRATE THE DESIGN OF REVERSO

Continuing to expand its cultural universe, Jaeger-LeCoultre announces the latest instalment in its Made of Makers programme: a new collaboration with the Korean digital media artist Yiyun Kang.

Expanding the Dialogue Between Watchmaking and the Arts

Through a series of collaborations with artists, designers and craftsmen from disciplines outside watchmaking, Made of Makers explores and extends the dialogue that naturally exists between horology and art. The programme focuses on artists who share Jaeger-LeCoultre’s values of creativity, expertise and precision, with nature at its core, exploring new forms of artistic expression through different and often unexpected materials and media. Like the watchmakers of La Grande Maison, these artists and innovators have a deep respect for the past as their creative foundation and a springboard for their trailblazing work. In 2023, Jaeger-LeCoultre further explores the world of contemporary art with an unexpected new collaboration.

A Unique Artistic Vision Expressed Through Exceptional Technological Skill

Recognised for her immersive audio-visual installations that recast space with moving image and sound, Yiyun Kang is one of the most active and talented Korean digital media artists in today’s international art scene, as well as a highly respected teacher and researcher.

In both her art practice and her research, Yiyun Kang is exploring the intersection of art, technology, and experience to investigate what she describes as “the in-between – between the finite and infinite, reality and unreality, surface and depth, absence and presence”. Valuing art as a medium for communication, she invites us, through her work, to contemplate where the boundaries are and what those boundaries mean – for humanity and the important questions that we face in today’s world.

Through the relatively new art form of projection-mapping, Yiyun Kang’s works play with the symbiotic relationship between moving images, narrative, and space beyond the conventional screen. From relatively small-scale works created for indoor environments to very large site-specific works created for public outdoor spaces, these immersive environments involve the viewers as participants, taking them into another dimension; the effect is awe-inspiring, and occasionally disconcerting as the sense of space, dimension and time is dissolved and re-formed. Fractal geometries move and flow in a way that seems almost organic, lending a grace and fluidity to each work that makes it seem effortlessly natural. However, as with watchmaking, the beauty of the work is underpinned by intellectual rigour, complex mathematical calculations and extreme precision.

A 3D-Video Sculpture Inspired by The Golden Ratio

For each Made of Makers collaboration, Jaeger-LeCoultre commissions an original work, inviting the artist to express a theme of interest to the Maison in a new way, through their particular craft. To better understand what the 2023 theme of the Golden Ratio means to Jaeger-LeCoultre, Yiyun Kang spent time at the Manufacture in the Vallée de Joux, gaining a deeper understanding of the Maison’s home, its values and the process of watchmaking.

“It was fascinating to see how the Reverso was made at the Manufacture. As an artist who works at the intersection of creativity and technology, I found it very interesting that the original design of Reverso was driven instinctively by the Golden Ratio, and I sought out scientific research that could explain why humanity has been drawn to the concept for so many centuries,” says the artist. “Jaeger-LeCoultre inspired me to explore, to draw a continuous line from the natural world into my digital space.”

This became the starting point for the newly commissioned work, titled Origin. Presented in a very large three-dimensional screen that has been purpose-built for installation in public spaces, Origin is a tribute to the ubiquity of the Golden ratio in the world around us. Through its narrative, it builds a parallel between the symmetry in nature and the geometry of Art Deco design.

“There are astounding examples from nature that literally represent the Phi number, the Golden Ratio, in their organisms,” Yiyun Kang observes. “Perhaps we are attracted to it because it identifies the origin of life – not just an aesthetic pattern, but an anchor for evolution. Seen in this light, the meaning of Golden Ratio becomes even more significant for us now that we are living in an Anthropocene age.”

A Seoul Debut Followed by a World Tour

Origin will make its debut in Seoul in June, before being presented at a series of Jaeger-LeCoultre events in key cities around the world, such as Chengdu, Singapore, New York and Zurich.

In 2023 Jaeger-LeCoultre enriches this year’s Golden Ratio theme through a continued collaboration with the Parisian artist-pastry chef Nina Métayer under its Made of Makers programme.

Expanding the dialogue that has long existed between horology, artisanship and art, Made of Makers is a programme of collaborations with artists and artisans from various disciplines outside watchmaking. It focuses on passionate and experienced creators who share Jaeger-LeCoultre’s values of creativity, expertise, precision and the perpetuation of excellence, and whose work explores new forms of expression through different and often unexpected materials and media. To date, the Made of Makers community has embraced the worlds of contemporary art and gastronomy – with alumni including artists Zimoun, Michael Murphy and Guillaume Marmin, lettering artist Alex Trochut, pastry chef Nina Métayer and mixologist Matthias Giroud.

Jaeger-LeCoultre’s collaboration with Nina Métayer began in 2021 with the inauguration of the 1931 Café, for which the celebrated pâtissière created a special menu of pastries inspired by the Art Deco. Named Pastry Chef of the Year three times before she turned 30, Nina is renowned for the visual appeal of her pastries as well as her singular talent for blending evocative flavours in new and often unexpected ways.

“We are delighted to continue our collaboration with Nina Métayer under our Made of Makers programme,” says Catherine Rénier, CEO of Jaeger-LeCoultre. “Between the artistic world and our Maison, there is an organic bond in the exploration of creativity and the respect for craft, and working with a passionate and experienced artisan like Nina enables us to express our Maison’s values in new ways that generate emotions, cultivate curiosity and explore the symbiotic relationship that exists between horology and art.”

For her new pastries, which will be offered to Jaeger-LeCoultre’s guests at Watches and Wonders 2023 and served in the 1931 Café around the world during the coming year, Nina Métayer interprets the  harmony of the Golden Ratio in a fresh and contemporary way, through proportions, shape, symmetry and colour – a tribute to the ‘divine proportion’ that defines the design of the first Reverso that was born in 1931. With their eye-catching forms and evocative names – Spirale de Noisette, Ellipse de Sapin, Étoile de Cassis and Carré au Miel de Forêt – each creation is infused with ingredients from the Vallée de Joux. The flavours and scent of hazelnuts, honey, pine, chestnuts and blackcurrants subtly evoke the natural harmony and beauty that surround Jaeger-LeCoultre’s home in the Swiss Jura mountains.

“Harmony in everything is, and has always been, a blend of mathematics and poetry. It’s a balance to which nature has long held the secrets – and a deep belief that Jaeger-LeCoultre and I share and apply to our work. This is the approach that I took when creating my four new pastries that pay homage to the Golden Ratio,” says Nina. “The creative spirit also understands that aesthetics has an impact on what we feel – so the visual forms of my pastries influence the perception of flavour: it’s the promise of unleashing poetry from the first bite.”

Enriching the dialogue that has long existed between horology, artisanship and art, Made of Makers is a profound expression of the core principles that have defined Jaeger-LeCoultre for 190 years: creativity, expertise and precision. With intense respect for the person in the process – the creativity of the mind and the skill of the hand – the programme focuses on world-class creators from outside the world of watchmaking, who share the Maison’s values and whose work explores new forms of expression through different and often unexpected materials and media.

“Through Made of Makers we are looking for different perspectives on how the practices of watchmaking, art and other creative disciplines can bring value to lived experiences,” says Catherine Rénier, CEO of Jaeger-LeCoultre. “We seek out artists from disciplines as diverse as gastronomy, music and digital art, who harness great imagination to meticulous artistic processes, creating works that expand our minds, challenge our senses and trigger strong emotions.”

Guillaume Marmin employs light, sound and movement in complex and evocative relationships that redefine traditional ideas of sculpture, space and time. His work evokes the beauty of the imperceptible and the laws of physics, creating a new world of images and narrations, transporting the viewer to another place and inviting contemplation and introspection. Its deepest fascination lies in this almost transcendental effect on the viewer.

“I try to carry out an approach that is both conceptual and technical at the same time,” says the artist. “I am always looking for new tools to experiment with, and the times we live in are particularly conducive to this. When we work around light, we are at the crossroads of scientific, artistic, philosophical, even mystical questions. To a certain extent, I think my work is a continuation of the research begun by artists like Victor Vasarely or François Morellet since the 1950s. I also have a strong desire to take art out of the galleries, to invest the public space and find new distribution networks.”

While using technologically advanced tools and digital media, Guillaume Marmin’s work is always grounded in expressions of reality. Through subjects such as Earth, architecture, the paradigms of physics and – in this commission for Jaeger-LeCoultre – astronomical phenomena, he illustrates the ambivalence of the present day in its relationship between nature and technology.

 “We are delighted to be working with Guillaume,” says Catherine Rénier, Chief Executive Officer of Jaeger-LeCoultre. “The way his work sparks the imagination and creates a sense of awe and wonder captures perfectly the feeling we get when we look at the night sky and contemplate the movements of the stars and planets. In this sense, as well as the elegance and underlying complexity of his systems, we see an exact parallel with watchmaking. As it explores the very meaning of time, Passengers: Through Time is an outstanding expression of our Stellar Odyssey theme.”

Passengers: Through Time

In partnership with Jaeger-LeCoultre, Guillaume Marmin created an entirely new chapter for his acclaimed installation, Passengers. This second chapter, Passengers: Through Time, focuses on celestial and astronomical observation, offering its visitors – or passengers – an exploration of the links between time, space and light, as described by the theory of relativity.

“The challenge of this project was to make perceptible the relationship between observation of the sky and the measurement of time,” says Guillaume Marmin “From discussions with astronomers and watchmakers, I imagined an art installation capable of transcribing the links that unite time and space.”

The intense planning phase of Passengers: Through Time included deep consultation between the artist and the Institute of Planetology and Astrophysics of Grenoble, which enabled him to identify and model the relationship between time and the cosmos in the light of contemporary knowledge. By employing generative programming to transcribe the data he collected, he has created an immersive and inspiring environment that enables us to momentarily approach the beauty of the unseen and the mathematical foundation of reality.

Through a kinetic device contained within a walk-through capsule and made up of visual and sound movements, infinite reflections and dizzying perspectives, the installation takes visitors (passengers) on a stellar excursion in which they are the protagonists. In the passengers’ minds, this complex and evocative interplay of light, sound and movement captures the vastness of the cosmos, inviting reflection on the fundamental question of what time really is.

Exploring the wonders that we can observe in our night sky, The Stellar Odyssey reveals the awe-inspiring phenomena that the watchmakers of Jaeger-LeCoultre express through their celestial complications, displaying mankind’s link to the cosmos directly on the wrist in a literal, philosophical and uniquely captivating way.

Following the inauguration of The Stellar Odyssey at Watches and Wonders in 2022, Dubai has been chosen as the first stop on a tour of major world cities. The exhibition will be staged in a spectacular pavilion ‘floating’ on the waters of the Dubai Fountain, with Burj Khalifa as its backdrop.

“It is an important part of our mission at Jaeger-LeCoultre to share the secrets behind the art and craft of watchmaking with the wider world by bringing our Manufacture from the Vallée de Joux to the public around the globe,” says Catherine Rénier, CEO of Jaeger-LeCoultre. “The ancient cultures of the Middle East played a seminal role in the origins of time measurement, and we are therefore delighted that Dubai is where the world tour of The Stellar Odyssey makes its debut. It is a special opportunity to trace the unbroken line through several millennia to the exceptional legacy of innovation that has driven our Maison for 190 years and the work that we do today.”

Showcasing a careful curated selection of the Manufacture’s most remarkable historic timepieces as well as its most recent celestially-inspired timepieces – including the extraordinary Atmos clock and the Reverso Hybris Mechanica Calibre 185 – the exhibition features multi-media installations that will take visitors on a virtual journey to the cosmos. It translates the wonders of the celestial world into art installations and multi-sensory experiences, while the Atelier d’Antoine, named after the Maison’s founder, Antoine LeCoultre, shares watchmaking know-how through hands-on educational workshops based on the Stellar Odyssey theme.

Revealing the Mysteries of Astronomical Timekeeping in Eight Chapters

Within the main exhibition pavilion, The Stellar Odyssey explores the creative and cultural universe of astronomically-inspired watchmaking in eight chapters. Visitors begin by discovering the very origins of time, the impact of celestial phenomena on the way we measure it, and the origins of Jaeger-LeCoultre’s expertise in developing astronomical complications. Each of the five following chapters leads visitors through a different cosmic phenomenon, displaying rare historic watches as well as timepieces from the most recent collections to illustrate how the Manufacture has continually reinterpreted the movements of the stars and planets in the form of intricate complications that represent, measure and even predict celestial events directly on the wrist.

Enriching the Stellar Experience

In the heart of the main pavilion beneath a geodesic dome, an immersive digital show takes visitors on a virtual journey through space and time, transporting them through infinite space and 13.7 billion years of time to reveal the mysteries of the cosmos in five episodes – from the origins of our known universe to the present day.

“Through a variety of immersive experiences, The Stellar Odyssey presents different interpretations of the cosmos and its relation to timekeeping, inviting visitors to understand it more deeply,” says Catherine Rénier. “As well as transmitting the savoir-faire of watchmaking through the Atelier d’Antoine workshops, these experiences include two special collaborations under our Made of Makers programme.”

Established for the purpose of enriching the dialogue that has long existed between horology, artisanship and art, Made of Makers is a programme of collaborations with artists and artisans from various disciplines outside watchmaking. It focuses on world-class creators who share Jaeger-LeCoultre’s values of creativity, expertise and precision and whose work explores new forms of expression through different and often unexpected materials and media. For The Stellar Odyssey, Jaeger-LeCoultre has commissioned projects by French multi-media artist Guillaume Marmin and world-renowned mixologist Matthias Giroud.

For his installation, Passengers: Through Time, Guillaume Marmin employs light, sound and movement in complex relationships that redefine traditional ideas of sculpture, space and time. As visitors walk through the work, infinite reflections and dizzying perspectives take them on a stellar excursion in which they are the protagonists, inviting reflection on the fundamental question of what time really is. For the Stellar Atelier, Matthias Giroud has created a menu of highly original soft cocktails inspired by the cosmos, taking his inspiration from the colours, temperatures and forms of the stars and planets, and blending familiar ingredients with intriguing scents and flavours from the Vallée de Joux.

In the Atelier d’Antoine, visitors can complete their journey of astral discovery by joining a hands-on Discovery Workshop that focuses on the wonder of astronomical complications and the celestial origins of time-keeping – a rare opportunity to gain deep insight and practical experience of this magical world.

The Stellar Odyssey will be presented from Saturday 4^th to Thursday 23^rd February 2023 at the Dubai Fountain, Downtown Dubai, open daily from 2:00pm to 12.00 am. Tickets may be booked  online at https://online-booking.jaeger-lecoultre.com/domaine/theme12

Through ‘Made of Makers’ – a series of collaborations with artists, designers and craftsmen from disciplines outside watchmaking – Jaeger-LeCoultre is exploring and extending the dialogue that exists between horology and art. Honouring the core principles that define the Manufacture, La Grande Maison is choosing partnerships with leading creators who share its fundamental values of creativity, expertise and precision. The collaborations focus on world-class practitioners whose work explores new forms of expression through different and often unexpected materials and media.

A native of Barcelona and based in New York for the past decade, Alex Trochut has become celebrated for his experimental approach to typography. Like the artisans who construct watch movements and those who decorate the dials and cases, Alex creates emotionally resonant work that combines deep complexity with apparent simplicity. He harnesses the visual potential of language, pushing letters and words to new limits so that seeing and reading become the same action; text and image become a single, unified expression.

For Jaeger-LeCoultre, Alex has created a meaningful representation of La Grande Maison’s values through a new and boldly contemporary alphabet style, the 1931 Alphabet. As a stylistic springboard, he turned to Art Deco – a style that remains very evident to this day in the visual landscape of his adopted home, New York, and one of great importance to Jaeger-LeCoultre as the origin of the Reverso. More than simply a style, Art Deco expressed the extraordinary spirit of modernity that swept the world in the 1920s and ’30s – progressive, optimistic and forward thinking, with a fascination for technology, and tremendous creative energy – values that will always remain relevant for the Manufacture.

 “We are delighted to work with Alex Trochut,” says Catherine Rénier, Chief Executive Officer of Jaeger-LeCoultre. “His creative work is avant-garde and like our Maison, he uses his heritage as a foundation, harnessing that legacy in order to express the present and future in new creative ways.”

The new 1931 Alphabet that Alex has created for Jaeger-LeCoultre is a strongly modern addition to the Maison’s visual identity. In a sharp and contemporary take on Art Deco, each letter has a boldly sculptural quality and strong sense of visual depth, while also conveying a sense of dynamism and movement. It is equally expressive in both two-dimensional form and as three-dimensional objects.

Alex sees a natural affinity between his work and that of Jaeger-LeCoultre’s watchmakers and artistic craftsmen: “I think craft and technical skills are at the heart of both typography and watchmaking,” he says. “Letters are a mix of emotional and rational decisions, with a big internal logic that ties all the decisions into one alphabet or lettering form, like a puzzle. While I consider watchmaking to be another level of complexity, both disciplines embody a devotion to the little things, which need to work in harmony inside a system.

Immediately engaging on both a visual and emotional level, Alex’s work has redefined traditional ideas of what typography can be. “Letter design is the non-verbal communication of the written medium,” he says. He attributes his special connection with typography to his grandfather Joan Trochut, who invented a revolutionary modular typographic and ornament system in the 1940s and is recognised as a major contributor to the history of typography.

Destined to become an additional signature of La Grande Maison, the 1931 Alphabet will be offered as a new style of personalisation for engraving on a Reverso case-back and will be seen in a wide variety of other initiatives in the future.