Jaeger-LeCoultre’s 90th anniversary celebrations for its Reverso watch are never slacking off. The art deco-style timepiece, born in 1931, is arguably the world’s first sports watch, with a case that can be turned upside down to protect its face from being crushed during polo matches. Over the years, the aesthetic of the “back” has become at least as important as the main face itself, and during an exhibition in Paris to open on October 21, Jaeger-LeCoultre launches its Reverso Tribute Enamel Hidden Treasures , the culmination of a year. highlights of watchmaking. Three new watches, each in a limited edition of 10 (€ 90,000), were painted on their hidden side by the brand’s internal team with works by major artists that were long believed to be lost or stolen.
Creation of the Reverso Van Gogh watch “Sunset at Montmajour”
There is that of Gustave Courbet View of Lake Geneva (1876), remained unrecognized for 70 years after being transferred to a storage locker at the end of the Second World War. And then there is Van Gogh Sunset at Montmajour (1888), dismissed as a fake after Norwegian industrialist Christian Nicolai Mustad bought it in 1908, which led him to banish it to his attic. It was finally authenticated in 2013, making it the first life-size painting by the artist to receive the green light “it’s true” since 1928.
Reverso “Vue du lac Léman” by Courbet, € 90,000 (limited edition of 10)
Reverso “Portrait of a Lady” by Klimt, € 90,000 (limited edition of 10)
And, finally, there is that of Gustav Klimt Portrait of a lady (1917). It is actually a double portrait, with Klimt covering the original subject of the work – a woman he had fallen deeply in love with, but who died young – along with a painting of another woman in the past year. of his life . The painting was then stolen from a gallery in Plaisance in 1997 before being found 22 years later in a black garbage bag in the gardens of the same gallery. It turned out to be a job inside, but the paint was in too good condition to have been left outside for two decades. Who returned it exactly, when and why? Unresolved case.
Reverso: Timeless Stories Since 1931 is open from Tuesday to Saturday, from October 21 to December 24, 15 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, Paris (exhibition-reverso.com)
