Jaeger-LeCoultre’s iconic Reverso has come a long way since it’s inception almost 100-years ago. At the beginning of the 1930s, the watch was born of a challenge, that of designing a model that could withstand the polo matches of the British Army officers in India. Its dial smoothly concealed by reversing the case, to reveal a back that fully protects the face from possible mallet strokes.
The latest iteration of the Reverso comes in a new commissioned art installation celebrated American artist, Michael Murphy (above). The installation, titled Spacetime, further expands the cultural and creative universe of the Manufacture by exploring the relationship between the three physical dimensions of space, and the fourth dimension of time.
Michael Murphy’s main body of work emphasises perspective: his installations require the viewer to change position in order to fully appreciate them. Fusing classical art-making techniques with digital processes and manual skills, he has invented an entirely new formula for rendering two-dimensional images as suspended, three-dimensional mobiles.
“We are delighted to be collaborating with Michael Murphy. His artistic installation requires extreme precision, a value that we share at Jaeger-LeCoultre. Our watchmakers throw their heart and soul into every ingenious sketch, every oscillation of the balance wheel, every escapement wheel – always pushing the boundaries of precision.”
Catherine Rénier, Chief Executive Officer of Jaeger-LeCoultre
The timepiece chosen to be represented through Spacetime is the newly released Reverso Tribute Nonantième, which expresses the time in an entirely different manner on each of its faces. The artist immediately saw a parallel between this new Reverso and his anamorphic works, many of which have two distinct sides, showing two entirely different images when viewed from different positions.
“The Reverso has this iconic graphic identity and that’s the type of content that I often work with. My Reverso design explodes into an array of parts that tell a story about the watch and how it works. I dissected it into all of its working components and composed them in a way that creates two different photographic illusions, one renders the front of the watch and one the reverse.”
Michael Murphy, Artist
For more information please visit https://www.jaeger-lecoultre.com