Jaeger-LeCoultre’s legitimacy in the field of ladies’ watches goes back to the first round movements with extremely small diameters, including the Calibre LeCoultre 7HP created in the 1880s and which equipped enamelled watches, set with diamonds and pearls, and generally worn around the neck. This era was marked by the emergence of the wristwatch. Contrary to a popular misconception, it was worn by women before being adopted by men, who clung on for some time to the presumed masculine elegance of the pocket watch. The sleeveless gowns typical of the French Directoire and Empire periods and which revealed women’s arms and wrists naturally inspired jewellers to adorn these exposed areas. Some had the idea of integrating a watch mechanism within these adornments, giving rise to the first wristwatches, individually made to order and exclusively jewellery-inspired.
At the end of the 19th century, the watches housing the most refined round Jaeger-LeCoultre calibres hid their winding-crown underneath so that the circle could express the full purity of its shape. Deeply attached to the principle of product integrity, which held that a movement must follow the contours of the case housing it, the Manufacture quickly became a specialist of so-called shaped movements. Its watchmakers displayed impressive creativity in devising rectangular, tonneau, baguette, almond or square-shaped movements, such as the LeCoultre Calibre 6EB created in 1908. It measured barely more than one centimetre on each side and a mere 1.5 mm thick. These dainty, Art Deco style watches from the Manufacture contributed to emancipation of women in the Roaring Twenties eager to break free of constraints. It was in this context that the Duoplan watch was introduced in 1925. The LeCoultre Calibre 7BF Duoplan movement reconciled horology’s two traditionally mutually exclusive enemies: miniaturisation and precision. Interpreted in countless different ways, fitted with a satin or leather strap, crafted in steel or gold, and set with diamonds or rubies, the Duoplan watch could be infinitely transformed into a brooch watch or a so-called “secret” watch with a cover.
In 1929, the Manufacture wrote a new page in the history of feminine watchmaking with a revolutionary movement, Calibre 101, which is still the world’s smallest mechanical movement. A faithful partner of women’s eclectic tastes, it lent itself to all manner of daring interpretations. Its jewellery versions adorned the daintiest wrists, such as that of Queen Elizabeth Ii of England on her coronation day in 1953. To this day, Calibre 101 continues to inspire the House designers for their finest creations.
Whereas, down through the centuries and in step with changing dress codes, women have determined the aesthetic of time and the many different ways of wearing it, they have also developed a penchant for innovations and complications as well as a desire to combine beauty with functionality, thereby enabling watchmaking to be nurtured by the art of jewellery in order to break free of technical constraints. The new Rendez-Vous and Reverso bear eloquent testimony to this enduring approach. They are in turn writing a new chapter in the ongoing story of the Grande Maison’s ceaseless creativity – thereby admirably proving that time and its complexity are by no means the exclusive preserve of men.
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